User Reviews

I enjoyed watching this a bit unusual documentary with an unexpected plot twist.

Speaking of twists - you probably already read the featured review, claiming that Naomi is Mor's granddaughter. Just so you know and don't get confused when watching - Naomi is Mor's grandmother. It is Mor who travels to Berlin, does the research, interviews people and puts the film together. Naomi just stays back home in Israel, bakes schtrudles, sets up a nice table with beautiful plates and old knives, and waits for Mor to show her the new movie about the Cafe that once, hundred years ago, was owned by her (and Mor's) family.

Mor Kaplanski lives in Israel. She has a granddaughter, Naomi Kaplansky, both Mor and Naomi introduced as documentary makers. Mor's grandparents were owners of the Café Nagler in Moritzplatz, Berlin at the beginning of the 20th. century. Naomi travels to Berlin to research the history of the café. What follows is a series of scenes where Naomi (always on screen) is shown on the phone, drinking coffee, walking around or doing her consistently unsuccessful research; she finally finds an old man who remembers the café but he is revealed in a later scene to be senile. She manages to gather some meager and unreliable information, such as: the café was just a neighborhood café, not a glamorous establishment, the Moritzplatz was not fashionable at the time and probably Kafka, Einstein and Brecht never visited the café. And swing was not invented there.

In the second part Naomi interviews people. They are asked to tell stories (true and personal) from other places and to pretend that they happened at Café Nagler. When they are done the film closes with photographs either of the Café Nagler or some other establishment.

There may be something here (e. g. the unreliability of memory) but this is certainly not a documentary. Perhaps it is a documentary about the making of another (failed) documentary. I did not find it satisfactory.

A film about a young woman's search for her family's heritage which changes direction and evolves into a documentary about a documentary. A story of memory that sets an example for when love and empathy can justifiably trump historical accuracy. Highly recommended.