YOSSI is now screening in Los Angeles. It's a sweet second chapter to YOSSI and JAGGER, picking up 10 years later. Although a sensitive character study of YOSSI, now a heartbroken successful doctor, the film wasn't satisfying in the end. Oz Zehavi as Tom is very charming and sexy. His pursuit of Yossi is seductive but perplexing. Just when Yossi discovers some joy in his life, the film ends. I just needed a little more...
shareHmmm, agreed. Disappointing.
shareWho's to say if their relationship would last? Tom and Yossi are only perhaps ten years apart, but the gulf seems much wider. Yossi is an old soul. Maybe the filmmakers should have made him 43, as opposed to 33. I had to keep reminding myself that he's not even middle-aged. Yossi and Tom's tentative plan to remain in that beachside idyll was sweetly romantic, but probably unrealistic, so it's appropriate for the story to end on an ambiguous note.
shareyes, CooperCamden.
shareI liked the ending. Basically, they've just met, and the pacing of the movie, essentially taking it day by day, would have had to be changed, time compressed, to give them more time (plus, they are both on vacation and don't have more time, other than a day or two-- we'd have to flash forward to Tom's next leave.
The point for me isn't whether they're going to stay there forever, or even stay together all (of course Tom isn't going to go AWOL), but that Yossi is now capable of opening that conversation. The character is able to conceive of being in a new relationship, and of it going on forever.
From Tom's expression, I'm pretty sure his next part of the conversation is going to be about finding out how serious Yossi is, clarifying that he didn't mean he was ready to desert, back up slowly to a more rational position. But look who's making him back up! Look who's being more daring, more provocative, taking more initiative! For the first time, Tom isn't the one doing the pursuing, the reassuring, the validating.
There's been a shift, and Yossi is just starting to come alive. That is the greater value in what is happening. The terms of his life have changed, his horizons have shifted. One step at a time.
I also didn't see the ending as a "happy ever after". It is clear from their smiles at the end that they are both aware of this - of the fact, that Yossi was finally able to relax and start to enjoy life. In comparison to the way he tried to get away multiple times from a simple massage, saying "Sure, let's stay here forever", even though it has been said humorously, it's progress.
shareI think some situations are best frozen in time, before optimism has had time to dissipate into reality. Would you be more satisfied by an ending in which the relationship with Tom turned out to be fleeting, as it most likely was? I wouldn't.
shareJust saw this last night and was vey satisfied with the ending. Obviously, in reality, them staying there forever isn't realistic because the both have lives and responsibilities to return to. But the very fantasy that it COULD be a reality is what they find satisfaction in. We've all had brief escapes of reality with someone and most of us have probably said, "Let's just stay here forever," even though that option is really out of the question. Whatever happened after the film ended is between them, but that glimpse of Yossi being open to the fact, and probably somewhat serious of staying, is what made me happy to see. I don't think a "realistic' ending is what was intended and probably wouldn't have sat well with us "dreamers." :)
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