Alex Is Lovesick

This romantic comedy takes place in Israel during the Austerity period of the 1950s as 13-year-old Alex is about to attend his Bar Mitzvah. Alex has a typical Polish mother and father who suffer quietly in their apartment which because of the difficult economic situation they are compelled to share with a Persian tenant named Faruk who tries to fight his baldness with different creams. Alex falls in love with the new girl in his class, Mimi. Everything changes when his aunt Lola arrives in Israel from Poland to search for lost love. They were together when she lived in Poland but he vanished when Nazis conquered the country. Alex falls for his aunt and she gives him more than just maternal love. The film describes exactly the ambiance that dominated the country in 1950s Austerity Israel--the black markets, the radio broadcasts concentrating on the search for lost relatives, the music of the 1950s, the clothes and dresses and pastimes.