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The focus of Savi Gabizon’s film is Nadav (Aviv Elkabeth) a troubled 14-year-old whose search for meaning and identity is prompted by his parents’ divorce and his father’s retreat to a Hassidic community. Nadav’s angst also finds a romantic outlet: his mother’s younger sister, the tragic Nina (Ayelet Zorer). Along with the genial neighborhood peeping tom, he gazes on his beloved (and other women that catch his eye) and records his observations and fantasies in a rhapsodic diary. This makes for extensive voiceover narration, but it’s of a superior kind as Nadav’s words complement the director’s eye for detail and his spirit of whimsy, pathos, and absurdity. When Haimon, Nina’s husband, dies in a terrorist incident (the film’s sole concession to contemporary politics), Nadav moves in with her to cheer her up, and as he begins to put aside childish things, so does the filmmaker, with mixed but ultimately satisfying results. In Hebrew with English subtitles. (110 minutes)
BY PETER KEOUGH
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