Eyes Wide Open Review

The story of a kosher butcher’s gay fling with his assistant is bound to provoke controversy. Yet rather than setting out to shock, Haim Tabakman shows how a devout man can stay true to his faith and remain a decent citizen while also being homosexual. The fact that Zohar Shtrauss and Ran Danker are more physically than emotionally attracted dissipates the moral intensity, while more could have been made of a subplot scandal involving a female shopkeeper refusing an arranged marriage. But Tabakman makes evocative use of enclosed spaces and silences, and tempers the melodrama with a sociological authenticity that confirms the centrality of belief in Jewish culture.