Israeli motorcycle flick, Full Gas, to hit screens

Full Gas tells the story of Tomer (Tuval Shafir), a 17-year-old biker who moves to an isolated town in the Negev a month before the national dirt biking championships are set to be held.

By HANNAH BROWN
Tuval Shafir (photo credit: WIKIPEDIA)
Tuval Shafir
(photo credit: WIKIPEDIA)
The old saying goes that Israel would become a nation like all others when a Jewish cop arrested a Jewish criminal, and that can be extended to the first time a Jewish teen buys a ticket to a Jewish dirt-biking movie.
That day will be here soon, when the movie, Full Gas, is released in theaters on August 8. The first trailer has just come out and it’s clear the movie is a kind of Israeli version of The Karate Kid, but on bikes.
It tells the story of Tomer (Tuval Shafir), a 17-year-old biker who moves to an isolated town in the Negev a month before the national dirt biking championships are set to be held. Nimrod, the local bully who expects to win, is threatened by the arrival of this newcomer. He and his gang harass Tomer, who challenges Nimrod not only as a acer but also for the heart of Amalia, a local girl. By chance, Tomer meets Albert, a mysterious former biking champ who has been living alone in the desert for 30 years, who becomes a master teacher for the young biker and helps prepare him for the fight of his life against Nimrod, on his bike and off.

Full Gas is another sign of the vitality of the Israeli industry. While there were many  genre movies in the 1960s and 1970s, this kind of popular and profitable filmmaking went into decline for decades as arthouse movies predominated. But in the last few years, the genre film industry here has experienced a renaissance, with the recent success of comedies like Mossad and Maktub, as well as comic adventure films such as 4 X 4 (an Israeli version of The Hangover set in Sinai) and The Last Band in Lebanon. There have even been Israeli zombie movies such as JeruZalem, Cannon Fodder and Another World, as well as children’s hits such as Abulele.
Full Gas will mark the return of the popular young actor Tuval Shafir to the big screen. He is best known for playing Yonatan in the Galis television series and movies, and also for appearing in the show, Ha-Shminiya. He proved he could act when he played the lead in Avi Nesher’s 2010 drama, The Matchmaker, which exemplifies how Israeli actors move seamlessly between crowd-pleasing dramas and more serious films.
The cast of Full Gas includes Kevin Rubin, Naya Bienstock, Zohar Liba, Ori Pfeffer (Hacksaw Ridge) and Eden Saban.