Recent years have witnessed a promising resurgence of Israeli cinema that forgoes the political strife in the region in favor of more intimate portraits of contemporary life, such as the stunning Orthodox critique Late Marriage or the beautiful family drama Broken Wings. The runaway winner of Israel's Academy Awards equivalent in 2003, Savi Gabizon's minor-key coming-of-age drama Nina's Tragedies isn't as accomplished as the others, but it's sensitive enough to breathe fresh life into its small group of forlorn characters. Though Gabizon doesn't take many risks along the way, the sum of his observations adds up to a gratifyingly complete picture of who his subjects are and how they're connected, at least in the impressionable head of a 14-year-old boy. Gabizon merely defines his world thoroughly, and leaves it at that.
The one problem is that the boy is a blank, one of those bespectacled outcasts who are so passive they seem to be watching the movie along with the audience. Played by Aviv Elkabeth, the kid counts a genial peeping Tom (Dov Navon) as his closest friend, perhaps because he deeply relates to a man who remains painfully removed from the things he desires. In Elkabeth's case, the object of desire is his beautiful aunt Ayelet Zurer, who takes him in for companionship after losing her husband (Yoram Hatav) in a terrorist strike. Encouraged to stay by his wacky, recently divorced mother (Anat Waxman), who believes her sister needs the extra comfort, Elkabeth secretly nurtures his sexual fantasies, but his crush curdles to resentment when Zurer starts seeing the strange man (Alon Aboutboul) who gave her the bad news about her husband's death. Meanwhile, Elkabeth also deals with the declining health of his estranged father (Shmil Ben-Ari), a deeply religious man who left his marriage to join a yeshiva.
The drama in Nina's Tragedies unfolds from the father reading the boy's journal entries, which is the sort of clumsy framing device that should be retired immediately. As much as Elkabeth likes to poke his nose around, there are plenty of incidents described in his journal to which he could not have been privy. And even though all the narration comes directly from his thoughts, Elkabeth is the least distinguished character, perhaps because the grownups have more experience and self-assurance in going after what they want. It's not often that good movies have a hole in the center, but Nina's Tragedies labors admirably to develop the strong feelings of longing and heartbreak that unite its damaged souls, however briefly. They're enough to justify anyone's voyeuristic instincts.