In THE COMMITMENTS, which stands as the gold standard for fictional band movies, the guys are setting up the band to win respect not just for themselves but for their country. At the film's climax, their efforts are weighed in the balance as an important music figure is due to come see and judge them. In VOLCANO JUNCTION, the band members are less deeply committed and the important audition comes at the beginning of the film rather than at the end. Each member of the band has his own problems, but there is no impending and overarching challenge that they face as a group other than merely staying together. The format of the band movie brings with it vulnerability to a common weakness of Israeli cinema, the attempt to focus on a circle of friends rather than on a single protagonist. It's harder for the audience to handle, and it's harder to do well because quantity of characterizations militates against quality. Personally I found it a little difficult to remember who's who. But the movie's real Achilles heel is that the original music the characters are enthusiastic about is not impressive enough to convey sympathetic enthusiasm in the audience and the singer who is remarkably gifted according to the story-- enough to make any audience, and even a pro from the big city, sit up and take notice-- brings nothing special to the screen. As far as I can recall, no songs originating in the movie became popular on the radio. Eran Riklis has gone on to direct better movies, but interestingly his most recent release, about a basketball coach, was criticized because, just as the music in this film isn't as outstanding as the plot demands, his supposedly big-league players in his basketball movie did not play like big-leaguers.
