Recommendations for good Hebrew TV and movies?

October 13, 2020 6:04 PM

Trying to find Hebrew TV and movies to help a partner improve their listening and comprehension.

I am trying to find recommendations for modern Hebrew TV and movies for my partner. They are trying to learn modern Hebrew and want to get more experience listening and comprehending conversations. Any shows or movies that are good? I know "good" is pretty subjective. In general, they like dramas, mysteries, etc. Things that might have subtitles also would be great.

posted by cycleback to Media & Arts (13 answers total)

A movie I really loved was One Week and a Day (or Shavua ve Yom)
posted by seebee at 6:11 PM on October 13, 2020

Fauda is problematic and trashy, but if you’ve got the stomach for the likes of Homeland and 24, it’s a pretty good example of that.
posted by caek at 6:25 PM on October 13, 2020

Shtisel (Netflix) has been well reviewed, I haven't watched it though.
posted by fingersandtoes at 7:08 PM on October 13, 2020 [1 favorite]

I liked Our Boys a lot. It's an Israeli police procedural cum trial drama mini-series. Very psychologically agonizing but also very well done. The first episode is an introduction; it really gets going in episode two.
posted by bertran at 7:33 PM on October 13, 2020

Response by poster: I think they have already seen Fauda and Shisel but thank you for the recommendations.
posted by cycleback at 8:18 PM on October 13, 2020

I saw a few episodes of False Flag at a Jewish film festival and enjoyed it (I was reading subtitles). At the time, we could not find a way to watch more episodes, but now it looks like Hulu Premium has it?
posted by batter_my_heart at 8:22 PM on October 13, 2020

I quite liked Zero Motivation. Black humour, and a tight, tight script.
posted by Capt. Renault at 9:34 PM on October 13, 2020

Arab Labor is a great show that switches between Hebrew and Arabic, but I can't find anywhere to stream it (I'm selfishly commenting on this thread in hopes someone will find a way!).

Seconding Our Boys.
posted by Corduroy at 9:51 PM on October 13, 2020

Noodle Is an absolutely delightful movie and as a modern Hebrew learner I found it quite good for understanding snippets of conversations which was very motivating.
posted by kitten magic at 2:17 AM on October 14, 2020

Srugim on Amazon.
posted by 8603 at 3:29 AM on October 14, 2020 [1 favorite]

How about a romantic comedy? : Beauty and the baker on Netflix.
posted by dhruva at 9:42 AM on October 14, 2020

A Borrowed Identity/Dancing Arabs and In Between. Both available on Amazon Prime (US) and elsewhere (I assume). A Borrowed Identity/Dancing Arabs is based on two books (Dancing Arabs and Second Person Singular) by the Arab-Israeli writer Sayed Kashua. In Between tells the story of a group of Arab-Israeli women. Both these movies have dialogue in Arabic and Hebrew.

Also: The Cousin and Scaffolding. Enjoyed both recently.

Oh, seconding Arab Labour (written by Sayed Kashua). Also hoping someone shares a link as I cannot find it.

I’d also highly recommend Piece of Hebrew on YouTube. Short videos by an Israeli guy, from how to cook hummus to movie recommendations etc made especially for high beginner/intermediate level students.
posted by bigyellowtaxi at 2:26 PM on October 14, 2020 [1 favorite]

Seconding Srugim (and Fauda, but you said they saw it already.)
posted by callmejay at 3:40 PM on October 14, 2020