My Review of Sublet (2020)

 

Written by Eytan Fox And Itay Segal

Directed by Eytan Fox

Michael:"Hey, I got an idea. Why don't we pair up?"

Tomer: "No way! You want me, a blue sock with white stars to pair up with you, a simple yellow sock. It would never work."

I really wanted to review this movie during Pride Month but things kept getting in the way and two months later, I finally got around to watching this movie. Was it worth the wait? Absolutely. They say better late than never but I could kick myself for not watching this earlier.

The premise is straightforward enough - travel writer Michael (John Benjamin Hickey) finds himself in a sublet of sorts in Tel Aviv. His goal is to give an honest look at the city for his employers and to help him achieve that is aspiring film maker, Tomer (Niv Nissim) and this movie forms one beautiful dynamic between the unlikely pair.

Tomer is happy to show Michael around his city, giving the latter an insight that no conventional tour guide would offer and between the two, there's a playfully affectionate generational gap between their respective experiences as gay men and the lives they've led. 

Tomer prefers hook ups and no strings fun while Michael has a long term partner in David (Peter Sears) and the fallout of a surrogacy that went wrong as a source of tension between the pair, especially with Michael being reluctant to try again. There's a beautiful scene where Tomer's mother, Malka (Miki Kam) offers some heartfelt advice to Michael about parenthood. 

Over the course of the movie, both Michael and Tomer learn more of the other and the connection formed between the two feels beautifully authentic. There was a part of me that was surprised that it led to a brief hook up between the pair before Michael left to go back to New York but I honestly didn't mind. 

Tomer and Michael definitely learned a lot from one another throughout the brief time they got to know each other, with both leads playing off each other wonderfully. I'd like to think that both remained in touch with each other after their time together in Tel Aviv.

- Tomer is a horror fan and even had a poster of Freddy's Revenge and now I want to watch that movie again. He also mentioned Downton Abbey while Michael previously had written a book titled Complications.

- Tomer had his bike stolen but reclaimed it by the end of the movie while his friend, Daria and her boyfriend were moving to Berlin.

- Niv Nissim's own dog  appeared in the movie while Miki Kam's real son had music that featured here too.

- Chronology: The movie takes place over the course of five days.

Sublet is a delightful gem of a movie with engaging performances from both John Benjamin Hickey and Niv Nissim. The latter in general definitely deserves a major role in a US gig after this performance. Michael and Tomer might have seemed like an unlikely pair but I definitely wanted to see more of them and if Eytan Fox and Itay Segal ever want to do some continuation, I'd definitely watch it.

Rating: 9 out of 10