Abraham and Shraga are Orthodox Jewish aging twins who live a secluded existence in their inherited Brooklyn home. Since the death of their parents, they have stopped throwing away anything, hosting stray cats and accumulating all sorts of stuff.
Enraged by the situation, the upstairs tenant threatens to stop paying them rent unless they proceed with a radical cleaning of their apartment. Abraham and Shraga are forced to open their doors to a specialized cleaning company.
What ensues seems at first only a traumatic invasion of privacy, with the twins fighting to preserve their memories – but little by little the relationship with the head of the cleaning company begins to deepen. By painfully separating from most of their belongings, Abraham and Shraga might have a chance to recover their lost purity. They are pushed to find new solutions to many unanswered questions: how free are you within the boundaries of your heritage? How do you begin to let go the past go and live your life in the present? How do you confront the loss of your parents and become responsible for yourself?
When I started filming, I went in with as much openness as I could bring myself to have, with the curiosity of the child that is still in me. I forced myself to withhold judgment. As much as possible I wanted to disappear behind the camera and become part of the texture of the place I was observing. It was a gamble. I had no idea if it was possible to make anything compelling and worthwhile from this reality / material / people / subject. On television I had glanced at a reality TV show called 'Hoarders' and felt that the subject was not observed, but staged, trivialized, sensationalized, and made fun of. I knew I wanted to stay as far away from that as possible. I was interested to see what was going to happen, both from a human and from a cinematic point of view.
Antonio Tibaldi
