Nina's Tragedies

Israeli Writer/director Savi Gavison has a unique concept about the discoveries and joys and travails of coming of age and he makes this tender little story come to life with simplicity and honesty and a large dose of human kindness. The multiple awards this movie garnered are very well deserved: perhaps now that it is readily available on DVD will hopefully bring it to the attention of a larger audience.

HA-ASONOT SHEL NINA (NINA'S TRAGEDIES) takes us on a journey with teenager Nadav (a quietly superb Aviv Elkabeth) whose home life is stressful: his mother Alona (Anat Waxman) has thrown out her husband and takes on lovers like flies to flypaper. Alona's sister Nina (the luminously beautiful Ayelet Zurer) - Nadav's aunt - has relationship troubles with her intended husband Haimon (Yoram Hattab) yet finally marries him, much to the dissatisfaction of Nadav who is privately in love with Nina (his first sensation of attraction and lust). Nadav has a friend Menahem (Dov Navon) with whom he spends his time as a peeping tom, watching the vagaries of his mother and Nina. After Nina's marriage, Haimon is killed in the ongoing violence in Tel Aviv and Nina is destroyed emotionally: Alona sends the more than willing Nadav to live with his aunt, an act that only enforces his passion for Nina. But soon Nina begins to see visions of Haimon running naked in the streets (!) and is befriended by a handsome Avinoam (Alon Abutbul) whose girlfriend Lihi (Osnat Fishman) is a successful artist. Nina and Avinoam have a passionate but brief affair (causing deep bitterness in the jealous Nadav), but the affair is ended when Nina 'sees' the face/ghost of Haimon at her window and Nina longs for the return of Haimon, knowing now that she is pregnant with his child. Navad engages Menahem to help him resolve Nina's new tragedy, but Menahem has found a girlfriend Galina (Jenya Dodina) and has his own 'tragedy' when Galina returns to her ex-lover Alex (Yoram Hattab again!), and it is Menahem's tragedy that leads Navad to the discovery that the very strange Alex is the 'ghost' of Haimon that Nina has been seeing. The story becomes more complex as Nina delivers her baby, Navad's father is taken back by his mother when his diagnosis of cancer is made known, and the mixed set of tragedies intertwine for an ending that surprises everyone.

If the plot sounds convoluted, it is! But the fact that the story is from the obsessively maintained diary of Nadav makes it all connect in the loveliest of ways. The cast is outstanding and the tenor of the times in Tel Aviv is accurately and realistically portrayed and for once allows the constant conflict to be simply background for a story that deals with equally traumatic personal issues - at least in the eyes of an impressionable young teenager. There is much wisdom here, but there is also considerable fine entertainment in a film that sees human foibles as comic as they are tragic. Watching NINA'S TRAGEDIES is a complete pleasure. In Hebrew with English subtitles. Grady Harp

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.

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.

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?!

I just saw this at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival and loved it. It didn't feel like most movies I've seen lately. It didn't try to make the main character change for the better. It accepted all the flaws and moved on, focusing on the story. I loved all the connections and the fact that it's advertised to be "a very sad comedy" is exactly right. it is hilarious at some parts, and you want to cry at others, but it works. it's real. i loved it. beautiful cinematography and acting. Another thing i liked about the movie was it was genuinely from a little boy's point of view. when he has the dream with the man's voice becoming a telephone ring, that was priceless and clearly something that a little child would dream because it would be stuck in their heads. great movie. see it :)