Yossi

In 2002, Eytan Fox made ‘Yossi and Jagger’, a slight but powerful story about the love affair between two male Israeli conscripts out in the field. A decade on, Fox and actor Ohad Knoller return to pick up the story in this moving sequel. The title’s subtle suggestion of absence is typical of the film’s low-key tone: now a doctor, Yossi lives in a kind of lonely, semi-closeted limbo, marked by unsatisfying interactions with colleagues and longing for his lost love – feelings that are given a new edge by an encounter with a group of young conscripts. Fox recognises the changes in regard to LGBT issues that Israeli society has undergone even as his protagonist has remained stuck, but Knoller’s superbly underplayed performance ensures that Yossi’s sad-sack tendencies aren’t allowed to alienate him from our affections.