Subtlety and thoughtfulness are not qualities usually associated with the Eurovision Song Contest. But director Eytan Fox has managed to make a feel-good film that is suffused with serious issues while still managing to have fun.
The group of neighbors who form a thrown-together Eurovision group (here the "Universong" contest) are centered around a bakery, which, like Eurovision, produces sugary treats with marginal nutritional value. But as their casual entry assumes a life of its own, they must deal with issues of personal identity and life goals that underpin what is a frivolous lark on the surface.
The film is an aural and visual treat, with Fox's usual attention to detail (for example, in a scene with three soft drink bottles on a table, each one is a different day-glow color, like a bouquet of balloons). Fox expertly captures the multi-layered feelings evoked by Eurovision, from disdain to giddy elation, and skewers everyone from politicians to music industry moguls and publicists without malice and maintaining a tone of bemused knowingness.
In another director's hands, this could very well have been a throwaway piece of fluff. But in the assured hands of the director of "Yossi" and "Walk on Water", "Cupcakes" is anything but junk food.
Customer reviews
Top reviews from other countries
Patrick S. Geary
Not Just a Guilty Pleasure
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 June 2014Verified Purchase
Alex Van Schuylen
A fun-filled movie
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 June 2014Verified Purchase
Papermoon aka Ste
This proved to be a funny and fluffy Israeli movie - nothing too heavy
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 August 2014Verified Purchase
Ichfindsschick
Bunt, süß, wohltuend - eben wie ein Cupcake
Reviewed in Germany on 7 June 2014Verified Purchase
Maurice D.
Lovely and entertaining
Reviewed in Canada on 22 April 2017Verified Purchase
