The Bubble

STRAND
Street: Feb. 12
Prebook: Jan. 24
> Rising international filmmaker scores with a topical drama about gay men in the Middle East.

Taboos abound in The Bubble, including the Romeo and Juliet-like romance between an Israeli man and a Palestinian man as well as an Arab hiding his sexuality in an extremely homophobic culture. In Tel Aviv, Lulu (Daniella Wircer) shares an apartment with her two gay male friends, Noam (Ohad Knoller) and Yelli (Alon Friedman). Into this world comes Ashraf (Yousef Sweid), a Palestinian whom Noam met while on duty at an army checkpoint. They fall in love, and the entire group conspires to help them be together, but political tensions and Ashraf’s closed-minded family doom not only the relationship, but people’s lives as well. It makes for a well-acted, thoughtful drama that has the potential to educate consumers about a politically charged part of the world.

Shelf Talk: With Bubble, director Eytan Fox treads on ground similar to that of his well-received 2002 film Yossi & Jagger (which also starred Knoller), and as Fox is a well-known name on the film-festival circuit, Bubble arrives with some international cred. Fairly explicit scenes of gay sex and a tumultuous Middle Eastern setting make this film a niche product, and audiences should know that the romantic-comedy styling on the DVD box cover contradicts the deep themes that actually exist in the film.