Scaffolding (Pigumim)- Refreshingly Different
OM DCOSTA | 23 November 2017 17:10 IST
Rating – 4/ 5 stars The movie is centered on the life of 17yr old Asher (Asher Lax), who balances high school life and working for his father, Milo (Jacob Cohen), who runs a highly successful scaffolding business.
Asher is very short-tempered, and often lands in trouble for getting into fights with other students. An example would be when Asher roughs up a student who refuses to remove his shirt, which is coincidentally the same type of shirt that Asher is wearing.
Milo, Asher’s father, is a disciplined, no-nonsense man, who takes his scaffolding business very seriously. In Radiance(2017), the lead male Masaya Nakamori(Masatoshi Nagase) , a famous photographer says, ‘The camera is my heart, and even thought I cannot use it anymore, it is still a part of me’. In this context, the scaffolding business is to Milo what the camera is to Masaya.
This is highlighted when Milo, supervising his employees, comes across Asher sitting near the workers, reading a book. Milo gets very annoyed, and chides Asher for not working on the site, and later tells Asher to get the work done soon, so that he can go home and study.
Rami (Ami Smolartchik) is the Literature Professor for Class 12B, which Asher is a part of. Rami is very patient with the students, dealing coolly with their doltish questions, interruptions et al. He is loved by the students for his simple, effective way of teaching, and also for his upbeat attitude.
The movie skillfully showcases the influence of 2 men on Asher’s life- The calm, learned Professor Rami on one hand, and Asher’s strict, principled father on the other, and the changes this brings about in Asher.
The script gives Asher an opportunity to shine, and shine he does. His adept performance along with the combined effect of Matan Yair’s direction and Bartosz Bieniek’s fantastic cinematography makes Scaffolding a must watch.
