Michael (John Benjamin Hickey) writes The Intrepid Traveler column for The New York Times. He spends five days in a place and tries to capture that which is not mainstream tourism. In Tel Aviv only for the second time – the first was his Bar Mitzvah – he’s sublet an apartment from twenty-something filmmaker Tomer (Niv Nissim) in a poor, graffiti-filled neighborhood the young man insists is cutting edge. Having messed up the days, the tenant hasn’t cleared out. His space is a mess.
The journalist seems to be in his fifties; casual, almost preppy in dress; someone who unceremoniously does the right thing. He volunteers to go to a hotel, but no. Sleep eludes him. We get the impression it has for some time. He’s distracted. When husband David telephones from the states, Michael holds his phone camera showing the apartment. There are photos of Tomer on the frig. David comments that the young man is hot. Still, his is the warmer relationship voice. Have they had an argument to which we’re not privy? While at an art exhibit, Michael mistakenly receives a call meant for David. He’s shocked, disturbed.
The next day Tomer comes to pick up some things. Michael invites him to breakfast. Everything about the two is different – their tastes, the way they think and live. Bemused, Tomer sees Michael as “cliché gay.” He gently makes fun of the older man. Michael is not defensive. They barter a deal. The landlord can sleep on his couch in exchange for acting as tour guide.
The young man is promiscuous (and polyamorous) partly on a local version of Grindr, while Michael believes a committed partner is paramount. Tomer’s friends are attractive and loose. Michael survived the AIDs pandemic’ he’s interested in what’s going on in proximity, but passive. Tomer includes his tenant in a night out with the boys which doesn’t go as planned. He sets up a wrongheaded liaison which also goes awry. Uncomfortable, Michael decides to move to a hotel, but instead is pressed into visiting his landlord’s mother.
This is a gentle film with a reveal three-quarter of the way through. Conversation feels natural. Lifestyles are well manifest. Camera point of view is telling. Oddly, we see next to nothing of Tel Aviv about which Michael is ostensibly writing. Only a stolen bicycle indicates anything different. When questioned about impressions, the writer’s response, that it’s a city of contrasts, lands meaningless. The presumption is that youthful energy and freedoms are the opposite of timeless tradition, but we see no example. Niv Nissim is terrific. Hickey’s emotion remains beneath the surface until the end of the film. Glimpses of inner turmoil would help sympathy. The men have influenced each other’s lives.
John Benjamin Hickey can currently be seen in the new season of In Treatment which shows his acting chops more decisively.
Photos Courtesy of the film
Sublet
Directed by: Eytan Fox (Yossi & Jagger, The Bubble, Yossi, Walk on Water)
Written by: Eytan Fox, Itay Segal
Cast: John Benjamin Hickey, Niv Nissim
In theaters on June 11; on demand July 9
