The Cakemaker, written and directed by Ofir Raul Graizer 9 out 10

The Cakemaker, written and directed by Ofir Raul Graizer
9 out 10


The Cakemaker is an acclaimed Israeli film, winner of eighteen prizes and it has only been released in 2018.

An Israeli man, Oren, travels regularly to Berlin where he is enchanted by the pastry he eats in a small shop, where he is also ecstatic about the Cakemaker, Thomas.
The two men have a heated, passionate affair, although the visitor is married and has a son -indeed, we would learn later that the family man would plan to move to Germany and separate from his spouse and child.

In the first ten minutes of the motion picture, what has started with pomp and circumstance - just joking, meaning actually to say an affair that has debuted promisingly- seems to be in great impasse.
Oren used to come to Berlin without fail, even if weeks, sometimes months apart, but he fails to arrive and his lover calls frantically- a total of thirteen messages would be found, asking when is he coming, the Israeli has forgotten his cakes and finally, Thomas loves him.

Knowing the office where he worked when in Berlin, the Cakemaker goes there, pretending at the reception that he has had an order for cakes from Oren and he was in the neighborhood.
However, we can see that the woman at the desk is more than uncomfortable, she states that Oren is not there, they are not supposed to talk about it, but eventually she informs the man with the fake order for cookies that the Israeli has died about six months ago.

The German travels to Jerusalem, where he stops in the cafe owned and managed by Anat Nachmias, the widow of what seems to have been a bisexual man.
Thomas asks is she needs a worker, returns to have a sandwich, coffee, up to the point when, pressed in a situation where she had to take her son, Itai, from school, the widow is offering twenty five shekels per hour, if the foreigner is willing and able to wash dishes and help in the kitchen.

The Cakemaker is a specialist, his cookies and specialities were very much appreciated back home, so, after a few days, when the birthday of the boy is coming, he takes the initiative, as he is left alone in the shop, to make some sweets.
Alas, Moti, arrives and he is the brother in law, apparently an orthodox man, anyway with much more respect, awe for the rules of kosher food, the niceties and the strictly forbidden acts and behaviors of the Tora and other sacred texts and he is outraged to see the foreigner cooking:

It is forbidden to work with the oven, the Kosher license of the cafe could be revoked!
What are you doing here?!

The revolted Moti might have had a point, indeed, in the first instance Anat agrees with her relative on the risk for the shop, but a few minutes later she says that they are not eating kosher at home and she is grateful for the cookies.
Like in Berlin, the gift of the Cakemaker is appreciated and customers come in droves to savor his creations, so much so that orders are placed in such quantities that they are hard pressed to make all that is required.

Anat has to stay longer and work as the assistant of this master chef, well, for cookies anyway.
As Thomas explains how the composition must be treated with gentility, softeness, the woman must be under a spell, found this very erotic and intends to kiss her worker.

For some long moments, the Calemaker hesitates and the public is wondering what will happen next...
Will his homosexuality be revealed, how will he come out of this delicate, potentially calamitous situation.

This is one of the wondrous scenes of the film that has an unexpected evolution...
For Thomas, after the first reluctance, returns the caresses and kisses and the two make love.
Notwithstanding, there are suspicions, when the widow finds multiple receipts from a shop in Berlin, selling cookies and cakes and she asks her lover if he has met her late husband...the German denies.

When she first looked at the cellular of her late spouse, in the first instance she discovered there are thirteen messages but decided not to listen to them.
Nevertheless, when a recipe given by the master Cakemaker is in her hands, Anat remembers she has seen this writing, the secret formula for magic cookies in her late partner's things.

Eventually, the messages eliminate any doubt and the mystery is solved - she now knows about the secret lover Oren had in Berlin, for who he wanted to leave his son and wife and settle in Germany.

Moti arrives and starts kicking the foreigner he had rejected from the beginning, giving him one hour to pack and start for the airport.
This is not all, there is another important page in this touching, strange saga, which I can say ends on a very interesting, perhaps to be expected note:

We do not know what happens at the end...
I don't...if you have any ideas, let me know.