Year: 2016
Country:
USA, ISRAEL
Language:
English
Run Time:
118 minutes
Norman Oppenheimer (Richard Gere) lives a lonely life in the margins of New York City power and money, a would-be operator dreaming up financial schemes that never come to fruition. As he has nothing real to offer, Norman strives to be everyone’s friend, but his incessant networking leads him nowhere. Always on the lookout for someone willing to pay attention to him, Norman sets his sights on Micha Eshel (Lior Ashkenazi), a charismatic Israeli politician alone in New York at a low point in his career. Sensing Eshel’s vulnerability, Norman reaches out with a gift of a very expensive pair of shoes, a gesture that deeply touches Eshel. When Eshel becomes Prime Minister three years later, he remembers. With his very real connection to the leader of a major nation, Norman is awash in the respect he has always craved. Flush with his newfound feeling of success, Norman attempts to use Eshel’s name to leverage his biggest deal ever: a series of quid pro quo transactions linking the Prime Minister to Norman’s nephew (Michael Sheen), a rabbi (Steve Buscemi), a mogul (Harris Yulin), his assistant (Dan Stevens), and a treasury official from the Ivory Coast. Norman’s kaleidoscopic plans soon go awry, creating the potential for an international catastrophe he must struggle to prevent. NORMAN: THE MODERATE RISE AND TRAGIC FALL OF A NEW YORK FIXER, the new film by Academy Award®-nominated director Joseph Cedar, is a comic and compassionate drama of a little man whose downfall is rooted in a human frailty all too easy to forgive—a need to matter. —Sony Pictures Classics
Sidebar
JEWISH AND ISRAELI VISIONS
Competition
American Independents Competition
Director
Joseph Cedar
Born in New York City, Joseph Cedar moved to Israel with his family at age six and grew up in Jerusalem. He studied at a yeshiva high school and served as a paratrooper in the Israeli army. He studied philosophy and theater history at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and graduated from NYU Film School.
Filmography
"Time of Favor" (2000), "Campfire" (2004), "Beaufort" (2007), "Sharon Amrani: Remember His Name" (2010), "Footnote" (2011), NORMAN: THE MODERATE RISE AND TRAGIC FALL OF A NEW YORK FIXER (2016)
Producers
Oren Moverman, Gideon Tadmor, Eyal Rimmon, David Mandil, Miranda Bailey, Lawerence Inglee
Screenwriting
Joseph Cedar
Cinematography
Yaron Scharf
Editing
Brian A. Kates
Principal Cast
Ricahrd Gere, Lior Ashkenazi, Michael Sheen, Steve Buscemi, Charolette Gainsbourg, Dan Stevens, Hank Azaria, Harris Yulin
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