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| Yiftach Klein |
In this short Isreali drama, Yuval (Yiftach Klein) is vacationing with his pretty wife, Michaela (Hilla Vidor), and their two children, at the beach. After being playfully buried in the sand up to his neck by his offspring, Yuval finds himself trapped as the tide comes rushing in. His rescuer, who pulls him out of the sand, (in both the literal and figurative sense) is Iftach (Odad Leopold), who is at the resort with his casual flame (Ido Bartal). Although Yuval keeps this from his wife, he and Iftach are already acquainted -- in fact, they were lovers for quite awhile and Iftach keeps hoping he can get Yuval back. Things of a sexual nature occur between the two men, and Iftach decides to tell Michaela the truth, almost leading to a tragedy and an unresolved finale. The trouble with this too-short film (23 minutes) is that there isn't enough time for character development nor to answer some important questions. A bigger problem is that Yuval -- be he gay or bisexual -- is clearly dealing with self-hatred issues and is essentially a complete dickhead. At one point he even accuses Iftach of molesting his teenage son. One also loses sympathy for Iftach, who should certainly leave his ex to his closeted life and move on with another, more agreeable man, and he is rather unkind to the man he came to the resort with. Many of the developments in the story are cliched, and have been related often in movies where the lover is female. However, the acting is good, and Shai (Shay) Peleg's cinematography is first-rate.
Verdict: Absorbing but ultimately ho hum tale of closet case trapped in wet sand. **1/4.
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