Aviva is a surreal, dance-driven fever dream set against a Jewish-Israeli NYC backdrop of love, loneliness, and the yearning for growth. Breaking the fourth wall immediately and casually addressing this loose and transparent structure with confidence and ease, Aviva shouldn’t work. But it does, and wonderfully.

What starts out as a promising long-distance relationship becomes much more complex when French-living Aviva – played by both Zina Zinchenko (and at times by Or Schraiber) – moves to New York City to be with the man she loves, Eden (played by Tyler Phillips, and at times Bobbie Jene Smith). The protagonists, at times, are played by both a man and a woman, interchangeably swapping genders in the middle of scenes. The masculine and feminine qualities within every person are given a physical body here, showing how we all are gender-fluid when it comes to expressing emotions and navigating through life. The rest of the film is just as poignant, including entire scene-long monologues, naked interpretive dance, and beautiful cinematography.

Aviva is a groundbreaking production from Boaz Yakin, who is probably better known as the director of the Denzel Washington football drama Remember The Titians or the Brittany Murphy/Dakota Fanning comedy Uptown Girls. Aviva is nothing – nothing – like his previous work. In fact, I had to do a double-take when I saw his name in the credits. The choreography from former Batsheva Dance Company member and co-star Bobbi Jene Smith is a visionary feat, landing the arthouse Aviva at the top of my favorite films of 2020.