Maven's Nest
Reel Life: Flick Pix
Through defiant sights and sounds, Lapid leaves nothing to the imagination about his feelings against the conduct of the post-October 7, 2023 war and any society that supports anything like it.
By Nora Lee Mandel
YES (Ken)
Directed and Written by Nadiv Lapid
Producers: Judith Lou Lévy (Les Films du Bal) and Hugo Sélignac & Antoines Lafon (Chi-Fou-Mi Productions)
150 mins. Not Rated. In English, and Hebrew and Russian with English subtitles
With: Ariel Bronz, Efrat Dor, Naama Preis, Alexey Serebryakov, Sharon Alexander, and Idit Teperson
As of April 3: in U.S. theaters via Kino Lorber
As outrageous as Yes (Ken) looks and sounds, it is the most accessible of Israeli expatriate Nadiv Lapid’s five dense films: Policeman (Ha-shoter) (2011); The Kindergarten Teacher (Haganenet) (2014); Synonyms (2019); and, Ahed's Knee (Ha'berech) (2021). Initially written before October 7, 2023 (see Addendum) but filmed a year after, the in-your-face story of artists under societal pressures during a crisis feels like it’s taking place in Israel now– or in Russia, Belarus, Washington, D.C. or any other corrupt military-industrial complex power centers.
With voice-over narration explaining his motivations, “Y” as in “Yes I’ll do anything you want” (played by no-holds-barred performance artist Ariel Bronz) has left behind his conservatory training to be the musical entertainment –and any other diversion —for the rich elite’s parties in “Part 1: The Good Life”. He is accompanied, making a wild Astaire and Rogers duo, by his spectacular dancing and up-for-any-fantasy-fulfillment-for-money life partner “Yasmine” (played by Efrat Dor). The techno-pop blasts around their sexy shenanigans until there is a generational song showdown: the military chief of staff and his adjutants shout out Elvis Presley’s “Love Me Tender” to drown them out. “Yasmine” wisely whispers to “Y”: “Let him win”, and they clinch like this is a romantic musical. Ever practical “Yasmine” makes sure to submit their full bill for bringing a society matron (played by Idit Teperson) to orgasmic heights.
More of a transition shocker is hearing “Y” hum a soft lullaby to their baby at home in their small apartment. He quietly tells the infant about the last, pain-filled days of the grandmother he’ll never meet who didn’t live to see the first anniversary commemorations revved up outside. The parents are briefly reminded of the tragedies going on by phone alerts, then do their own amusing song and dance showdown of electronica pop vs. German punk metal in their tiny kitchen. On to their day jobs of Zumba classes and babysitting by the sea. Musical Independence Day celebrations are on every block, but the couple have to do their degrading shtick at an absurdly extravagant yacht party.
After the camera focused on an open book displaying artist George Grosz’s warning about the Weimar Republic, “The Pillars of Society” (1926), Lapid also had cinema history in mind, seeing “Y” like the performer in Istvan Szabo’s Mephisto (1981) who will become like Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Conformist (1970). ”Y”s chameleon agent “Avinoam” (played by Sharon Alexander) brings him an offer he can’t refuse. A Russian oligarch (played by Alexey Serebryakov) has written a poem, inspired by Haim Gouri’s classic “Friendship” that was set to music in 1948 for Israel’s statehood, and wants his ode to bloody vengeance similarly turned into a new national anthem. Will “Y” do it? Can he do it?
“Part 2 The Path” is considerably more contemplative and to the point. “Y” meets up with his ex-girlfriend “Leah” (played by Naama Preis, Lapid’s wife who he thanks effusively in the closing credits for her help). They re-enact an amusing piano four-hander they used to perform together. But “Leah” has gotten more serious; she is using her multi-lingual skills to send out October 7 victim testimonies in many languages, until she is now haunted by their experiences which she details in a rising crescendo eight-minute monologue. (For all the electronica music and dancing in the film, there is no specific mention of the Nova Festival and those victims.) Driving around the country, they end up as close to the Gaza Strip border as they can get, a promontory called “Love Hill”. In a guerrilla filmmaking move, Lapid and his small crew, including those personally impacted by 10/7, were able to get to this actual site. “Y” shouts out the distasteful lyrics as if they were the bombs whose real smoke is seen rising below them. Lapid compares “Y” here to a musical version of the napalm-loving general in Coppola’s Apocalypse Now (1979). “Y” and “Leah” get turned on.
By “Part 3 “The Night”, “Yasmine” has understandably gotten fed up with “Y”, and so has “Y”s late mother, he imagines. “Yasmine” wants to leave for Europe with their son (played by Lapid’s son) and lets “Y” know what he’s missing in an unforgettable tight red dress. Lapid compares “Y” to Woody Allen’s Zelig (1983) as “Y” demonstrates just how low he can go in a long chain of literal boot-licking. His soul-stealing efforts culminate in his fictional presentation of an actual right-wing organization The Civil Front’s music video that played on Israeli public television.
Will love conquer all? Through defiant sights and sounds, Lapid leaves nothing to the imagination about his feelings against the conduct of the war and any society that supports anything like it.
April 3, 2026s
Addendum
Documentaries related to the October 7, 2023 attacks and the aftermath:
Along the River
The Bibi Files
Children No More: “Were and Are Gone” (short)
Holding Liat
A Letter To David
October 8
Of Dogs and Men (Al Klavim Veanashim)
The Rise and Fall of Terrorgram: Inside a Global Online Hate Network (PBS’s Frontline Season 2025, Episode 10)
The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue
Soul of a Nation
Tattooed4Life (short)
Torn: The Israel-Palestine Poster War on NYC Streets
We Will Dance Again
Other fiction films related to the October 7, 2023 attacks and the aftermath:
Butcher’s Stain (Ketem Katzavim) (short)
updated April 9, 2026
Nora Lee Mandel is a member of New York Film Critics Online. Her reviews are counted in the Rotten Tomatoes TomatoMeter:
Complete Index to Nora Lee Mandel's Movie Reviews
My reviews have appeared on: FF2 Media; Film-Forward; Lilith, FilmFestivalTraveler; and, Alliance of Women Film Journalists and for Jewish film festivals. Shorter versions of my older reviews are at IMDb's comments, where non-English-language films are listed by their native titles.
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