NINA'S TRAGEDIES — ** — Ayelet Zurer, Aviv Elkabeth, Yoram Hattab; in Hebrew, with English subtitles; not rated, probable R (profanity, sex, nudity, vulgarity, violence, brief drugs).
"Nina's Tragedies" works in exactly one way, as a showcase for Israeli actress Ayelet Zurer.
Playing a woman who is teetering on the brink of madness, Zurer runs away with the film, but otherwise, this coming-of-age comedy-drama is simply too contrived and much too quirky for its own good.
It's almost as if writer/director Savi Gabizon doesn't think today's audiences will accept a more realistic, straight-forward film.
So he clutters up the movie with secondary characters and subplots that strain its credibility and take valuable time away from some more promising material. Gabizon also makes the mistake of using voice-over narration and a main character who's more creepy than sympathetic.
He's Nadav (Aviv Elkabeth), a 14-year-old infatuated with his aunt Nina (Zurer). She's in mourning after her husband, Haimon (Yoram Hattab), is killed during a terrorist attack.
When Nadav is sent to live with her, it gives the boy and his much older pal Menahem (Dov Navon) opportunities to spy on her and allows him to interfere in her relationships with men. But what really pushes the already-fragile woman over the edge is when she starts seeing Haimon walking around Tel Aviv — in the nude!
There are too many characters inhabiting this film, which forces Gabizon to neglect a potentially more interesting story line examining the somewhat strained relationship between Nadav and his father (Shmil Ben Ari). And having Nadav behave like a peeping Tom, spying on his aunt's activities, isn't endearing; it's just sleazy. And Elkabeth's mostly one-note performance doesn't help.
Still, Zurer's work is very strong, and her character's anguish is more vivid as a result. You only wish she was in a better movie.
"Nina's Tragedies" is not rated but would probably receive an R for frequent use of strong sexual profanity, simulated sex, female and full male nudity, crude sexual talk and use of vulgar slang terms, domestic violence and some brief drug content (references to prescription drugs). Running time: 110 minutes.
E-mail: jeff@desnews.com