Haim Tabakman’s debut feature examines forbidden love in Jerusalem

EYES WIDE OPEN (EINAYM PKUHOT) (Haim Tabakman, 2009)
Cinema Village
22 East 12th St. between Fifth Ave. & University Pl.
Opens Friday, February 5
212-924-3363
www.cinemavillage.com
www.eyeswideopenisrael.org

After his father dies, Aaron (Zohar Shtrauss) decides to keep the family butcher shop going, even taking on a mysterious apprentice, Ezri (Ran Danker), who has arrived in Jerusalem with nowhere to stay and no money. Rumors swirl throughout the tight-knit Orthodox community about Ezri’s past, but Aaron refuses to get rid of him — and soon finds himself unusually attracted to the young gay student. As he fights his desires and tries to keep the burgeoning relationship a secret from his family, his wife (Tinkerbell) starts suspecting something is wrong, and everything he has built threatens to fall apart. A festival favorite at Cannes, Toronto, Karlovy Vary, and last month’s New York Jewish Film Festival at Lincoln Center, EYES WIDE OPEN is a subtly beautiful examination of forbidden love flying in the face of religious belief. Shtrauss portrays Aaron with an awkward uncomfortability that reveals his character’s painful inner struggle and complex moral dilemma, while Danker infuses Ezri with a quiet power. First-time director Haim Tabakman and screenwriter Merav Doster keep things slow and steady all the way, avoiding genre clichés and grandiose statements in favor of a gentle, compelling narrative that never hits you over the head.