not as good as all the hype

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The premise of a girl receiving magic powers and disrupting her town is cool, but the movie doesn't exactly live up to it. You want there to be more to her magic powers than predicting the answers on tests. The movie does have a nice ending though and the principal, math teacher, lawyer father, and Uncle Elvis are a blast.

I saw Saint Clara in Toronto during the Toronto Film Festival in 1997. It was at a theatre not part of the festival at the time but it felt like it could have been (perhaps it was the year before). As others have said, it had an odd, bleak, futuristic look and feel about it but was enjoyable none the less. I would love to find the DVD or tape so I could see it again. Bernie

I'd say this was a sweet and romantic film, almost in a John Waters style. It's refreshing, honest, and certainly endearing. Each character was a symbol of a virtue or vice, the set direction was campy, and the overall mood was hopeful in the midst of impending doom. I'd like to see more from this director.

As I watched this movie, I was unsure whether it was trying to present a realistic image of common Israeli lives, or if it was complete fantasy. It had the wacky characters and a cinematographic/color style reminiscent of Pedro Almodovar films, although with absolutely none of the exuberance. The featureless architectures colored in dreary pastels, located in grassy nowheres, then juxtaposed in other scenes with environments covered in concrete, lent a very odd and bleak feeling to the film. Buildings seemed devoid of humanizing artistic style--although the style of the film itself was very distinct. Every place seemed deserted, even when there were pedestrians around (walking in all directions without apparent regard to the paths of roads and sidewalks, somewhat like zombies). Often, there was what looked like cement plants nearby, as well as glass objects handy for shattering. The sky seemed to be perpetually overcast, or in twilight, except in the night scenes. Fortunately, there were no references, visual or otherwise, to religion or Israel's governmental politics. If there had been, it would have created a familiarity, corrupting the weird vibe of the film's environment. It was like watching the inhabitants of a semi-abandoned wasteland, a place which could exist anywhere.This was an interesting film, and I don't know if I've ever seen anything quite like it. Was it entertaining? I'm still not sure, although as a comedy, it wasn't really about laughs, but more about quirks.