''The Assassin Next Door'' (; ) is an Israeli

action drama The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

film directed by Danny Lerner in 2009. The primary language is English with many scenes in Russian and Hebrew with English subtitles.

Plot

Galia is a Ukrainian sex slave working in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

who attempts to escape with another woman. They are captured and beaten and she watches her friend stabbed to death. She demands to be released and a Russian mobster feels she is smart and strong enough to fill another role. She is told to assassinate a man in a coffee shop and is successful. She is then given an apartment and a

pittance Pittance (through Old French ''pitance'' and from Latin ''pietas'', loving-kindness) is a gift to the members of a religious house for masses, consisting usually of an extra allowance of food or wine on occasions such as the anniversary of the dono ...

. She performs intermittent assassinations while trying to earn money and to have her passport returned to her so she can return to Ukraine and re-unite with her daughter. She is troubled, though, by the noise of her neighbor constantly beating his wife Elinor. She reaches out to her neighbor and offers friendship, as she can relate to her situation having formerly also been a battered wife. Galia and Elinor develop a very affectionate friendship. Galia performs her last hit but then the Russian mafia turns on her and attempts to kill her. She then robs the mafia of the money she is owed and attempts to get Elinor to run away with her. At first she is not successful until Elinor stabs her husband when he is beating her and she is now pregnant. As they run away together they are pursued by the mafia in a series of bloody shootouts.

Cast

Olga Kurylenko Olga Kostyantynivna Kurylenko (born 14 November 1979) is a Ukrainian-born French actress. She rose to prominence by playing the Bond girl Camille Montes in the James Bond film '' Quantum of Solace'' (2008). Kurylenko began her career modellin ...

- Galia *

Ninet Tayeb Ninet Nati Tayeb (; born 21 October 1983), professionally known as Ninet, is an Israeli musician, singer-songwriter, composer, DJ, model, actress, and reality television judge on ''Rising Star (Israeli TV series), Rising Star: Israel''. She is reg ...

- Eleanor * - Mishka * - Roni * - Michael *

Zohar Strauss Zohar Zalman Strauss (; born 4 March 1972) is an Israeli theater, film, and television actor. Regarded as one of the best performers of his generation in Israel, he is recognized for his versatile work across independent films, television and the ...

- Eleanor's violent husband * - Nina * - Peter * Roy Assaf - Shay * - Blanit *

Ester Rada Ester Rada (; born March 7, 1985) is an Israeli actress and singer. Biography Rada was born in Kiryat Arba, Israel, to a religious Ethiopian-Jewish family. Her parents, originally from a village near Gondar, were rescued by Israel from a re ...

- Barbie

Reception

Hanna Brown of ''The Jerusalem Post'' gave it 4 stars, and wrote: "Rarely have I seen a film as brilliant, and as frustrating, as Danny Lerner's ''Walls''." Brown praised the style of the film and Kurylenko's performance, but criticized the tone and said that the "violence threatens to derail the entire film at times."

References

External links

* * 2009 films 2009 action drama films 2000s English-language films English-language French films English-language Israeli films 2000s Hebrew-language films Israeli action drama films 2000s Russian-language films Films about domestic violence Films scored by Nathaniel Méchaly French action drama films 2009 multilingual films French multilingual films Israeli multilingual films 2000s French films English-language action drama films Russian-language Israeli films {{Israel-film-stub