LA Film Festival: EYES WIDE OPEN

EYES WIDE OPEN
Starring: Zohar Strauss, Ran Danker, Tinkerbell (yes, really)
Directed by: Haim Tabakman
Written by: Merav Doster

Haim Tabakman explores the dual roles that religious devotion and sexuality play in shaping a person and his understanding of the society that he lives in with his feature debut EYES WIDE OPEN. Though for gay audiences the story may be familiar or even dated, the way the film depicts either side as neither right or wrong, but rather as aspects of a person that he must learn to live with and decide how to live with, that makes the film engaging.

Aaron (Strauss) reopens his father’s butcher shop after his father’s passing in the opening scene of the film, which brings us into the world with very little dialogue, none of which is subtitled. Though this did illicit some cries of confusion from some members of the audience to start with, once the subtitles did start, everyone seemed to calm down.

Aaron’s life is a simple one; he is devoted to his faith, his wife Rivka (Tinkerbell), and his children and because of this he’s regarded as an upstanding and righteous man in his Orthodox community until Ezri (Danker), a young homeless student shows up at the door of Aaron’s shop asking to use the phone. Again, Tabakman uses very little dialogue in this initial meeting, but we know that there’s something there. Perhaps against his better judgment, Aaron takes on Ezri as his apprentice, and things only get more complicated from there.

Aaron tries to get some sort of rationalization for his new feelings from his rabbi and study group, but finds no help. On one hand, some members say that lust and sin exist in life to make man stronger by depriving himself of the things he knows are wrong, while on the other, that God wants man to enjoy life.

As Ezri and Aaron’s relationship deepens and then becomes sexual, the complications become familiar to audiences who have ever seen movies like LATTER DAYS and even BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, including the wife finding out about things and legions of people coming after our couple because of their indecency. While it is interesting to see them in the context of this community, where homosexuality is essentially treated as though it doesn’t exist, because I’ve seen so many gay films that have similar plotlines, I had a pretty good idea of where things were going, and while the performances are good all around, it wasn’t enough to keep me fully invested.

I think one of the things that really prevented me from getting as much out of this movie as I could was that I don’t have as through of an understanding of Orthadox Judaism as I should to fully understand the deeper cultural implications of the situations that the characters are facing. Normally, this kind of problem would be blamed on the director and the writers, but since this is an Israeli film I will let it slide.

If you plan on checking out this film, I would recommend checking out the 2001 documentary TREMBLING BEFORE G-D, which deals with the same subject as EYES WIDE OPEN. I saw TREMBLING a few years ago, but didn’t remember enough about the film for it to aid my understanding of the events in EYES WIDE OPEN. I also talked to a few people who had recently seen the Jesse Eisenberg film HOLY ROLLERS and they said that that film, though a comedy, also helped them understand EYES WIDE OPEN a bit more.

2.5 out of 5