Yossi: Tribeca FF's 2012 Opening Night Narrative Film

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Monday, 12 March 2012 16:56

Written by Laura Blum

Yossi
Directed by Eytan Fox
starring Ohad Knoller, Yehuda Levi, Orly Zilbershatz

The Bible tells us there's nothing new under the sun. Yet Yossi, the Israeli drama opening Tribeca Film Festival's World Narrative Competition (April 19, 2012) says there is.

Directed by Eytan Fox, Yossi is the sequel to his wartime romance Yossi & Jagger. In the 10 years since Fox shot that 2002 release, Israel has shed some of its machismo and become more accepting of homosexuality. (To wit, gay themes will share the spotlight at this year's Docaviv International Documentary Film Festival in Tel Aviv.) In today's more progressive Israel, Yossi's title hero is out of the closet -- if not out of the woods.

It's 2010, a decade after the death of Yossi's lover Jagger (Yehuda Levi) in South Lebanon. Yossi is now a successful cardiologist, though his own heart is still convalescing. When Jagger's mother (Orly Zilbershatz) unexpectedly shows up at the hospital, so do the doctor's demons. Why Yossi remains mired in past traumas will come in for a probing.

Israeli cinema has come a long way since its early salutes to warrior mythology. Zionism set out to create a new breed of Jewish man in reaction against the effeminate Diaspora caricature, and yet filmmakers like Fox who are subverting the tough guy image are forging a new link in the nation's identity chain.

The fact that Yossi & Jagger was based on a true story lent it a certain gravitas and helped smooth its way into local hearts and minds. Originally made for Israel Cable Programming, it became a domestic box-office hit and a festival darling.

The film had its US premiere at the second annual TFF. Ohad Knoller took home a medal for his portrayal of Israel Defense Forces company commander Yossi, and he was tapped to play the older Yossi in this follow up. The new production is something of a class reunion for 48-year-old Fox and his creative alum: Lior Ashkenazi, who starred in his 2004 Mossad drama Walk on Water, plays a doctor on Yossi's ward; and Zilbershatz appeared in his 1994 comedy set during the first Gulf War, Song of the Siren/Shirat Ha'Sirena.

Newcomers include Oz Zehavi, in the role of Yossi's new lover, and Yediot Ahronot TV critic Itay Segal, who wrote the screenplay. (Long-time partner and scriptwriter Gal Uchovsky sat this one out.)

Will Fox's next project be a third installment in the Yossi series? Or will the Manhattan-born, Jerusalem-raised filmmaker take on the story of his father, as he suggested following the TFF 2007 screening of his make-love-not-war seriocomedy The Bubble? Just how Fox would weave Conservative rabbi and Jewish educational leader Seymour Fox into his canon -- which generally canvasses gay love and political tensions -- remains to be seen. But it'd surely offer up something else new under the sun.

Tribeca Film Festival
World Narrative Competition
April 19, 2012

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