The Band's Visit ****

"The Band's Visit" is a sweet and charming slice-of-life comedy/drama about what happens when an Egyptian police band takes the wrong bus to an isolated Israeli desert town. They're looking to perform at the Arab Cultural Center in Beta Tikva, or some such, and end up in Bet Hatikva, a quiet and dusty collection of apartment buildings and palm trees, that has, according to local restaurant owner Dina, "No culture. Not Israeli Culture. Not Arab. No culture at all." And no hotel, either. Stuck there overnight, Dina (Ronit Elkabetz) arranges accommodations for the eight members of the Alexandria police academy band in her restaurant, apartment, and a regular customer's place.

The interactions that follow are gentle, quiet, and strained. Because the language the Israelis and the Egyptians have in common is English, we hear Arabic and Hebrew only when the others are not supposed to understand. Interestingly enough, this movie, which was Israel's first choice for its submission for best foreign language film for the 80th Academy Awards this year, was disqualified because more than 50 percent of the dialog is in English. The halting English punctuates uneasy silences, as the guests and their hosts strive to communicate, to find something in common.

Writer/director Eran Kolirin composes quiet tableaus, and does not rush or force the moments of communication. For rigid band leader Tewfiq Zacharya (Sasson Gabai) and Dina, it's the story of their marriages. For the trumpet-playing ladies man Khaled (Saleh Bakri), it's coaching a shy suitor at a skating rink. And for the would-be composer in the band, it's inspiring his host to find a concerto in a simple life "surrounded by all this loneliness." By not reaching too high, and with a light comic touch, "The Band's Visit" offers the hope that, in the end, communication is possible.

Rated PG-13. 87 minutes. Written and directed by Eran Kolirin. Produced by Ehud Bleiberg, Koby Gal-Raday, Guy Jacoel, Eilon Rachkowsky, Yossi Uzrad. Cinematography by Shai Goldman. Edited by Arik Leibovitch. Distributed in the U.S. by Sony Pictures Classics. In Arabic, English, and Hebrew with English subtitles.