Tied Hands

In a small flat in Tel Aviv a dancer is dying of Aids. His only relief from intense pain is to smoke marijuana but he has run out. His mother offers to track down some grass for him from some of his friends. But this seemingly simple task becomes a painfully complex and increasingly desperate search.

Interspersed with some powerful evocations of his career as a dancer the film sees his mother forced to confront her own guilt over her acquiescence in her husband's refusal to accept their son's sexuality.

Gila Almagor gives an outstanding performance as a middle-class woman grappling with a world she has never previously encountered, from gay clubs to outside cruising to petty criminals and hustlers. A film which resonates in the memory.

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Brian Robinson