The Bubble (2006)

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

As an Arab, I was really hesitant to watch the movie. Us Jordanians were the second most affect nation of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict due to historical, geographical, and social reasons. After reading so much about the movie, I decided to put my feelings aside, and eventually pressed the play button...I had deep conflicted feelings when the movie ended.. I cried at the tragic end, screamed at the screen "don't do it, you fool!" But the movie is over, and I'm still reeling over it to this second..I'm not gonna talk about the sexuality aspect of the movie, as it is a huge issue for Arabs in general, and Muslims in specific, but I don't believe that was the main idea behind "The Bubble".. The movie tackled the issue of coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis, that many of the people living on the west side of the borders are trying to achieve.. A certain group of young people from both sides are starting to admit that the conflict will not be ending anytime soon, and that hatred and violence will only bring on more hatred and violence, which was the ultimate point to be made at the end of the movie.. As a Muslim, I have to say that I do not in any way accept the methods of Jihadi extremists.. Death is not the answer.. Death only brings more death, and we saw that as the first piece of domino fell, leading to the tragic death of Ashraf and Noam.. It was obvious that the two lovers were facing hard times putting their feelings aside regarding the politics of the country, which was clearly shown after the first bombing took place and Yali lost his ability to walk, causing Noam to stop answering Ashraf's calls.. Then Ashraf's sister was killed "by accident", causing him to stop answering Noam.. The pieces fell one after another until Ashraf decided to make that stupid decision to take his brother-in-law's place in a martyr/suicide mission, leading to his, and Noam's death.. Personally, I think Ashraf only took on this mission because it felt like his only way out.. He didn't do it for political nor religious reasons.. It was merely done because of the depression he felt himself sinking into.. But when he saw Noam towards the end, it was a wakeup call, and he walked away.. He still wanted to press the button because he saw it in Noam's eyes that his lover had realized what he was about to do, and maybe he couldn't take that either... Noam, on the other hand, didn't care.. He knew what was coming, but he still walked out of the shop, and stood so close to Ashraf, as if he didn't want him to go through it alone, ultimately saying that the violence both sides keep causing kills everything, even love..

This is a sweet, poignant look at young lives and loves in Tel Aviv and the damning, degrading effects of the political landscape around it. The central characters laughingly call Tel Aviv "the Bubble" because it seems insulated from the conflict between Israel and Palestinian Territories. As the movie brings to light, that is clearly not the case. The hatred, anger, blind violence, "otherization" and decades (centuries?) of mistrust on both sides color everything and everyone the question becomes are they blind to it or just so scarred they can't recognize it.The movie focuses on the relationships — familial, sexual and friendships — between three long-time friends, two gay men and one hetero woman. Their chemistry and crazy lives would make for an entirely enjoyable romantic comedy without the layers of cultural context and history, but with the addition of, it creates a memorable, urgent and rewarding story.When one of the men falls for a gay Palestinian, their bubble is popped irreversibly as they are all forced to confront the realities of life in a region defined — and seemingly sustained by — hatred. And being a gay Palestinian, it would seem, means twice the agony and hardships as there is little tolerance for alternative life styles within that culture and religion. That's less the case in Israel, at least according to the movie.I appreciated the straightforward, unflinching approach the film brought to the love scenes, regardless of orientation. The sex scenes between the men were just as sweet, tentative and passionate — more so in fact — than the sex scenes featuring the girl. Even though the movie is now six years old, this approach resonates with me because same-sex scenes usually lack the same … panache as different-sex scenes, at least in Hollywood style movies. (Hollywood, check the election results and get with the times; love is love).The entire cast was effective, but Daniella Wircer as Lulu was awesome. She had such great energy; truly a rare talent.This is a fine movie and one that, it seems to a westerner, excavates the Israeli/Palestinian conflict effectively and without finger-pointing. It also reminds us that we all have a role to play in ending hatred and cycles of violence.--www.cowboyandvampire.com--

"The Bubble" is an effort to make a gay Romeo & Juliet type of story with an Israeli and a Palestinian, although it seems to come at it by way of "Friends" or "Beverly Hills 90210." The characters are shallow and trite as are the dialog and plot line. The movie seems torn between fluff and depth. On the one hand there is a pointed effort at being shallow as (in one example of many) some minor characters even ask questions that invite development of insight into the conflicts at hand, and get answers like, "Hey, we're here to make a poster for a rave against the occupation. Don't get political!" Beyond the obvious absurdity of such a line, it's just one of many ham-fisted signals that the movie is just as hollow and insubstantial as its title suggests. On the other hand, the movie's main pretension to depth follows the lovers to a presentation of "Bent" a play about gays in a Nazi labor camp. The scene on stage is awkwardly rushed, undermining its erotic power (understandable given the constraints of film-time, but still this could have been edited to much better effect.) and comes off as flimsily as the rest of the film. Too bad. This play deserves much better.The characters are so one-dimensionally cartoony some even have names that telegraph their entire (though the word seems inappropriate here) substance. The aggressive soldier from the crack Golani brigade is named "Golan." The militant Palestinian is named "Jihad." The striving-for-chic faghag roommate is "Lulu." Anyone familiar with the checkpoints and life in Palestine, whether from real life or documentaries will find the checkpoint scenes as absurdly unreal as… well, the rest of this fluffy fantasy. When a Palestinian woman goes into the fastest labor on record Israeli soldiers are solicitous and helpful, an ambulance shows up in minutes. (The outcome of the birth serves to show the Palestinians as unappreciative of Israeli beneficence and even downright paranoiac.) Altogether the checkpoint is shown as a mere nuisance, not the series of bone-numbing, soul-crushing, humiliating obstructions with no regard for medical care or necessity in cases of birth, death, or severe illness. Ashraf, the Palestinian lover, seems to get through from Nablus to Tel Aviv with no problems, no papers, no hassles. He just shows up whenever he likes. When the Israelis want to get through it is much more of a challenge involving a scheme worthy of Lucy Ricardo.Against the backdrop of nice, supportive Israelis and surly homophobic Palestinians we move to a resolution that is utterly lacking in motivation or purpose – except as a painfully obvious dramatic device to milk sympathy for the forbidden lovers.Gay Israeli-Palestinian romance has been handled on stage with much more skill and depth as in Saleem's "Salaam/Shalom" so this film is hardly even as groundbreaking as some people would like to think.Gloriously bad films – like the works of Ed Wood -- at least have some striking idiosyncrasy to distinguish them. This one doesn't even have that going for it. Most of the sound track sounds like Simon and Garfunkel on quaaludes, and even with the weird oedipal touches to the gay sex scenes, the general incompetence that pervades this movie plays out like a mediocre TV-movie-of-the-week.

I got this one a few weeks ago and love it! It's modern, light but filled with true complexities of life. It questions and answers, just like other Eytan Fox movies. This is my favorite, along with Jossi & Jagger. This pictures a lot more, universally, than only the bubbles we may live in. You don't need to be Jewish or homosexual to enjoy this - I'm not, but the movie goes directly to my top ten movies. At first it seems like pure entertainment but it does make you think further. Relationships we have to live with are superficial, meaningful, deep, fatal, you name it. You don't know what's coming, and you definitely don't know where this story is heading as you watch it the first time. It is worth seeing several times. Fox movies include great bonus material - here a great music video and "the making of" (including explanation of the title, interviewing Lior Ashknenazi who plays himself in the movie and Arabs with doubts about the Israeli life styles).