Tropic Sprockets / The Cakemaker

By Ian Brockway


“The Cakemaker” is an affecting story of love and obsession by director Ofir Raul Grazer. While it has noir elements worthy of a Highsmith thriller at some points, it is full of want, longing and sadness with something of the supernatural qualities of love.

Oren, (Roy Miller) an Israeli businessman stops into a Berlin bakery. While buying cookies for his wife (Sarah Adler) he is struck by Thomas (Tim Kalkoff) the German baker. Oren and Thomas begin an affair. They meet once a month. Thomas quizzes Oren on details of his married life very much like a voyeur.

One day, Oren fails to call Thomas regarding his monthly visit. Days pass. Thomas inquires about Oren at his office and is informed that he died in an accident.
Needless to say, Thomas is shaken to the core.

The baker tries to carry on but to no avail. He is in possession of Oren’s old keys and travels to Israel to retrace Oren’s steps. At the swim club, he opens Oren’s locker and wears his orange bikini. Thomas compulsively frequents the cafe, run by Oren’s wife, Anat. Step by step Thomas gets closer and closer to Oren’s life, unbeknownst to Anat.

Kalkoff is wonderful in his role. Oddly eccentric and a touch creepy, Thomas emerges as a kind of rote machine with one thing on his mind: Oren. But though this film has traces of noir and dysfunction, it is by no means inhuman. What emerges is a psychological study that is one hundred percent authentic and meaningful. At first Thomas seems passive but in fact he is a storm of emotion. Only the act of baking can calm him.

To complicate matters, Anat’s brother Motti (Zohar Strauss) is prejudiced against Thomas being German and stops at nothing to oust him.

This is a painfully realistic story of love, loss and suspicion. While it unfolds slowly as if resembling a series of gradually developing photographs, it never loses its hold. Pensive tone throughout, “The Cakemaker” is in the company of the recent “Disobedience” with its shared themes of attachment and paranoia. As much as it illustrates obsession, this is also a soft and subtle film that nevertheless hits with a punch.

Write Ian at [email protected]
[livemarket market_name="KONK Life LiveMarket" limit=3 category=“” show_signup=0 show_more=0]