Yossi & Jagger [2002] | ![Yossi & Jagger [2002]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ZTWD9DPTL._SL75_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Eytan Fox
Actors: Ohad Knoller, Yehuda Levi, Assi Cohen, Hani Furstenberg
Studio: Tla Releasing
Category: DVD
List Price: £15.99
Buy New: £8.83
You Save: £7.16 (45%)
New (8) Used (2) from £8.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 21153
Format: Pal, Widescreen
Languages: English (Subtitled), Hebrew (Original Language)
Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 65
Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
UPC: 807839002089
EAN: 0807839002089
ASIN: B000B64VGM
Theatrical Release Date: 2002
Release Date: November 14, 2005
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 low key, powerful, apolitical, and real May 3, 2008
This little gem may be the best news out of Israel in years. There are no politics and no axe to grind. Eytan Fox has simply given us a powerful, bittersweet love story between two soldiers in a remote outpost. It could be anywhere, in any army, at any time. It just happens to be now, and in Israel.
With great mastery, Mr. Fox has put together an ensemble of diverse characters which are real, funny, and human. Exceptional are Ohad Knoller as Yossi, commander of the unit, and Israeli heart-throb Yehuda Levi (no wonder) as Lior, his lover. They prove that opposites attract: Yossi is career army who has stepped out of character to love Lior, but he is afraid of discovery and reluctant to declare his love; Lior, nicknamed Jagger because of his extraordinary rock star looks (Mick was never this angelic or beautiful), is a free spirit who longs to live in the open with his partner. Both being stubborn, the two men have a fight just before a disastrous foray into dangerous territory. Their parting brings new meaning to the term 'heart wrenching' with its sense of missed opportunities and lost possibilities. One yearns for a happier ending for these two irresistible, sweet, sincere, loving men.
This DVD is especially welcome, as it is the only version in WideScreen. It includes the trailer, but does not contain the music video that the American (R1) version has, sung by a most extraordinarily handsome Israeli singer who is almost as beautiful as Yehuda Levi. The format alone make this DVD worth buying.
A beautiful surprise January 31, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is without a doubt, the sweetest yet most poignant love story I have ever seen on film, which is astounding given its totally atypical setting. Yossi and Jagger are Israeli military conscripts, part of a platoon guarding an icy, isolated outpost. Unknown to everyone around them, they are also lovers. Jagger (played by Yehuda Levi) is the free-spirited one, more comfortable with his sexuality, who wants the world to know about his love. He's about to finish his service with the army and has dreams of eventually living openly with the love of his life.
Yossi on the other hand (played by Ohad Knoller) - who just happens to also be his commanding officer - is more restrained and intent on keeping his sexual orientation and his relationship private. All the while, Ya'eli, a beautiful female soldier (played by Aya Steinovitz) pines for Jagger but he's patently oblivious to her love for him. Some interesting issues about homosexuality are raised, some stereotypes are challenged and myths destroyed. I was blown away. The movie reminded me of the 2005 movie "Jarhead", in that the largest proportion of it is spent watching soldiers waiting for something to happen. It finally does though, and there are tragic consequences.
What I love most of all about this movie is the way it neatly (and wisely) sidesteps the political realities of the region by refraining from introducing us to the enemy the Israeli army are fighting. They are never even mentioned by name. We can guess whom they might be fighting but we'll never know for sure. We are thus able to focus on the real story here without any distractions. At 65 minutes long, the movie is remarkably short but director Eytan Fox ensures that it manages to tell its story with no compromise. "Unusually subtle and convincing," said the New York Times, "A searing, tense and beautifully told film," said the Philadelphia Inquirer. I say believe them both. It's apparently based on a true story and has brilliantly drawn supporting characters, most notable of all (for me) being Ophir, played by Assi Cohen. I will be watching one this again and again.
DVD extras include a stills gallery featuring some of the movie's stars and trailers of other TLA releases. The movie is in Hebrew with optional English subtitles.
PS. As a companion piece to this movie, I highly recommend the 2001 documentary "Trembling Before G-d", which tells in accurate detail how difficult it can be to be Jewish and lesbian or gay - whether you live in Israel or indeed anywhere else in the world.
Brothers in Arms September 9, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
After a brief stint in Hollywood, director Eytan Fox returned to Israel and made this beautiful and passionate film which speaks through its simplicity. Though 65 minutes long, Yossi and Jagger captures the spirited elan and tensions of Israeli youths in the armed forces and presents certainly one of the most resonant film romances I have been fortunate enough to watch.
The film makes good use by perverting its own clichés with its characterisations and a predictable, sentimental story. The surprise is a truly touching portrait of youth on the front lines. In war some lose their limbs, some their minds and others their loves, only to be reborn. Yossi and Jagger doesn't wallow in it: it's fast moving; there's no time for preaching. Not until the film is over will you really start to consider its realities.
Yossi and Jagger makes no plea for any cause. That makes it immensely watchable. Here are two people in love, and other (unrequited) love interests, each with distinct personalities, frame that image, each character pushing its own personal objectives, whims, desires and dreams.
Ohad Knoller(stage credits) and popular Israeli tv star Yehuda Levi give excelling performances.
This movie essentially also delivers the pictorial completeness of David Kaplan's informative book: Brothers and Others in Arms: The Making of Love and War in Israeli Combat Units.
I also recommend 'Walk on Water' by the same director.
 Yossi & Jagger February 15, 2007
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
A hint of Brokeback Mountain at an Israeli military outpost. Felt like a realistic peep into lives of Israeli soldiers in difficult times. Sensitively filmed. The film seemed to end too quickly though, would have liked to have seen a longer, more drawn out film. However, a very predictable end.
A gem! May 13, 2006
46 out of 49 found this review helpful
I agree with the other reviewers - the only fault in this movie is the length, it's simply too short. But it's too short, not in the sense that something's missing from the story; rather, it feels too short because you'd want to see more of the lives of these characters.
It's a very realistic movie, almost documentary in places, with handheld camera and a somewhat gritty picture. The acting is subtle - for instance, when one of the girls (who has a crush on Jagger) questions Yossi about his lover, thinking they are just friends, you clearly sense the mild panic he's feeling by a slight change of posture, frown, etc.
And there's the scene at the end where Yossi mouths the words of the song of which Jagger sang his very own version earlier on - I can't really describe the emotional impact of that moment.
Yossi and Jagger are gay lovers but homosexuality is not really the issue of this movie. Jagger seems ready to meet the world as the person he is, he still has a bit of a child in him (and is all the more adorable for it). Yossi is the more hesitant and his responsibilty weighs heavy on him. Consequently, there is some friction between them. But heterosexual love is shown to be just as difficult. The theme of the movie is rather the fleetingness, but also the intensity and depth, of human happiness.
In that sense I see why people compare it with Brokeback Mountain, an excellent movie in its own right. But the moments of "high drama" and "big scenes" that still show through in Brokeback are entirely absent from Yossi and Jagger making it exceptionally truthful.
The dialogue is in Hebrew so you may wish to watch the film a couple of times, paying attention to the subtitles to begin with, then later on concentrating on the picture. I noticed that as I got used to it, the sound of the language in itself seemed to convey a meaning (I know no Hebrew at all!). I certainly wouldn't want to watch an English-language remake!
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