JULY 1 • 2021 | 43

A

sia is a journey into a complicated and complex 
mother-daughter relationship that proves to be heart-
warming and heart-wrenching at the same time. 
The Russian- and English-language film, which has a quick 
runtime of just 85 minutes, is playing at the Maple Theater in 
Bloomfield Township now through July 8 and is available for 
streaming through the Detroit Institute of Arts now through 
July 30 (dia.org/events/dft-home-asia).
Directed by Ruthy Pribar as 
her debut feature film, Asia stars 
Alena Yiv and Unorthodox star 
Shira Haas. It won Best Picture at 
the 30th Israeli Academy Awards 
(Ophir Awards) and was submit-
ted as the Israeli entry for the Best 
International Feature Film at the 
93rd Academy Awards.
It’s easy to see why Asia won an 
additional eight Ophir Awards out 
of a total of 12 nominations. This 
extraordinarily powerful drama, 
which moves at a rapid pace but 
manages to capture the vivid emo-
tions of the storyline (and then 
some), follows the strained rela-
tionship between Asia (Yiv) and 
her teenage daughter Vika (Haas). 
The two play Russian immigrants 
now living in Jerusalem, where 
they moved to start a new life.
Asia, who works as a caregiver 
in both a hospital and home set-
tings, struggles to make ends meet 
as a single parent who became a 
mother at a very young age. Her 
nursing job often causes her to 
work late, leaving Vika alone to 
hang out at the skate park with 
her friends. We get the sense that both Asia and Vika are lost 
in finding themselves, with Asia spending many nights with 
her lover or at a club while Vika rebels and experiments with 
alcohol and drugs.

DAUGHTER’S ILLNESS
Early on, it becomes clear that there’s more to their complicated 
relationship than meets the eye. Vika is seen taking medication 
in the morning, then becomes hospitalized after drinking at the 
skate park with friends. Her mother, working at the hospital 
at the same time, rushes to see her daughter, who can’t drink 
on the medication she takes. Vika also grapples with romance, 
friendship and growing up, all of which are thrown off track by 
a change of circumstances.
 Viewers are slowly introduced to Vika’s devastating illness, 

which is revealed after her appointment with a neurologist. 
Though the exact disease isn’t specified, Vika is sick with a 
neurological illness that begins to rapidly impact her motor 
skills on her right side after remaining stable for some time. 
Her arm begins to lose function, and then the rest of her 
body.
The doctor advises Asia that Vika could have years before 
she loses her ability to breathe, but that she could also decline 
rapidly. Asia, sensing the urgen-
cy to reconnect with her daugh-
ter before it’s too late, immedi-
ately takes time off work and 
takes Vika on vacation. They 
head to the sea to tan on the 
beach, then stay overnight 
at a hotel. There, while Asia 
sings a lullaby to Vika that she 
once sang to her as a child, the 
uncertainty that hung around 
their relationship melts away. 
We simply see a mother and 
daughter, laughing and remi-
niscing about the past.

BEST ACTRESS
Haas, who does a tremendous 
job playing the troubled yet 
immensely strong Vika, won the 
Best Actress Award from Tribeca 
Film Festival, where the film 
premiered online in 2020 due 
to the COVID-19 pandemic. As 
Vika continues to deteriorate, 
eventually becoming confined 
to a wheelchair and unable to 
care for herself, we see Asia fully 
stepping into her role as a moth-
er while Vika seems to mature 
quickly, becoming a source of strength and light for her mother.
In a reversal of roles, Asia goes from caring for the sick 
and elderly to caring for her daughter, putting her personal 
and professional life on hold to give Vika her all in Vika’s 
final months. The two nurture the unwavering bond that was 
always there — though perhaps, not so overtly — that culmi-
nates in a beautiful relationship with the power to make you 
laugh and cry at the same time.
Through the very end, Asia does everything she can to 
make Vika comfortable and happy, even helping Vika spark a 
romantic relationship with a young man who is helping Asia 
take care of her daughter. Beautiful and poignant, Asia teach-
es the lesson of the unbreakable bond between mother and 
daughter, a bond that can’t be deterred by even the most diffi-
cult circumstances. 

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Shira Haas and 
Alena Yiv star in 
the movie Asia.

DANIELLA NOWITZ/TIMES OF ISRAEL

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Exceptional Israeli film Asia 
pulls at the heartstrings.

Mother 
and Child 
Reunion

ARTS&LIFE

FILM REVIEW

