--- title: "Foxtrot" year: 2017 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/foxtrot" fi1m_score: 80 critics_score: 82 critics_reviews: 21 published: "2026-09-17T12:50:58.868712+00:00" updated: "2026-09-17T12:51:11.998181+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Foxtrot (2017) Directed by Samuel Maoz · 1h 53m · MPA R · Drama **Fi1m score: 80** · Critics 82 from 21 reviews *In a sentence:* Grief in a designer flat, boredom in a sinking box, and a camel that outranks everyone at the barrier > Samuel Maoz’s second film gives a soldier’s parents the worst news, then spends two chapters showing how such news gets made. It is exact, strange and often funny, and a final turn ties the knot tighter than it needed to be. ## Synopsis Two soldiers ring the bell of the Feldmann flat in Israel and Daphna (Sarah Adler) collapses before they have spoken. Her husband Michael (Lior Ashkenazi) is told that their son Jonathan (Yonatan Shiray), a soldier, has fallen in the line of duty. The army has a procedure and it runs: a sedative for Daphna, a rabbi to plan the funeral, a young officer who sets an alarm on Michael’s phone so that he drinks a glass of water every hour. Michael feeds the dog, breaks the news to his mother (Karin Ugowski), who cannot hold on to it, and receives his brother Avigdor (Yehuda Almagor). Their daughter Alma (Shira Haas) comes home. Michael wants to be told what happened, and nobody will tell him. ## Review Two soldiers ring the bell, and Daphna Feldmann (Sarah Adler) has understood before either of them has opened his mouth. She goes down in the doorway. Her husband Michael (Lior Ashkenazi) stays on his feet and is told that their son Jonathan has fallen in the line of duty. Then the army’s procedure takes over: a sedative for the wife, a rabbi to talk about the funeral, and a young officer who sets an alarm on Michael’s phone so that he remembers to drink a glass of water every hour. Samuel Maoz, who wrote and directed, plays this without music and hardly takes the camera off Ashkenazi’s face. It is the most controlled half hour of the film. Arad Sawat has built the Feldmann flat as a large, expensive, geometric place, tiles laid in patterns that Giora Bejach shoots from directly overhead, so that Michael crossing a room or lying on the bathroom floor looks like a counter being moved on a board. That is the idea and Maoz does not labour it. Ashkenazi plays a man who has decided to be practical because the alternative is unthinkable; he feeds the dog, he scalds his hand under a hot tap, the alarm goes and he drinks the water. Yehuda Almagor arrives as his brother Avigdor, kind and useless in the way brothers are. Karin Ugowski, as Michael’s mother, is told what has happened and does not retain it. Adler is asleep for most of the chapter, and her one waking scene was harder for us to watch than the news itself. Then the first chapter ends on a turn we will not describe, and the film goes somewhere else entirely: a checkpoint in the desert, a barrier across a road almost nobody uses, four young soldiers and a shipping container that is sinking, slowly, into the mud. They measure the tilt by rolling a tin along the floor. A camel wanders up now and then and they lift the gate for it. Jonathan (Yonatan Shiray) draws comic strips in a notebook. One of the others (Etay Axelrod) dances a foxtrot with his rifle. Bejach shoots this section in wide, level frames the colour of wet sand, and the editors, Arik Lahav-Leibovich and Guy Nemesh, cut it to the rhythm of boredom: long holds, nothing, then headlights. The cars are where we were horrified. A vehicle pulls up, papers are handed over, the boys decide whether to raise the barrier, and a couple in evening clothes are made to stand in the rain while their boot is emptied. Maoz stages these stops quietly. What frightened us was how routine the evening is for the people holding the rifles and how far from routine it is for the people in the car, and that the film never has to say which of them will remember it. One night it goes wrong, and we will not say how. The score by Ophir Leibovitch and Amit Poznansky, spare throughout, stays out of it altogether, which is the right call. The third chapter returns to the parents, and to Shira Haas as their daughter Alma, who has been at the edge of the frame until now and is finally given something to do. Adler, awake, is the best thing in it: a woman being reasonable in a voice that could break at any second. She and Michael share a joint on the kitchen floor and talk, and for ten minutes the film is as plain and sad as anything Maoz has made. Then the mechanism shows. The title is a dance that, however far it travels, ends where it began, and the last stretch of the film insists on that a little too hard. The reviews so far have split on that ending, and we are with the doubters, though not all the way. It does not undo what came before. It just squares off something that had been better left rough. Maoz’s earlier film, *Lebanon*, kept us inside a tank for its whole length. This one has a flat, a desert and a road, and the people in them are not much freer. We would rather he had left us with the mud and the camel. It runs 113 minutes, in Hebrew. Watch it in one sitting and read nothing about it first; the chapters only work in the order Maoz has put them. Then argue about the last five minutes, as we did. *Fi1m score 80, published 17 September 2026.* ### Reviews we read (21) - **Film Comment**, Michael Sragow (90/100, inferred): The critic praises Maoz’s marvelous, harrowing drama for its paradoxes, blending intimate parental grief with absurdist soldier scenes at a remote checkpoint. The film is lauded for its original vision, stylistic range, and emotional depth as an effective antiwar statement. [Read](https://www.filmcomment.com/deep-focus-foxtrot/) - **IndieWire**, Eric Kohn (90/100, inferred): Samuel Maoz’s second feature is beautiful deadpan satire with many surprises in store, offering a brilliant portrait of Israeli frustrations. It stands out for its formal audacity and emotional depth as a festival standout. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/foxtrot-review-samuel-maoz-israeli-venice-telluride-1201872790/) - **Los Angeles Times**, Kenneth Turan (90/100, inferred): The ambitious film combines intense emotional drama with visual pizazz and bursts of unexpected surrealism in an intricate, dazzling cinematic dance. It is profound and moving, wild and crazy at the same time, offering both a specific story and an emotional snapshot of a country at risk. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-foxtrot-review-20171207-story.html) - **RogerEbert.com**, Brian Tallerico (90/100, inferred): The film is a searing examination of grief, fate, and the music of chance, inspired by a personal near-tragedy. It blends stark realism with striking, memorable imagery across its tripartite structure, proving both specific to Israeli experience and universal. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/foxtrot-2017) - **Screen Daily** (90/100, inferred): The critic describes the film as a shattering, restrained portrait of family grief structured like a three-act tragedy. They single out its obsessive visual economy and the way it unveils layers of past guilt in the characters beyond mere mourning. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/foxtrot-venice-review/5121718.article) - **Sight and Sound**, Paul O’Callaghan (90/100, inferred): The critic praises Maoz’s follow-up to Lebanon as an elegant, multifaceted film that expands on themes of trauma with absurdism and rage. It singles out the film’s compelling structure and bitterly cruel final twist for particular note. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/foxtrot-review-savage-satire-israeli-military-grief-grind) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Deborah Young (90/100, inferred): The film is a bold, anguishing critique of contemporary Israel and the army’s use of young recruits, depicting grief and soldiering as a surreal dance with destiny. Its originality lies in difficult, intense narration that ultimately makes perfect sense. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/foxtrot-review-1034783/) - **The New York Times**, Manohla Dargis (90/100, inferred): The movie builds into a devastating indictment of a nation through shock after brutal shock, with meaning emerging slowly in details and a mounting sense of helplessness. It starts with a grabber of an opening that reflects the violence and apathy at its core. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/07/movies/foxtrot-review-samuel-maoz.html) - **Slant Magazine**, Keith Watson (85/100, inferred): Icy absurdism and sorrowful ironies abound in Foxtrot, a tragic and brutally cosmically absurd portrait of a man and society refusing to confront scars of war. Maoz builds a puzzle-like narrative of grief, terror, and rage through dreamlike imagery and off-kilter humor centered on militarization’s absurdities. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/foxtrot/) - **The AV Club**, A.A. Dowd (B+): Foxtrot is a striking triptych of war, grief, and fate that turns wrenching material into conceptually and stylistically audacious cinema through its nonlinear structure and surreal imagery. It presents lives at the mercy of cosmic, karmic design without much comfort. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/foxtrot-is-a-striking-triptych-of-war-grief-and-fate-1821137381) - **Time Out**, Alice Saville (4/5): The critic highlights Maoz’s masterful opening depiction of parental trauma and the film’s mixture of closely observed grief with artful, witty image-making. They single out the second act’s biting insight into the dangers of arming vulnerable young soldiers at a crumbling desert checkpoint. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/foxtrot) - **Vulture** (80/100, inferred): Foxtrot is a punishing drama thick with grief, confusion, and metaphor that toes the line of black comedy while evoking life in a traumatized, militaristic state. A filmmaker able to speak wholly in metaphor, Maoz creates a rare, corrosive portrait that feels like a badge of honor. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2018/02/foxtrot-movie-review.html) - **The New Yorker**, Anthony Lane (70/100, inferred): Maoz understands the hallucinatory force of grief and the sense of confinement, delivering a triptych with irreproachable skill that includes dance numbers, camel gags, and a cruel farce. The mild coda with the parents sharing a joint has stayed with the critic more than anything else. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/03/12/red-sparrow-and-foxtrot) - **Variety** (70/100, inferred): A devastating sense of cruel futility drives the daring film, using its tripartite structure to encompass a litany of Israeli attributes from machismo to racism and grief. The first section delivers hothouse intensity, the second hyperrealistic surrealism, and the third a stark finality. [Read](https://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/foxtrot-review-1202545615/) - **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (65/100, inferred): The film is structurally fascinating yet flawed, with its ambiguities undercut by a whimsical reveal. Maoz creates moving moments and surreal disorientation in the triptych structure exploring family grief, military life, and official secrecy. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/feb/27/foxtrot-review-samuel-maoz-israel-defense-forces) - **Little White Lies**, David Jenkins (4/3/3): The critic finds the film a pristinely sculpted tale of familial desolation and political folly that impresses through craft and caustic emotion. They single out the glib punchline ending as an irritating flaw that undercuts the preceding impact. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/foxtrot) - **The Playlist**, Oliver Lyttelton (A): The critic hails the film as one of the year's best for its absurdist yet profoundly human take on grief, fate, and the futility of conflict, blending dark humor with gut-punch sadness across its three-part structure. Impeccable performances, particularly by Lior Ashkenazi and Sarah Adler, are singled out alongside striking formal experimentation. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/foxtrot-review-20171012/) - **Eye for Film**, Anne-Katrin Titze (****½): The critic commends Maoz's rhythmic, three-chapter structure that balances emotional intensity with metaphors about fate, guilt, mourning, and family dynamics in Israel. The lead performances, especially Lior Ashkenazi's nuanced portrayal of suffering, and striking imagery are highlighted as particularly effective. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/foxtrot-2017-film-review-by-anne-katrin-titze) - **HeyUGuys**, Linda Marric (4/5): The critic praises the film's innovative three-act structure mixing surrealism and raw emotion in its exploration of grief, loss, and Israeli politics, while avoiding clichés. Strong performances by Lior Ashkenazi and Sarah Adler as the grieving parents are singled out as highlights. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/foxtrot-review/) - **The Wrap**, Elizabeth Weitzman (80/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a provocative and heartbreaking tale about people in a seemingly never-ending state of crisis. She singles out the mix of straightforward realism, deadpan surrealism, historical horror and domestic tragedy for being harrowingly impactful. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/foxtrot-film-review-israel-oscar/) - **Paste**, Oktay Ege Kozak (8.0): The critic finds it a dry and languid but ultimately rewarding drama that uses restraint and a matter-of-fact approach to explore grief in the context of endless conflict. Praises the procedural details of grief processing and the structure highlighting boredom vs. sudden violence. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/foxtrot/foxtrot) ## Details - **Director:** Samuel Maoz - **Director:** Samuel Maoz - **Screenplay:** Samuel Maoz - **Cinematography:** Giora Bejach - **Editor:** Arik Lahav-Leibovich, Guy Nemesh - **Music:** Ophir Leibovitch, Amit Poznansky - **Production design:** Arad Sawat - **Producer:** Marc Baschet, Viola Fügen, Čédomir Kolar - **Cast:** Lior Ashkenazi as Michael Feldmann; Sarah Adler as Daphna Feldmann; Yonatan Shiray as Jonathan Feldmann; Shira Haas as Alma Feldmann; Yehuda Almagor as Avigdor, Michael's Brother; Karin Ugowski as Michael's Mother; Etay Axelrod as Dancer Soldier; Dekel Adin as Soldier Rolling Cans - **Runtime:** 1h 53m - **Certificate (MPA):** R - **Release (the US):** 2 March 2018 - **Genres:** Drama - **Box office:** $1 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrBEDEmUceM ## Where to watch in the US - Amazon Prime Video: rent $2.99, sd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $14.99, hd *Checked 2026-09-17.* Also available in: BR, CA, ES, IT, MX, NL, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - European Film Award for Best Director 2018: European Film Award for Best Director (nominated) - European University Film Award 2018: European University Film Award (nominated) - IFFR audience award 2018: IFFR audience award (nominated) - International Submission to the Academy Awards 2018: International Submission to the Academy Awards (nominated) ## If you liked this - *Lebanon* (2009): Maoz’s first film, fought entirely from inside a tank; tighter and angrier than this. - *Beau Travail* (1999): Soldiers with nothing to do, filmed as dance; the desert and the boredom rhyme. - *Zero Motivation* (2014): The Israeli army as office comedy; the checkpoint chapter’s funnier cousin. - *The Sweet Hereafter* (1997), Fi1m 88: Egoyan’s town after a bus crash; grief told out of order, without comfort. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-sweet-hereafter.md) - *Waltz with Bashir* (2008), Fi1m 83: Animated memory of a war nobody wants to remember; pairs well with Maoz. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/waltz-with-bashir.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/foxtrot