Ha-Asonot Shel Nina

I saw this movie yesterday and i thought it was OK ,but i don't understand what's all the fuss about. The movie tells about the happenings of Nadav, a 13 years old boy, that falls in love with his beautiful aunt, Nina. The movie tells the story through Nadav's eyes from the moment his aunt got married to Haimon, till the moment his father dies of cancer. The movie has some sad and funny moments, and i enjoyed watching it. Most of the actors perform very well, especially Dov Navon, in the role of Menashe that always makes me laugh, even though the character was negative. Anat Waxman and Ayelet Zorer also performed pretty well. In my opinion, the movie's number one problem is that the main character, Nadav, and the actor that plays him, Aviv Elkabetz. First of all, the character is pretty negative: he is peeking at his aunt and some other women together with Menashe, and tends to argue with the people he love and confiscate them(Nina and his Dad). Second of all, the actor wasn't very persuasive and had annoying face. Because of his behavior, i had a problem identifying with the main character and that is what bothered me mostly in the movie(i think i even identified with "The Godfather"'s Michael Corleone more than i identified with him), but i can't blame it all on him. I guess the movie was just not that good. Many parts of it were slow, and it just didn't have such an interesting plot after all (but it is worth seeing). I still don't understand how it got such good reviews and so many Israeli Oscars.

i gave it 7/10.

"Nina's Tragedies (Ha-Asonot Shel Nina)" is a charming mix of genres.

It's a coming of age story of a young teen boy (played very age appropriately with wide-eyed naiveté by Aviv Elkabeth) who acutely observes his dysfunctional family and their friends without really comprehending their adult emotions.

It's also a sophisticated urban comedy about artists and intellectuals that we are more used to seeing in movies set in Paris or New York, including a fashion designer, a book editor, photographer, sculptor and nudist performance artist.

The casual fillips that make us know they live in Tel Aviv add unique ramifications, as one character is killed while serving in the Army reserves (which for non-Israelis gives the film a post-9/11 overlay) and another gets caught up in ecstatic Orthodox Judaism.

It also capitalizes on unusual twist of fate relationships, as portrayed in such movies as "Next Stop Wonderland" where we think we are watching magic realism but it turns out to be grounded in coincidence.

The boy's desperate crush on his beautiful aunt is the mechanism to link the stories, as his voyeurism becomes a metaphor for the viewer and for artists in general, almost a bit too preciously as the boy is, as in most every such film, a budding writer.

The film combines cheerfully earthy and frank sexuality with intense romantic longing, so it is a much more ironic view of grief than the Israeli film "Broken Wings (Knafayim Shvurot)" that was released in the U.S. last year. There's a long kiss that matches TV's most sensual kiss of the season in "Lost" with beautiful cinematography of temporary fulfillment. The primarily night-time cinematography is lovely.

The acting is wonderful, particularly Ayelet Zurer as the strikingly lovely aunt who has intense chemistry in contrast with the solidity of craggy-faced Alon Abutbul. Anat Waxman makes the quirky mother a real person, not a silly joke. The concluding coda seems too much wishful thinking, even if it is emotionally satisfying.

The credits are not translated into English and many of the subtitles are white on white.

One of the most common errors in film reviewing is mistaking "Realistic" with "Genuine". For example, a movie might be considered realistic because it depicts a harsh environment, poverty, crime and all the other features that are a part on any country but it will be completely not genuine because the characters are shallow, stereotypical and the plot would just too dramatic to actually occur like a 16 year old who becomes a drug baron or something (sweet 16 comes to mind as an example).

On the other hand, there are films who arre not very (or even remotely) realistic but they're genuine because their feelings and lines (in the dialogue, enough about drugs) are something we can all relate to. films that are genuine could be: Jerry Mcquire, His girl friday, Trainspotting, se7en etc. I am happy to say that Nina's tragedies, although nowhere near as good as those masterpieces, definitely earns its place in the Genuine hall of fame.

The movie, in short, tells the tale of Nadav, a 14 year old kid who reminisces 6 months of his life, beginning from the death of his aunt's husband up to his father's death. His aunt, Nina ( portrayed by Ayelet Zorer, in my opinion, the Israeli equivalent of Maryl Streep)is shattered and Nadav is asked by his mother to move in with her and Nadav who is secretly infatuated with Nina, is more than happy to be a shoulder to cry on.

Unfortunately, Nadav's already complex plot thickens even more when his father who became a fanatic religious a couple of years ago, falls ill with cancer and wants to reconcile with his estranged son while into Nina's life enters an eccentric photographer (Alon Aboutboul). Nadav is about to face every demon he has in the next six months and in the worst possible time- when he reaches puberty.

The movie is magnificent, it boasts great acting and script but most of all, it has those little scenes that are seemingly insignificant but they are the scenes that make us want to rent it again and again.

8.5 out of 10 in my FilmOmeter. The best Israeli film of 2003, so far.

This is a truly great film, perhaps the first Israeli film to enter that category. It is, at once, funny and sad, raucous and sensitive. It beautifully encapsulates the bizarre realities of life in modern Israel, and vividly captures the many moods and faces of Tel-Aviv. Woody Allen would have been proud, even in his heyday, to have produced such a humorous and moving piece. And the acting is just terrific.

I am quite frankly amazed that 3 people found Gadi I's comments ("A nice movie! nothing more") helpful. I cannot comprehend why he finds the Nadav character to be "negative" for "peeking at his aunt" - Anat Zorer is drop-dead gorgeous, and if I had had an aunt who looked like that when I was a post-pubescent teenager, I wouldn't have been able to STOP "peeking" at her! To say that the movie is "just not that good" beggars belief.

Whether you are Israeli or not - and even if you have never been to Israel - if you haven't seen this movie, what are you waiting for?!

This film is much more sophisticated than the average Israeli movie, with a thoughtful script, excellent production values, and decent acting. It even unfolds slightly out of sequence, an arty touch that some might find confusing, though everything comes together nicely at the end. It's not just a good movie by Israeli standards, but by any standards. With movies like this one, and Broken Wings, the Israeli cinema is demonstrating a new level of vitality and professionalism.

This movie is narrated by Nadav, a pubescent boy who has a crush on his beautiful aunt, but the focus isn't on young lust as capsule descriptions might lead you to believe. It's much more about the difficulty of growing up and coming to terms with the problems of the adult world, and with the human frailties of your loved ones. And his family is a wacky bunch. Dad has dropped out and joined a bunch of religious fanatics/ecstatics. Mom is a flighty fashion designer who has a new boyfriend every week. And aunt Nina is a recent widow whose grief sometimes separates them, and sometimes brings them closer.

In his struggle to understand the adult world, Nadav occasionally turns to peeping through windows, a practice the director tries to portray as an offshoot of his sensitive, inquiring mind. Some viewers may find it a bit creepy, particularly because of his partner in crime, a socially inept adult named Menahem (played with great comic effect by Dov Navon). But that, too, is a small part of the plot, and since we're peeping at the same things he is, we're in no position to cast stones.

Along with the problems of adult life, the film portrays lots of the small moments that make it so rich and interesting as well. These incidents in the lives of the various characters may be absurd, but they also have the ring of truth about them.

Nadav acts childishly throughout the film, refusing to talk to family members he loves, but that he feels have betrayed him. He comes around in the end, though, and in the heartwarming climax he accepts them with their faults, just as he comes to see that they also accept him with his.