Foreign Sister

Starts strongly and is bolstered by thoughtful performances.

Offers an incisive glimpse into one woman's inner transformation -- her secret sense of loss in the midst of plenty and her sudden perception of a world of suffering lying just beyond her home.

There is a reason formulas endure: they work. And even under these threadbare circumstances, the developing friendship between the two women carries a faint but effective dramatic charge.

The particulars of her situation are well-imagined, but Wolman's characters remain little more than mouthpieces.

Wolman gets his point across, but he does so in such a predictable, contrived and sappy manner that viewers aren't likely to care. And the final plot twist is a cop-out.

Unfortunately, Wolman's flat direction accentuates the predictable course of his soft narrative.

Good intentions can't compensate for crude technique or lack of insight, but Israeli director Dan Wolman's deserves credit for broaching a serious subject.