Love is a battlefield

>> With The Bubble, Israeli filmmakers Eytan
Fox and Gal Uchovsky examine romance
across the Israeli-Palestinian divide

by MATTHEW HAYS

In the wonderful world of film publicity, the old adage about timing being everything is especially crucial. But for the Israeli filmmaking team of Eytan Fox and Gal Uchovsky, the timing around the Israeli release of their latest collaboration, The Bubble, was not entirely welcome.

The film has a group of young Tel Aviv residents hanging out and partying; one of them, a gay Jew, ends up falling in love with a Palestinian. Some of the friends disapprove, but that’s nothing compared to the response of the Palestinian gay man’s family. Those familiar with Fox and Uchovsky’s collaborations will recognize their style. There is solid, realistic dialogue, natural performances from a strong cast and there are moments of comedy. But never far away are the weighty issues that hang over Israel and its neighbours in the Middle East. Fox, who directs, and Uchovsky, who writes, manage to cut to the core of many of the sharp divisions between Arabs and Jews.

But the timing did turn out to be odd. Just as The Bubble was coming out to strong reviews in the summer of 2006, Israel and Lebanon went to war. Fox and Uchovsky, progressive filmmakers who often infuse their films with critiques of right-wing Israeli politics, found themselves under attack for the film, with some charging that their message was misguided and tantamount to betrayal. Such is the contentious and often vicious debate that goes on in Israel, about how the country conducts itself and how it should proceed.

“We were attacked,” says Fox, “but at the same time, many in the new Israel supported us, the younger people who are really sick of all those old attitudes about who’s a traitor and who’s not. They want to put things on the table, and expose the mistakes we’ve made as a way to move forward as a country.”

Shutting out the strife

The attacks somehow connected with the very essence of the film, though. The title itself refers to The Bubble that many Israelis are accused of living in—particularly those who reside in Tel Aviv. There are those Israelis who wish to live their lives peacefully, free of the strife of the region, and to avoid the topic of Mideast strife altogether. It is these people who are accused of living in a bubble, an imaginary place untouched by politics and acrimony.

“When The Bubble opened in Israel, two weeks later, the war started,” recalls Uchovsky. “All of the movie theatres in the north of Israel closed down. As well, everyone was against Tel Aviv, because it was in the south and away from the war. Tel Aviv became like a scapegoat. People were saying, ‘You are in Tel Aviv, you couldn’t care less, but we are dying. Bombs are falling in the north.’ There were articles in the media suggesting that everyone in Tel Aviv was going out to the nightclubs and restaurants while people in the North were in bomb shelters.”

Still, Fox and Uchovsky felt that their film helped to launch a debate, and to enhance age-old debates in Israel. The Bubble drew in good numbers, and got people talking. “In order to have the film work, you have to have people want to see a love story. Then they have to accept that, while it’s a fun, positive movie, one of the characters is going to fall in love with a Palestinian. It starts out quite lightly but then gets much more serious. The fun part is the outside of the film; on the inside are all of these serious issues that must be dealt with.”

Despite the ongoing grief in Israel and the occupied territories, Fox and Uchovsky hold out hope for their country, and for changing attitudes there. Not only are younger people embracing new ways of thinking about complex Israeli-Palestinian relations, but Israeli attitudes have changed profoundly since Fox began making films in 1990. “When I first made films, I tried to keep anything gay to a minimum in them. Now Israel has come a long way, it’s not such a big deal to be gay in Israel.”

20 and counting

>> Gay hockey stars, disco queens, lusting
lesbians and other hot (pink) highlights
from Image+Nation ’07

SOUL POWER: The Godfather of Disco

One of the most talked about films at September’s Toronto International Film Festival was Laurie Lynd’s Breakfast With Scot. A very straight-acting gay couple take in a boy after his mother dies. The young lad likes show tunes and wants nothing to do with hockey; trouble is, one of his new parents is a closeted NHL player who worries his queer son might give away his own homosexuality and threaten his spot on the team.

Breakfast with Scot has won warm reviews, and is noteworthy because the Toronto Maple Leafs allowed their brand to be used in the film—a first for a gay-themed film and an NHL team. On the opposite end of the scale is Butterfly: A Grimm Love Story. This film was banned in Germany due to its rather outrageous content: I’m not sure how deeply I can get into it here, as this is a family newspaper, but it involves cannibalism. It’s one of those enter-at-your-own-risk movies.

From South Korea comes the directorial debut of Leesong Hee-Il, No Regret, a gritty, realistic film about the tortured relationship that develops between two young Korean men. The strict and repressive codes that dictate social life in South Korea are an expected impediment. This film has proven a hit in its native Korea and has won accolades on the international festival circuit. A great masala is cooked up in Pratibha Parmar’s feature Nina’s Heavenly Delights. A woman returns to Glasgow for her father’s funeral, only to learn that his restaurant, The New Taj, is being sold off. She decides to take over the resto herself, with the help of a good friend who she hires as chef. Soon, there’s more cooking in the kitchen than just curry.

Taiwanese lesbian chic is in full bloom with Zero Chou’s Spider Lilies, a film about porn Web-casts, soft porn, tattoos and luscious scenes of lesbian lust. This winning combo has pushed the film to become one of Taiwan’s all-time box-office champs.

KISSIN’ IN THE KITCHEN: Nina’s Heavenly Delights

As usual, the festival screens some amazing documentaries. I am looking forward to Mommy Mommy, Sylvie Rosenthal’s examination of the roadblocks still faced by queer couples wanting to adopt and parent; Two Homelands: Cuba & the Night, Christian Liffers’ exposé about queer life in Cuba; The Godfather of Disco, Gene Graham’s ode to a pivotal figure of the ’70s dancefloor era; and A Jihad for Love, Parvez Sharma’s eagerly-anticipated film about Muslims who are also queer.

The festival always includes a look back at past hit films, and this year, they’ll be screening one of my favourites from the ’80s, Parting Glances. It’s an entirely endearing indie flick about an ensemble of gay New Yorkers dealing with intimacy in the beginnings of the AIDS epidemic. Notably, a then-unknown Steve Buscemi plays a man struggling with HIV in a beautiful performance.

Please also note that Image+Nation features some super short flicks; not to be missed is J.D. Stewart’s elegiac, gorgeous film-poem, The One About Icarus, as well as Jean-Baptiste Erreca’s Cowboy Fever, a Latino homage to Brokeback Mountain.

In honour of its 20th year, the fest will culminate with a workshop exploring the past, present and future of LGBT culture and film, and will include talks by/with B. Ruby Rich, John Greyson, Barbara Hammer, Tom Waugh, Patti White, Wieland Speck and Maureen Bradley.

Image+Nation, Montreal’s LGBT film festival,
runs Nov. 15–25 www.image-nation.org

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