Cinema
Lemon Popsicle
אסקימו לימון
Boaz Davidson · 1978
Synopsis
Tel Aviv, summer 1958. Benzi, Momo and Yudale, three schoolboys, hang around the Montana ice-cream parlour and chase girls. A newcomer in their class, Nili, appeals to Benzi, but it is Momo, the ladies' man of the group, who courts her, boasting that he will seduce her and then leave her; Benzi, too attached to his friends, does not dare warn her. Meanwhile, the three boys get their education from an older woman to whom Benzi delivers ice cream, then from a prostitute, to the American and Italian hits of the late fifties.
Context
Davidson wrote the screenplay with Eli Tavor, drawing on his own youth and taking inspiration from American Graffiti; the company Noah Films produced and distributed it. The cinematography is by Adam Greenberg. Of a budget of three million pounds, one million went on the rights to the songs, by Bill Haley, Paul Anka, Little Richard or Domenico Modugno. Released on 11 February 1978, rated for those over sixteen, it was shown in Berlin the same year. It gave rise to a series of sequels, and in 1982 Davidson made an American version of it.
Who it is for
A comedy an hour and a half long, in Hebrew. It helps to know that it is set twenty years before its release, to the music of that generation of young people.
Prizes and reception
About 1,350,000 admissions in Israel and 2,700,000 in West Germany; first prize in the 1978 national competition; nominated for the Golden Globe.