Synopsis
A beautifully affecting love story that has rightly earned comparisons to Brokeback Mountain, Haim Tabakman's potent yet impeccably restrained tale has won awards and accolades at film festivals the world over. Aaron, a pillar in Jerusalem's Orthodox community is respected by friends and family. However, when he hires handsome runaway student Ezri to assist with his business, sexual tensions bristle and the pair cautiously embark on a love affair. Meanwhile, a neighbouring shopkeeper persists in seeing a man of her own choosing, even though she's been promised by her father to another. As forbidden truths come to the fore, these lovers are forced to either confront or relent in the face of a centuries-old religious community, with startling results.
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Cast
- Zohar ShtraussAaron Fleischman
- Ran DankerEzri
- TinkerbellRivka Fleischman
- Tzahi GradRabbi Vaisben
- Isaac SharryMordechai
- Avi GrainikIsrael Fischer
- Eva Zrihen-AttaliSara
- Haim ZanatiUltraorthodox
- Mati AtlasEx-Boy Friend
Recommendations
- 90
The New York Times
Its scrupulous, humane sympathy gives this small, sorrowful film a glow of insight and a pulse of genuine, openhearted curiosity. - 70
Variety
Quietly devastating picture reps a natural draw for gay, Jewish-interest and upscale audiences. - 70
Village Voice
Mostly, though, it wins with excellent performances: Strauss never overplays his character's internal tension, nor does Danker camp up his youthful virility. - 63
New York Post
Quiet, sober and tense, the movie makes some interesting points -- contrasting the frenzied hookups of the two men with the butcher's rote, dismal lovemaking with his wife as their bodies are carefully hidden under sheets -- but it lacks the emotional firepower of "Brokeback Mountain." - 60
The Hollywood Reporter
The observational detail is impressive and the two men's growing affection is well-drawn but Takerman's depiction of the conventions and strictures of religion and the impulses of two closeted gay men are too understated to achieve universality. - 60
Time Out
Call it "Brokeback Talmud"--not just for its taboo-busting depiction of a gay affair between Orthodox Israelis, but because it adopts Ang Lee’s slow-burn seriousness almost to a fault. - 60
Boxoffice Magazine
To say the movie is understated is an understatement, yet it’s justified.
