15 Years

By: gayforplay

This is an exasperating film which I would not recommend to anybody. Its main character is a man who is so toxic that it is hard to believe that anyone would want to be around him at all, let alone dote on him the way his "friends" all seem to do at the beginning of the film. He is clearly a tortured soul of some variety, but we are never clued in as to what the cause of his problem is. His younger lover seems to be a perfectly likable, sensible guy, and we are told that they have been a couple for 15 years. Yet we are not shown any real degree of warmth or affection between them that would make us believe that they were ever really happy together, or to make us root for them to resolve their issues. The plot, such as it is, is too sketchy, and never provides us a fleshed out vision of the inner world of these characters. The rough outline of the story's 3 main characters does have initial potential, which never comes to fruition. Too sad.

By: Amos Lassen

"15 YEARS"

Headed for Heartbreak

Amos Lassen

Israeli director Yuval Hadadi's feature film debut "15 Years" is the compelling story of an outwardly successful gay couple in Tel Aviv who seem to have all that makes for a good life but who are nevertheless destined for heartbreak 

Yoav  (Oded Leopold) and Dan (Udi Persi) are at home celebrating their 15th Anniversary with their closest friends.  Yoav seems disturbed when the conversation turns to swapping stories about their newly acquired babies.  He becomes even more upset when he hears that his best gal pal Alma (Ruti Asarsai)  is also pregnant and people assume that he is the donor.

Yoav does not like children probably because of his own unhappy childhood. He will not go to visit his elderly father who is dying in nursing home.  Nothing usually bothers Yoav who sees himself as an alpha male and is used to controlling simply everything. When one of his major architect  projects gets in trouble. He is pushed over the edge.

Yoav's partner Dan is a community lawyer has become used to walking around his partner sees that Yoav is unravelling and wants no help. The film looks at the characters accepting their sexuality and is also about the difficulties of adjusting as a gay couple in contemporary life. 

Each of the three actors gives a fine performance and this is probably because the script develops the characters so well.