Ten years after "Yossi & Jagger", Israeli director Eytan Fox continues the soldier love story. He shows a man who has to learn to open up to the world again after losing his lover.
The budget was small, the director himself was hardly known in his home country and his drama "Yossi & Jagger" was actually only intended as a TV film. But the tragic love story of two soldiers not only caused a furore in Israel, where it contributed to a more open discussion about homosexuality. The film also became a cinema hit around the world.
From Brazil to Japan to Germany, Jagger's death moved people to tears. Eytan Fox thus achieved his international breakthrough. This made it easier for him to finance subsequent projects such as "The Bubble" and "Walk On Water", in which he also linked the reality of gay life with the social problems of his country - from military operations and bomb attacks by Palestinian terrorists to the hunt for old Nazis.
"Yossi & Jagger" achieved cult status not only in Israel
"Yossi & Jagger" has long been considered a classic of both gay and Israeli film - and is now used in Israel as an educational film for military training. It is therefore not surprising that Eytan Fox has not let go of the fate of his film hero Yossi. His continuation of the story, which focuses solely on Yossi, has become much more melancholy, calmer and perhaps also more mature.
Ten years after Jagger was killed by a mine, Yossi Guttman (played again by Israeli film star Ohad Knoller) is still a long way from overcoming this trauma. The man with the incurably broken heart has become a cardiologist of all things. There seems to be no private life for the workaholic. He has buried himself in his loneliness and avoids any deeper relationships out of self-protection.
His colleagues at the hospital don't even realise he's gay. He awkwardly rejects the advances of a night nurse and finds it even more difficult to avoid the well-intentioned attempts at coupling by a straight colleague at the disco. "I'll give you a blowjob tonight - if I have to do it myself".
An online date ends in disaster
The loneliness is written all over Yossi's face, but in his grief he has already withdrawn from people for so long that he finds it difficult to open up to them again. And when he does try, like on an online date, things promptly go wrong: like a little schoolboy, he has to be reprimanded for sending an old profile photo - from when he was a little younger and a few kilos lighter.
But then Yossi is sent on forced leave by his boss and ends up in a resort hotel complete with pools, parties and wellness facilities, together with a clique of young officers who are eager to have fun. In the middle of it all is the handsome Tom (Israeli comedy star Oz Zehavi), who actually manages to crack Yossi's emotional armour and reawaken his zest for life. And incidentally, through Tom, who comes out as a gay man to his fellow soldiers as a matter of course, Yossi also realises the social change that Israel has undergone. A development that he has not realised due to his years of isolation.
Compared to Eytan Fox's earlier cinema dramas, his new film seems almost contemplative and lacking in action. In fact, however, it is very effective with few resources, concentrated dialogue and striking (albeit sometimes overly obvious) allusions. For example, Yossi's visit to the parents of his dead lover, who until now had no idea of their son's homosexuality, has a lasting oppressive effect due to his speechlessness.
Touching melodrama about love and loss
However, the fact that Yossi is reading Thomas Mann's "Death in Venice" by the hotel pool when Tom hits on him with charm and humour is a little over the top. It makes you want to rip the book out of Yossi's hand and throw him into the swimming pool without further ado. Or, because Ohad Knoller is able to play the grief, lost ability to love and the associated pain so empathetically, simply give him a hug. In the end, Tom takes over, and the smile that finally, albeit tentatively, lights up Yossi's face is at least as gratifying as the young man who has worked so hard to achieve it.
"Yossi". Israel 2012, directed by Eytan Fox. With Oz Zehavi, Ohad Knoller, Orly Silbersatz Banai, Ola Schur Selektar, Lior Ashkenazi. 85 minutes.
"Yossi" opens nationwide on 24 January. On 18 January, the film will celebrate its German premiere in Berlin in the presence of director Eytan Fox and lead actor Oz Zehavi. Further previews will be held in Aachen, Nuremberg, Freiburg and Potsdam. The complete cinema dates can be found on the website of the distributor pro-fun Media.
"Yossi & Jagger" is available on DVD from pro-fun Media.
