Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Ortiz Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

gradyharp Israeli Writer/director Savi Gavison has a unique concept about the discoveries and joys and travails of coming of age and he makes this tender little story come to life with simplicity and honesty and a large dose of human kindness. The multiple awards this movie garnered are very well deserved: perhaps now that it is readily available on DVD will hopefully bring it to the attention of a larger audience.HA-ASONOT SHEL NINA (NINA'S TRAGEDIES) takes us on a journey with teenager Nadav (a quietly superb Aviv Elkabeth) whose home life is stressful: his mother Alona (Anat Waxman) has thrown out her husband and takes on lovers like flies to flypaper. Alona's sister Nina (the luminously beautiful Ayelet Zurer) - Nadav's aunt - has relationship troubles with her intended husband Haimon (Yoram Hattab) yet finally marries him, much to the dissatisfaction of Nadav who is privately in love with Nina (his first sensation of attraction and lust). Nadav has a friend Menahem (Dov Navon) with whom he spends his time as a peeping tom, watching the vagaries of his mother and Nina. After Nina's marriage, Haimon is killed in the ongoing violence in Tel Aviv and Nina is destroyed emotionally: Alona sends the more than willing Nadav to live with his aunt, an act that only enforces his passion for Nina. But soon Nina begins to see visions of Haimon running naked in the streets (!) and is befriended by a handsome Avinoam (Alon Abutbul) whose girlfriend Lihi (Osnat Fishman) is a successful artist. Nina and Avinoam have a passionate but brief affair (causing deep bitterness in the jealous Nadav), but the affair is ended when Nina 'sees' the face/ghost of Haimon at her window and Nina longs for the return of Haimon, knowing now that she is pregnant with his child. Navad engages Menahem to help him resolve Nina's new tragedy, but Menahem has found a girlfriend Galina (Jenya Dodina) and has his own 'tragedy' when Galina returns to her ex-lover Alex (Yoram Hattab again!), and it is Menahem's tragedy that leads Navad to the discovery that the very strange Alex is the 'ghost' of Haimon that Nina has been seeing. The story becomes more complex as Nina delivers her baby, Navad's father is taken back by his mother when his diagnosis of cancer is made known, and the mixed set of tragedies intertwine for an ending that surprises everyone.If the plot sounds convoluted, it is! But the fact that the story is from the obsessively maintained diary of Nadav makes it all connect in the loveliest of ways. The cast is outstanding and the tenor of the times in Tel Aviv is accurately and realistically portrayed and for once allows the constant conflict to be simply background for a story that deals with equally traumatic personal issues - at least in the eyes of an impressionable young teenager. There is much wisdom here, but there is also considerable fine entertainment in a film that sees human foibles as comic as they are tragic. Watching NINA'S TRAGEDIES is a complete pleasure. In Hebrew with English subtitles. Grady Harp

delphine090 I was recommending this film to a friend this morning, but had to carefully avoid mentioned the "teenage peeping tom" aspect of the plot. It's difficult to imagine peeping toms and exhibitionists as being sympathetic, but this movie does imagine them that way.I have to agree with the above assessment: "fully-rounded characters, a tight script and a uniformly excellent cast." The acting is excellent and effortless, the characters unique and well defined, and all of the characters, even the more "minor" ones, are interesting and compelling.This movie could have been all kinds of farce, but instead deftly expresses the depth and complexity of the characters' emotions in the face of some really strange goings on - and in the face of tragedy, pain, love and loss.Ayelet Zurer has us immediately engaged with and caring about Nina. I look forward to seeing more of her work.Very moving film.

sleemon1 This film is much more sophisticated than the average Israeli movie, with a thoughtful script, excellent production values, and decent acting. It even unfolds slightly out of sequence, an arty touch that some might find confusing, though everything comes together nicely at the end. It's not just a good movie by Israeli standards, but by any standards. With movies like this one, and Broken Wings, the Israeli cinema is demonstrating a new level of vitality and professionalism.This movie is narrated by Nadav, a pubescent boy who has a crush on his beautiful aunt, but the focus isn't on young lust as capsule descriptions might lead you to believe. It's much more about the difficulty of growing up and coming to terms with the problems of the adult world, and with the human frailties of your loved ones. And his family is a wacky bunch. Dad has dropped out and joined a bunch of religious fanatics/ecstatics. Mom is a flighty fashion designer who has a new boyfriend every week. And aunt Nina is a recent widow whose grief sometimes separates them, and sometimes brings them closer.In his struggle to understand the adult world, Nadav occasionally turns to peeping through windows, a practice the director tries to portray as an offshoot of his sensitive, inquiring mind. Some viewers may find it a bit creepy, particularly because of his partner in crime, a socially inept adult named Menahem (played with great comic effect by Dov Navon). But that, too, is a small part of the plot, and since we're peeping at the same things he is, we're in no position to cast stones.Along with the problems of adult life, the film portrays lots of the small moments that make it so rich and interesting as well. These incidents in the lives of the various characters may be absurd, but they also have the ring of truth about them.Nadav acts childishly throughout the film, refusing to talk to family members he loves, but that he feels have betrayed him. He comes around in the end, though, and in the heartwarming climax he accepts them with their faults, just as he comes to see that they also accept him with his.

keith-283 A lonely, bookish 14 year old boy, Nadav is infatuated with his Aunt Nina, his mother's younger sister. When her husband is killed in a terrorist attack only a couple of months after their marriage, Nina is devastated. Fearing the worst, Nadav is sent by his mother to be with her. So begins 'the happiest days of his life, so far.'The problem is that Nadav, in his innocence and naivety, believes this to be the beginning of something much more. Nina herself is oblivious to this, seeing only a loving nephew and young boy. Seen through Nadav's eyes, we witness the slightly bizarre reality of the world around him – Nina coming to terms with her grief, his parents dealing with their separation and his father's illness, his best friend (Menachem – a much older man) dealing with his budding relationship with Galina.While under-stated, Nina's Tragedies is a genuine mix of comedy, pathos, anger and sadness (but thankfully avoiding melodramatic pitfalls), has fully-rounded characters, a tight script and a uniformly excellent cast. It is understandable why the film won eleven Israeli Film Awards in 2003 (including Best Feature).