PRODUCT INFORMATION:
(1992, 95 min)
A.K.A.: Hessed Mufla
Country: Israel
Studio: Cinevista
Cast: Gal Hoyberger, Sharon Alexander, Aki Avni
Director: Amos Gutman
# Actors: Sharon Alexander, Aki Avni, Dvora Bartonov, Gal Hoyberger, Rivka Michaeli, See more

Against the backdrop of AIDS, the film explores two families, each with a gay son. Jonathan is splitting from Miki because the more experienced Miki is playing around. Then Jonathan sees Thomas, the son and grandson of his neighbors, who is back in Israel after failing to make it as a musician in New York: Thomas is ill, detached, in search of hard drugs. Jonathan tries to connect with him. Meanwhile, Thomas's grandmother, facing old age, has become bitter, particularly toward her hard-working daughter. They worry about Thomas. A few blocks away, Jonathan's mother, brother and sister maintain their sometimes bickering relationships, watching Jonathan brave adulthood.

REVIEW
Set in Tel Aviv, this intense, melancholy drama focuses on Jonathan, a gangly and romantic gay teenager who faces an early-life crisis when he finds himself abandoned by his lover. Frustrated by his self-absorbed mother and horde of pot-head friends who invade his apartment, Jonathan's passions are rekindled after he befriends Thomas, the handsome, HIV-positive older son of his upstairs neighbor. Their budding yet tentative relationship provides the backdrop for this ambitious, thought-provoking social and sexual drama which touches upon such issues as AIDS, death, drug abuse, the gay milieu of Tel Aviv and family dyfunctionalism.

Although the film overreaches, it remains a serious, thought-provoking gay drama. Amos Gutman, the filmmaker, died of AIDS in 1993 shortly after the release of this film. (Hebrew with English subtitles).