Eyes Wide Open (2009)

one of my absolute favorites!

Nice effects though.

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

I just saw this over the internet. It's another gay themed movie WRITTEN for a STRAIGHT audience, in an attempt to give them(the straights) a guilty conscience. It is NOT a gay movie written for a gay audience, hence, no happy ending. Brokeback had the same exact message in a different package. I suppose this is the only way gay themed movies could have evolved. Make straights feel guilty about the plight of gay people, especially since straights are the ones imposing the social/sexual rules for all to follow.But it's time to move on. Let's make some gay romance movies that are on par with the gazillions of hetero romance movies. This movie is not worth watching more than once unless the Jewish Orthodox Mafia appeals to you. Just reminded me of what Hitler did to them - only they were doing it to their own.

A great, very well acted, writed and filmed movie. A emotional trip that even brings us a reflection: the complexity of being gay in the very different cultures all over the world and the complexity of being who you really want to be. No doubt, a beautiful joy of the LGBT cinema. The film has a very polished cadence, and a very polished end too. Two points that make it shine. Actors do well. Dominate their characters in a realistic, touching and very natural way. The acting is another great achievement of this production. And since this is a drama, action causes the script to succeed. It is difficult to say whether a wider audience can enjoy this movie (which is already addressed to the gay community); should be, because the emotions it reflects are universal and represent social repression, which in many countries is still a common denominator.

Unfortunately, as in many films coming from Israel there are deep flaws in the making of the film. For some reason the Israeli film industry loves to make films focusing on the Orthodox community and setting up a rather bland love affair between two religious men - well it becomes so ordinary and so expected. There is nothing interesting, no drama, no dynamics, no ups and downs. All that talent and it goes nowhere. The acting is poor, and I blame that on the director. I'm not sure what the point of the story is. Forbidden love? Of course it is forbidden but this is not a love story. And in many ways too unrealistic to even give it any weight.I feel bad that with some much talent in Israel, in all aspects of film making so few really good solid films are actually produced. Instead, just because it is about homosexuality and set in the Orthodox community every one gets a bit excited! But it has nothing to do with film making.

.....Passion.........then carried along through the mores and strictures of a religious sect foreign to most of us, until we reach a Devastating Ending. The devastating (only word that fits) sense of loss and despair breathed by Shakespeare into a centuries earlier "Romeo & Juliet" is in no way greater than the sense of loss and despair created by the religious, non-accepting fervor we see directed at the two "Romeos" of this film. It is enough to make any understanding viewer weep.(( Because, what do you do.......what can you do.....when in those first few instants of meeting, you know.....absolutely know, "The Temptation" is there?! ))As an aside, if you're considering watching a movie like this, then possibly you are of a "certain persuasion." That being perhaps the case, please play a little simulation with me.....a little game of suppose or what if. Alrighty, then. Now, consider yourself and someone you've come to know, perhaps a longtime friend or fellow worker.....maybe a member of your club.....your pick-up sports group. You're in a little game of one-on-one, possibly out on a hike, swimming in a stream pool together, sharing a tent.....when.....Suddenly, you begin sensing a difference in your thoughts about him---maybe even feeling that something similar is occurring on his part.....OR, as in the case of this film's story, you find yourselves in a 2-person workplace, alone and away from the eyes and ears of others, just trying to get the job done. AND, in helping each other move equipment and work supplies around, you notice your fingers touching in handing items one to the other.....there is a brushing of arms as you pass. THEN comes a stillness and closeness in the space you're occupying with this other person.....and those sensations begin magnifying, pushing you into a mentally agitated state.....your eyes sweep around, but always return to that other person.....you have to move and nervously pace a bit.....all these things occurring as you feel your senses jumping into overdrive. Even more, there's a thrumming within your body which is growing.....growing; your skin nerve-ends begin experiencing, like, tiny electrical waves. Uncontrollably, your eyes are drawn, as by magnets, to those of the other person.....you cannot look away.....and it seems neither can he. It is now that you find yourself moving toward the one who has become the center of everything happening to you. At last, in this very instant, the two of you are reaching out with your hands, eyes locked.....FINALLY, they touch........And then it happens.As for some specifics on this movie, at its heartrending core are a main and a secondary lead whose performances could hardly be bettered. They wonderfully play two men for whom the briefest and smallest of smiles seems the norm for expressing some bit of happiness in their closed-in existence. Yet there are rare in-public times (but only when they are together) when we witness instances of laughing camaraderie, which seem to lighten their societally controlled lives. And, yes, there are times we cry for them as we realize their moments of "bliss" in coupling are likely to be short-lived.A couple of things to specifically watch for:-- The most heart-stopping moment in the film comes as our main lead is being pummeled, shouted at and questioned by his own religious leader over what's seen as his "unacceptable relationship and activity" with another. Then, of a sudden, Aaron surges back, blurting out: "I WAS DEAD......AND NOW I'M ALIVE!"-- A group bullying scene, as the film's last 10 minutes begin, will break your heart. To this viewer, it not only "symbolizes" the beginning of the end (in the very worst sense), but actually "is" the beginning of the end. Watching the eyes and body positions assumed by our leads in these filmed moments will tear you apart----for the realization hits us that a tearing apart is precisely what is happening. There is only one DVD Special Feature to speak of---a Director Interview (possibly English not being a first language accounts for a less than smooth presentation of ideas). Consisting of a series of questions asked, they include: director's background (non-gay and non-religious individual), to include his filmmaking history / the philosophy and thinking behind this film / effect of low budget on sticking to script / political and national implications of the film within the Nation of Israel. Nothing is provided concerning interrelationship of the two male leads during filming----something that would have been of interest to, at least, this viewer. Sadly, there is no during-the-film commentary.****