Movie Reviews: The Bubble & Walk on Water

Both of these movies were superbly directed by Eytan Fox. In The Bubble Noam, played by Ohad Knoller, serves in the reserve forces at a checkpoint where he meets a young Palestinian man. Noam loses his I.D. card and the young man, Ashraf, played by Yousef Joe Sweid, returns it to him where he lives in an apartment in Tel Aviv. The movie continues to follow Noam, Ashraf and the other roommates which include a gay man, Yelli (Alon Friedman) and a straight woman, Lulu (Daniella Wircer) as they go about their lives in Tel Aviv. Yousef also plays the gay Palestinian man in the movie Walk on Water.

Every day they hear about bombings and deaths and they contact each other to make sure they are not affected. They protest the political and religious violence until one day it touches them and their bubble bursts. The conclusion of the movie is how they deal with violence when it touches their group. It is unforgettable and a must see. Here is the trailer:

I gave this movie

**** of five stars

In Walk on Water Eyal, played by Lior Ashkenazi, is an Israeli Mossad agent (read ruthless assassin), who after his wife’s suicide is given the mission to be tour guide to Axel, played by Knut Berger, who is visiting his sister Pia, played by Caroline Peters, at her Kibbutz from Sweden. The reason for this undercover mission is to find out if Axel’s grandfather, Alfred Himmelman (Ernest Lenart) and ex Nazi officer is still alive. Eyal resents the mission because he feels that he is babysitting and moreover it turns out that Axel is gay and tends to befriend Palestinians both of which rub him the wrong way. He expresses this to his Mossad chief Menachem (Gideon Shemer), but it was explained that this new type of work is a break since his wife’s death. Ultimately it is discovered that the old Nazi is alive and Eyal must head to Berlin and meet up with Axel by chance.

I was completely captivated by this movie. You could just fall into Lior’s blue eyes and he plays the Mossad tough guy with such panache; I was swooning in my seat! Yet at the same time he is vulnerable and you wonder just how far he will go with Knut Berger. You just have to see it for yourself. I was hoping it would never end. There are no loose ends by the end of this movie though. All questions are answered.

I gave this movie

**** of five stars

The final Eytan Fox movie I must see is Yossi & Jagger, but fear not, it is in my Netflix queue.