No pork please we're Jewish...

Eyes Wide Open (Einaym Pkuhot)
Starring: Zohar Shtrauss, Ran Danker, Tinkerbell
Director: Haim Tabakman
Rating: ** (out of 5)

Summary: A married, orthodox Jewish man takes over the butcher's shop owned by his late father and takes on a young outsider as his apprentice and lover...

Set amongst the alleyways, closed shop shutters and rooftops of Jerusalem, Eye's Wide Open effectively maintains an atmosphere of repressed expression from beginning to end but the tone is such that it almost stifles any emotional connection the audience feels with the leads or the story.

In terms of finance and experience of the director, it may be slightly unfair to compare Eyes Wide Open with Brokeback Mountain but the similarities are obvious and comparisons unfortunately unavoidable. Whereas Brokeback's ability to underplay the traditional histrionics of Hollywood love stories and replace them with a masculine intensity was one of many keys to its critical and commercial success, Eyes Wide Open fails to recreate this or create anything with an originality that can equally resonate.

The blame for this falls on the shoulders on many of those involved but director Haim Tabakman must take the fall. He builds momentum only to cut it short at inappropriate moments in an attempt to reinforce the sexually repressive and unfulfilling life being led by Aaron and Ezri but this frustration affects the audience as well, and they're ultimately never rewarded for their patience. With all artful foreplay and no explosive money shots, the audience falls off the edge of their seats and starts to begrudge the bruises.

The portrayals of butcher Aaron (Zohar Shtrauss) and Ezri (Ran Danker) are also extremely stilted. There are longing stares and occasional intense flashes behind the eyes but the moments of togetherness, guilt, satisfaction and frustration are never conveyed convincingly. The problem is two fold when the intimate scenes are handled with such coyness that you need your leads to show what the director is almost scared to. Of course there's a fine line between gratuitous sex scenes and handling with care but there is no fearlessness on screen.

Its not all doom and gloom though, the actress Tinkerbell does a fantastic job with the role of Aaron's wife Rivka. With her beautiful long, red hair hidden beneath a dowdy greying wig, she watches her husband drift away with the same expression of forlorn hope that she has in the mirror every evening whilst she brushes her flowing locks. Tinkerbell uses her brief screen time to bring extra dimensions to a character that is quite underwritten and for the duration simply an onlooker.

Also, the cinematography by Axel Schneppat is beautiful to look at, with the backdrop of the city of Jerusalem in complete contrast to the blue and grey hues of the naturally lit butcher's shop and surrounding streets.

Eyes Wide Open is uneven, poorly paced and baits the art house crowd in such a way that an avid Transformers 2 watcher would be offended. It's also pretention of the highest order and extremely disappointing. It pulls punches in what could have been an interesting look into a culture hardly seen on film and is filmed so cynically and with such a rigid hand that it's more like watching a slideshow than a film. Eyes Wide Open? You'll struggle trust me.