I saw the film last week at TLVFest in a theatre packed with people. It's an art film from start to finish, and it announces itself as such with its beautiful, dissolving opening credits. And it's not merely art with no substance (although that's fine, too), as some other reviewers have claimed, as the narrative deals with homophobia and gender and sexuality in meaningful, subtle, and unexpected ways. Not everything is said, but implied. It's also worth noting the more fantastical elements, which truly shine and provide deeply cinematic images of sound and movement in the stunningly directed dance sequences, and especially in the non-conventional ending, each accompanied by great pop songs.
The film essentially fuses the somewhat trite genres of sports drama and a queer coming-of-age story in a novel manner, with the latter emphasized over the former throughout. My only complaint is that, while dealing explicitly with the male body and celebrating its beauty, and while it does so at times by brief moments of full frontal male nudity (and always against the backdrop of implicit and internalized homophobia), the masturbation scene(s) seemed a little hesitant or surprisingly shy to me. The protagonist's silhouette is softened, and the result is somewhat evasive.
10 out of 14 found this helpful