Let It Be Morning

2021 Israeli drama film

10 July 2021 (2021-07-10) (Cannes)
17 March 2022 (2022-03-17) (Israel)
13 April 2022 (2022-04-13) (France)

CountriesIsrael
FranceLanguagesArabic
HebrewBox office$25,775^[1]

Let It Be Morning (Hebrew: ויהי בוקר, romanized: Vayehi Boker, Arabic: فليكن صباحا, romanized: faliyakun ṣabāḥan) is a 2021 Palestinian drama film directed by Eran Kolirin,^[2] based on the Hebrew-language novel Let It Be Morning by Palestinian author Sayed Kashua.^[3]^[4] It was produced by Dori Media of Israel, in co-production with France's Les Films du Poisson.^[5]

The cast is predominately Palestinian and most of the language is Arabic.

In June 2021, the film was selected to compete in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.^[6] The Palestinian cast opposed the classification of the film as "Israeli," and withdrew from the Cannes Film Festival in protest.^[7]^[8]^[9] Israel selected the film as its entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards.^[10]

Plot

Let It Be Morning is the story of Sami (Alex Bakri) a Palestinian-born Israeli citizen living in Jerusalem who is invited to his brother’s wedding. He has to return to the Arab village where he grew up and which he left for other opportunities. After the wedding ends, Sami's hometown is put under a military blockade lockdown by the Israeli government, without explanation. The power is cut and the villagers are trapped by an Israeli roadblock.

When chaos erupts amongst the villagers who begin to run out of food and water, Sami is also cut off from the outside world and unable to return to his work in Jerusalem. Trapped in an unexpected situation, he deals with questions about his own identity. As hidden secrets are revealed, Sami watches everything he holds dear begin to fall apart.

Written and directed by award-winning Israeli filmmaker Eran Kolirin (The Band's Visit), the film was adapted from the international best-selling novel of the same name by Palestinian author Sayed Kashua.

Let It Be Morning is a film about a state of siege, both internal and external – centered around a man who has built a wall around his heart. It explores how that inner wall starts coming apart when a physical wall is erected around his hometown.

Cast

Alex Bakri as Sami
Juna Suleiman as Mira
Salim Daw as Tarek
Ehab Salami as Abed
Khalifa Natour as Mohammed
Samer Bisharat as Aziz
Yara Elham Jarrar as Lina
Izabel Ramadan as Zahera
Doraid Liddawi as Nabil
Maruan Hamdan as Adam
Arin Saba as Rola
Nadib Spadi as Ashraf

Release

The film was selected to be screened in the Un Certain Regard section of the 74th Cannes Film Festival,^[11] where it had its world premiere on 10 July 2021.^[12] The film was theatrically released in Israel by Lev Cinemas on 17 March 2022.^[13] It was released in France by Pyramide Distribution on 13 April 2022.^[14]

Cohen Media Group, the US distributors of the film, released Let It Be Morning in the United States on 3 February 2023.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 86% of 21 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.30/10.^[15] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 77 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.^[16]

Davide Abbatescianni, of The New Arab, defined it as "an enjoyable comedy," although "it occasionally suffers from some pacing issues, especially during its last third." He praised its "solid storytelling, the good acting performances and the compelling lead character."^[17]

References

^ "Let It Be Morning (2022)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
^ "Match Factory boards Eran Kolirin's 'Let It Be Morning' as project gears up". ScreenDaily. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
^ "We are Not Israelis: Palestinian Actors Boycott Cannes Film Festival". Palestine Chronicle. 10 July 2021. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
^ "Palestinian cast of Israeli movie to boycott Cannes Film Festival". Haaretz. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
^ Lodge, Guy (30 July 2021). "'Let It Be Morning' Review: A Wry, Low-Key Satire of Israeli-Palestinian Tensions From the Director of 'The Band's Visit'". Variety. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
^ "Cannes Film Festival 2021 Lineup: Sean Baker, Wes Anderson, and More Compete for Palme d'Or". IndieWire. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
^ "We are Not Israelis: Palestinian Actors Boycott Cannes Film Festival". Palestine Chronicle. 10 July 2021. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
^ "Palestinian cast refuses to take part in Cannes Film Festival over inclusion as 'Israeli film'". Middle East Monitor. 9 July 2021. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
^ "Palestinian cast of Israeli movie to boycott Cannes Film Festival". Haaretz. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
^ Brown, Hannah (5 October 2020). "Eran Kolirin's Let It Be Morning wins big at the Ophir Awards". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
^ "Cannes 2021 : 24 films pour la Palme d'Or et la sélection officielle du 74e Festival". AlloCiné. 3 June 2021. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
^ "The Screenings Guide 2021". Festival de Cannes. 1 July 2021. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
^ Klein, Uri (17 March 2022). ""ויהי בוקר" הוא סרט יפה, חכם ואחד המורכבים שנראו על המסך לאחרונה". Haaretz (in Hebrew). Retrieved 16 June 2023.
^ Morain, Jean-Baptiste (11 April 2022). ""Et il y eut un matin", le film drôle et poétique d'Eran Kolirin". Les Inrockuptibles (in French). Retrieved 16 June 2023.
^ "Let it Be Morning". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
^ "Let it Be Morning". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
^ Abbatescianni, Davide (27 May 2022). "Let It Be Morning: A confident satire about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and life under occupation". The New Arab. Retrieved 29 September 2022.