Yossi & Jagger 2002 Yossi 2012

 

Two Israeli movies directed by the out gay director Eyton Fox that explores the life of a young gay man Yossi and his tragic love affair with Jagger during their days in the army on the Israel Lebanon border and his life 10 years later.

The first film Yossi & Jagger was made in 2002 and Yossi the sequel was released 10 years later. I can't think of another set of films that explores one characters life journey that were made 10 years apart. I'm not talking about sequels, remakes, series or real time films or documentaries. The film stars the wonderful Israeli actor and an Eyton Fox regular Ohad Knoller as Yossi and Yehuda Levi as Jagger.

In the first film Yossi and Jagger are two gay young men forging ahead in a sexual relationship that is as tense and fraught with danger as the shooting war they are involved in on the Israel Lebanon border. Lior who is nicknamed Jagger because of his rock star good looks and his love for The Rolling Stones is upbeat and fun. He is the 2nd in command to Yossi's who is the commander of the troops.

Yossi who is closed,closeted and up tight about his relationship with Jagger, while Jagger as I said is upbeat and fun in their clandestine meet ups that mostly take place out in the desert while they are on patrol. The main settings are the tight claustrophobic barracks that are symbolic for the main characters relationship with each other and with their fellow soldiers that include several female soldiers who are more then smitten with Jagger who has no interest in their love offerings. His heart and soul belongs to Yossi.

Ten years later we find Yossi still acted by Ohad Knoller who is now a cardiologist in Tel Aviv hospital. He has become overweight, full of remorse and sadness and still living a closeted gay life. His friend and co worker another doctor played by Lior Ashkenazi another Eyton Fox regular pushes Yossi to go out on dates with women, and pressures him into going out to a straight bar with him, where Lior picks up two women and brings one of them into the men's toilet to have a three way with Yossi and him. . Yossi flees. Because of an error he makes in the operating room, Yossi is pressured to take a break and he goes on a holiday to rest and recover. On his way to his holiday on the Sinai coast, he meets four young soldiers who have missed their bus on their way to a resort in Eilat and gives them a lift to the resort, where he also decides to stay over. One of the soldiers Tom is a good looking out gay man much younger than Yossi stretches out his reach and sexual easiness to Yossi and the film ends with this outreach. I've seen both films several times, and are lasting favorites. I have purposely not gone into plot details for either film as this would take away your joy of discovery.