Out In The Dark

By: Kelly Burkhardt
In-House Review - Jul 30 2013

Out in the Dark, the debut feature from director Michael Mayer, is simply brilliant. The film, centering on race and sexuality, follows a young, affluent and ambitious Palestinian grad student and a Jewish lawyer who fall in love.

The adorable Nimr (Nicholas Jacob) crosses the border to study and occasionally to meet his friends at a gay nightclub in Tel Aviv. One night, he is introduced to the handsome and wealthy Roy (Michael Aloni) and an instant attraction ensues.

While Tel Aviv is ostensibly more accepting of Palestinians being present, Nimr's homeland is not. He struggles to keep the peace with his Muslim family - especially his brother, who is now a member of a radical, extremist anti-Palestinian organization. Despite being surrounded by all of these weighty (and sometimes dangerous) obstacles, the budding couple cannot help but fall immensely in love.

Everything soon comes to a gripping head. Nimr is to choose between the life he once dreamed of... or Roy, his true love.

From the opening scene to the final frame, Out in the Dark is a timely and poignant film that should not be missed!

By: chromo_man

This film has so much for which to recommend it: a sweet romance developing between handsome strangers, mixed with political intrigue and several types of familial dramas, stirred into a tasty cocktail. Something for everyone.

Filmmakers take note: The fourth star I am giving is partially for having perhaps the best subtitles I have ever seen. While I cannot vouch for how well they translate the words actually being spoken onscreen, they were large and clear and readable throughout the film, and contained none of the painful grammatical errors found in far too many foreign films; nor did they disappear before they could be read. Note: the small subtitles in the trailer for the film are NOT the same great subtitles as those in the film itself

By: NightTim

This is one of the best gay films I've ever seen. It has a lot of moving parts: love story, social/political commentary, and thriller, all woven together in a poignant, complex drama. I thought it was touching, sexy and exciting, tragic, maddening, frightening, and tension-filled.

The basic storyline is not new: someone falls in love with a person from the wrong side of the tracks (in this case, something the families on both sides feel). But the Palestinian/Israeli divide makes it modern and relevant, and it brings to life the conflict we usually only read about in the papers.

Both Nimr (Nicholas Jacob - how did he get that name??) and Roy (Michael Aloni) are beautiful to look at, and it makes every minute of the film a viseral pleasure to watch. For some reason, though both characters are shirtless in plenty of scenes, Jacob's body is the only one we usually get to see. It would have been nice to see more of Aloni's - but Jacob is beautiful enough for the both of them.

The love scenes are some of the best I've seen in gay films - meaning not that the sex was scorching hot and animalistic, but that it was so tender and real and aching that it was hard to believe these were two actors. (They just have to be boyfriends in real life!) If it's sex you want, porn is cheap and plentiful. This, however, is rare on film.

It starts out as a fun, flirty, harmless love story but then turns dark as the political and social realities surface and become undeniable. Then this viewer found himself forgetting to breathe as the stakes became clear and danger and desperation took over as drivers of the story. The loose ends are not tied up neatly at the end, but it's enough to know that Nimr makes it.

Unforgettable, especially as we know this is not just a made-up story but reality in the Middle East, where being gay can literally be a life or death issue. Twenty bucks and two hours well-spent.

Hard-hitting and highly recommended.

By: Amos Lassen

We hear so much about the Israel/Palestine situation that we begin to think that the two peoples will never get along. We see here that this is not true. This is the story of a romantic relationship between an Israeli lawyer and a Palestinian graduate student who has a permit to study in Israel. (There are some in the pink washing camp who will claim that Israel does not allow Palestinians to study within her borders and that is simply not true). Each man has to deal not just with his sexuality but also with his family because of whom he loves. There are the personal issues like language, class, nationality, religion and culture and these are difficult enough without adding the broader problems of the political situations because the two men are involved with one-another despite the tensions between Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. (I must admit that the word "occupied" bothers me a great deal because it seems to be something new-what were once the spoils of war are now considered occupied territories.

Nmir and Roy, our two lovers quite naturally are at the center of the film and they become the symbols of the two sides-each wanting peace and security but also were slow to understand that their futures are bound together. There is no blame on either side in the film nor is there examination of righteousness on either side. Each side is looked at honestly whether dealing with Palestinian fanaticism or the use of power by the Israel Defense and security services. (This is an achievement for director Michael Mayer who as an Israeli could easily have taken sides). There is even a hint here that each side may play into the hands of the other and this is something we have not seen much of. We do, however, feel a pervading sense of fear and we are surely aware of the toll fear can take.

For a love story this is both gritty and gorgeous. While the tension of the situation is felt throughout the film (keep in mind that we have all been tempered by Romeo and Juliet stories), so is the love that the men share. There is a figurative and literal darkness almost throughout the entire film but there is also love-not just between Nimr and Roy but between the men and their families.

Michael Aloni is Roy Shaefer, the young Israeli lawyer and his ability to show the entire range of emotions is brilliant. He lives in a state of hopelessness yet he thinks that Israel will eventually do right by coming to terms with her Palestine problem. Nicholas Jacob is stunning as Nimr and this is his first film role. Interesting that his parents are Arab/Italian and he grew up between Haifa and Nashville and is not gay. His role requires him to deal with demons, the kind of which we will never experience but which he does not let take him over. The other actors also do fine jobs-Alon Oleartchik (whom you may remember as a band member of Keveret and whose name came to prominence with the Poogy stories) is Roy's father who suffers from conflicting emotions about his son, Alon Pdut is excellent as an Israeli security officer who has become cold because he is worried about the future of his country, Jamil Khouri plays Nimr's brother who is caught up in the terror movement and Loai Nofi as a stereotypical yet Palestinian gay Arab gives a wonderful cameo.

I found myself so involved in the film that I am having difficulty writing about it. The love story of Nimr and Roy is super intense and we see this against the backdrop of the political situation. Roy and Nimr leads us to believe that they are living for themselves and for each other and this is in contrast to the sad picture of what is going on around them.

The real beauty of the film is that it is for everyone and sexuality and Israel/Palestine politics do not matter. This is first and foremost a love story. The ending is ambiguous and purposefully so. While there is no resolution there are signs of hope and let's face it, we all live for hope. Michael Meyer has united taboo with politics to give us a new way of looking at the Middle East. He examines if it is possible to remove the personal self from one's ideological background and political identity and does this though Palestinian psychology student Nimr who develops a romance with Jewish lawyer Roy.
At first the two guys flirt and it all seems okay but then Roy brings Nimr home and introduces him to his parents by telling them that this is new boyfriend. This horrifies Nimr as well since at home he is not out of the closet. Mayer sees the idea of self as a union and mixture o social and political environments that deal with both reality and love. I can continue writing all day about the film but whatever I say does not do justice to the film and I urge everyone who can to see it.