YES!

Israeli enfant terrible Nadav Lapid mashes the world’s hottest button with his latest agitprop satire. He was already headed in a more defeatist direction with his last film, Cannes Jury Prize winner Ahed’s Knee, but Yes! takes his cynicism even further. Lapid was in Europe developing the latest exploits of his avatar Y. (now embodied by Ariel Bronz) when the events of October 7 motivated him to furiously rework the film entirely. The result is a paean to self-annihilation where Lapid wrestles with the sins of his homeland. Even though it’s drawing inspiration from Pasolini, Yes! refuses to be a somber screed; instead, it’s a demented bacchanalia. The film follows Y. and Yasmin, partners in life and art, as they give over their bodies and souls to the militaristic ruling class to make ends meet. “Submission is happiness,” imparts Y. to his infant son, and sometimes that requires literal bootlicking. As the pair try to find freedom and salvation in reckless hedonism—saying “yes” to every opportunity for sex, drugs, and depravity—they sink deeper into subjugation. When Y. is commissioned to compose a song of nationalist propaganda—an “anthem for the victory generation”—all he can do is comply. So he sets off to the Hill of Freedom overlooking Gaza to find inspiration. As the whole world is trying to find nuanced ways to discuss the atrocities in Palestine, Lapid is screaming into the wind. ~OO