Tom Nesher’s Come Closer, which opens throughout Israel on Thursday, is a riveting story of love and loss, a movie that draws you in during the first moments and which will hold your attention and emotion until the final frame.
It’s a love story, but not in the conventional sense. It’s about different kinds of love: a young woman’s love for her brother and later for his girlfriend; her troubled love for her parents, especially her mother; her feelings for her married lover; and her love for her self-image as a rebellious, free spirit, who has to begin to care about others in order to move forward.
In a difficult year for any Israeli movie to get attention both at home and abroad, Come Closer, Nesher’s debut feature film, has collected important prizes. The movie won the Viewpoints Award at the Tribeca Festival in New York this summer, the Best Debut Film Prize at the Jerusalem Film Festival (in a very competitive year), and, earlier this week, the Best Picture Ophir Award and Ophirs for Nesher for Best Director and for its lead actress, Lia Elalouf, as well as an editing award.
There are two points about Nesher and the film that have been much discussed in Israel but which will not – and certainly should not – matter to audiences. One is that Nesher is the daughter of Israel’s most popular and acclaimed director, Avi Nesher. The second is that the story in Come Closer is inspired partly by the death of her brother, Ari Nesher, in an accident in 2018. The movie stands on its own, whether you know anything about its director or not.
COME CLOSER tells the story of Eden (Elalouf), who lives a life like many young people in Tel Aviv. She has a job in a club owned by a married man (Shlomi Shaban), with whom she is having a casual, not especially passionate affair. Her mother (Neta Garty) drives her crazy in all the usual ways, and her father (Yaakov Zada-Daniel), a restaurateur in America, does not play a major part in her life. Self-centered and impulsive, tough rather than strong, Eden’s central attachment is to her younger brother, Nati (Ido Tako), who is finishing high school.
Eden and Nati made a pact years ago, that they would go away abroad together once he finishes school. You sense that they drew together during their parents’ acrimonious divorce and that Eden clings to that alliance. She launches a bizarre surprise party for Nati with all his friends – she doesn’t seem to have her own – on the beach, with dancing, drugs, and music.
But he has other plans, and as he heads off, he is killed in a hit-and-run accident. The scenes of Eden coping with her grief build sympathy for her. In one evocative scene, she puts on as many of Nati’s clothes as she can manage and wanders the streets. In another, she leaves his shiva and goes to her lover’s club, dancing and drinking as if nothing has happened.
Eventually, trying to get back something of what she has lost, she delves into his life, becoming fascinated with a quiet girl she didn’t recognize who attended his funeral. She tracks her down and is surprised to meet Maya (Darya Rosen) and find out that she was Nati’s first serious girlfriend, whom he kept secret from her. Maya is from a different world. Her family is middle class, she lives in the center of the country, not funky south Tel Aviv where Eden has an apartment, or upscale north Tel Aviv where she grew up. Maya even has a typical high-school job – at a bowling alley. Eden is shocked to learn much that she didn’t know about her adored brother.
AS SHE deals with her feelings of betrayal, Eden moves closer to her brother’s secret girlfriend and the life he kept hidden. Maya is also broken and hurting and finds part of what she has lost in Eden. As the two girls bond, they are drawn into an increasingly fraught, even sexual relationship, filled with the laughter and playfulness both feared had died with Nati. Eventually, they take off on a road trip to the beaches of Sinai that is at first emotionally freeing but later psychologically dangerous.
A unique style
The movie unfolds almost like a series of social-media posts, and presents these characters who have grown up in the digital world with a mix of color, music, fashion, and sexiness, captured with electrifying cinematography by Shai Peled. The Israeli music and scenes of Tel Aviv nightlife ground the movie, giving it atmosphere and a sense of place. That may be because it’s a rare movie about young people by someone around the age of the characters, and this brings an intensity to the story. It feels authentic.
The acting is superb in all the roles, with the charismatic Ido Tako, known for such television series as Sky and Black Space, in the small but critical role of Nati. The actresses playing Eden and Maya are newcomers, and both are well suited to their roles. Darya Rosen is convincingly vulnerable and sweet as Maya and you can see why Nati would have been drawn to her. In the central role of Eden, Lia Elalouf commands the screen. It’s a star-making performance by a beautiful actress who doesn’t rely on her looks. She allows herself to open up and play a difficult, sometimes unlikable character who eventually wins us over. By the end of the film, Elalouf’s performance makes Eden endearing and relatable, and you are touched by her pain.
Come Closer establishes Nesher as a major talent on the Israeli movie scene. She has created a moving and universal story of grief and redemption, and in the process, accomplishes an almost miraculous feat for a first-time director: She makes it look easy.