Esau (2019)

Feuding brothers Esau (Lior Ashkenazi) and Jacob (Mark Ivanar) are reunited for the first time in decades when their father Abraham (Harvey Keitel) is taken ill in the Israeli film Esau (2019)! The nearly 50-year old title character is a writer who fled to America in his early 20s when faced with the prospect of taking over his father's bakery business. Terrified that it wasn't what he wanted to do with his life, Esau went to America in search of something new while his brother Jacob stayed behind and followed in their father's footsteps. Woven throughout the film are flashbacks to both men when they were younger and competing for the affections of Leah (Shira Haas of Unorthodox), meaning that Esau's present day return to Israel will reunite him with her—played in the present by Kseniya Rappoport—though she is now married to her brother Jacob. The biblical parallels are a bit on the nose, with everything from the prodigal son to the Old Testament story of Abraham and his sons factoring into the story. Not to mention the fact that it's shot in the actual holy land, it's all a lot to take in, particularly if you're not the religious sort. Before Esau embarks on his trip to Israel, we get a taste of his life in California when he has fun on the beach with Omer Goldman, who strips down to her underwear to run into the ocean! We get to glimpse some perky pokies from Omer, but that's about all one could expect from a biblical-themed film!