15 Years: the dilemma of a gorgeous pill
14 Apr 2020.

In my humble opinion, the men of the Middle East are the most handsome. It doesn’t matter what country or religion, those meaty masculine hirsute faces are the best. So how could I resist 15 Years, a gay Israeli movie filled with those faces?  

The story concerns Yoav, a successful architect who lives in Tel Aviv and is in a relationship with Dan, a lawyer, for fifteen years. But when his best friend, a cool female artist named Alma, announces that she is pregnant, Yoav hates the idea so much he acts up and destroys a gay dinner party. Turns out he has demons in his past, of course. I guess when you are that handsome you can afford to be a big asshole. 

Yoav says that he thinks gays having kids is gross and stupid. How can anyone be a responsible father and always be on Grindr at the same time? He believes that gay or straight, parenthood fundamentally turns a party person into a wet blanket. He hates his own dad, left rotting in a seniors’ home. Yoav is as ornery as he is pornilicious.

His relationships with both Dan and Alma fall apart, opening the door for some hot sex scenes with other actors. Dan meets a cute younger guy at a club, and Yoav picks up and fucks a soldier so hard he almost kills him. Later, he eats a whole bag of tranquilizers. Geez, what’s eating Yoav? After a while, I got frustrated with his anguish, though if he was wearing less, I might have cared more.

15 Years is the first movie from director and writer Yuval Hadadi. As a portrait of self-destruction, it is detailed and nuanced, though I never quite figured out why Yoav was such a pill. The movie looks great, and so does the cast. It won Best Narrative Feature at the Chicago Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival in 2019 and it is definitely worth watching.