Dark family drama among highlights of Jewish Film Festival's first weekend

Dark clouds are gathering over the Rosko family in "The Flood," a critically hailed film making its Atlanta premiere Sunday during the opening weekend of the 12th Atlanta Jewish Film Festival.

Tension mounts at every turn in the Israeli drama, so much so that a viewer could reasonably wonder whether the only hope for redemption is a 40-days-and-40-nights gusher, a notion encouraged by the fact that youngest son Yoni is studying a torah passage about Noah for his imminent bar mitzvah.

Yoni is 13, but his behavior is the most adultlike in his family, which lives in a farm collective settlement along the picturesque Israeli coast. His father is a gruff, pot-growing pilot who's been grounded for flying while "wasted." Mom, who runs a kindergarten, is having an affair with the father of one of the kids she teaches. The Roskos' marriage seems a sham, and that's before the institution that provides full-time cares for their oldest son closes down unexpectedly.

Tomer, who is severely autistic and rarely speaks, was at the center of the ever-deepening fracture in his parents' relationship more than a decade ago. Now he's back, and the family's guilt and secrets pour forth.

People in the settlement aren't sympathetic to the family's plight, and the bullying of runty Yoni at his school only accelerates after his brother's arrival. If director Guy Nattiv's film sounds unrelentingly bleak, well, it's true that Israelis like their dramas, like their coffee, dark.

But powerful performances and handsome, descriptive cinematography make it impossible to turn away. A too-quickly-arrived-at, surprisingly-Hollywood-style ending sounds the only false note.

"The Flood" will show at 7:55 p.m. Sunday at Regal Cinemas Atlantic Station Stadium 16. Repeat AJFF screenings are at 6:50 p.m. Wednesday at Lefont Sandy Springs, 8 p.m. Feb. 18 at United Artists North Point Market 8 and 6:50 p.m. Feb. 23 at Georgia Theatre Company Merchants Walk.

Tickets were still available at press time for all four showings, but be advised that AJFF films frequently sell out in advance. Check availability at www.ajff.org.

Other noteworthy movies showing this weekend as part of the film festival:

• "Remembrance" a drama about the love between a German-Jewish concentration camp survivor separated for decades from the Polish resistance fighter who saved her life. Noon Feb. 10, Regal Cinemas Atlantic Station Stadium 16.
• . The Apple Pushers," a documentary, narrated by Edward Norton, about recent American immigrants working in the Green Cart movement, bringing healthy foods to low-income New York neighborhoods. 12:15 p.m. Feb. 10, Regal Cinemas Atlantic Station Stadium 16.

• "Roth on Roth," a documentary about the "Portnoy's Complaint" author Philip Roth, championed by critics but denounced by some of his faith for being a "self-hating Jew." 2:55 p.m. Feb. 10, Regal Cinemas Atlantic Station Stadium 16.

• "Let My People Go," a romantic comedy about a Nordic gay couple seeking reconciliation as madcap situations explode around them. 8:15 p.m. Feb. 11 Regal Cinemas Atlantic Station Stadium 16.