A man discovers he needs a strong dose of courage to deal with both romantic and family crises in this romantic comedy-drama from director Leon Prudovsky. Yigal (Dror Keren) is a cab driver who lives and works in Tel Aviv while his ex-wife has moved to Paris with her new husband. Yigal has a son who shuttles back and forth between his mother's and father's homes, but Yigal has a phobia about flying that makes it impossible to travel with him. While Yigal is seeing a psychologist in hopes of getting over his fears, he strives to stay as active in his son's life as he can, and when he drops the boy off at band practice, he briefly meets Lina (Elena Yaralova), the Russian émigré who is his music teacher. Yigal hasn't done much dating since his divorce, but he's immediately smitten with Lina and tries to strike up a friendship with her. Lina seems fond of Yigal, but he soon learns that she's married, and though her husband is now living in Canada, she intends to join him there once he gets his license to practice medicine in North America. As Yigal falls deeper in love with Lina, he's uncertain about what he should do, while his problem with flying becomes more urgent as his ex-wife plans a bar mitzvah celebration for their boy in France. Chamesh Shaot Me Paris (aka Five Hours From Paris) was an official selection at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival.
by Mark Deming
synopsis
