CINEMA
COME CLOSER (2024)
MPAA: NR.
Release Date: ../../.. [Festival Run]
Genre: Comedy.
Studio: Fandango.
[Seen for Tribeca 2024]
"When Eden's brother tragically dies, her grief spirals into obsession after discovering his secret girlfriend. A haunting exploration of love, loss and fixation with stunning visuals."
OUR MOVIE REVIEW:
Young actress and director Tom Nesher is coming in strong with her debut feature film offering. Come Closer isn’t just a movie. It is a meditative, electric drama proving that the path from pain to acceptance is often far from linear.
When Eden’s (Lia Elalouf) brother Nati (Ido Tako) dies suddenly, the carefree party girl spirals. She thought she knew her brother better than anyone. They had no secrets. So when she discovers Nati had a secret girlfriend named Maya (Darya Rosenn), she starts to question the pair’s seemingly unbreakable bond. Her ability to trust wavers and her mood becomes unpredictable.
Eden’s discovery of Maya is more than just an annoyance. It becomes a severe obsession, with Nati’s secrecy serving as the backdrop to a steamy connection that feels, at times, utterly wrong. Maya is quiet, cautious, and strong-willed. It’s easy for Eden to see why Nati was so drawn to her. Once the two girls move past their initial misplaced anger at each over his death, their relationship evolves. Brought together by grief and bound by an unwillingness to let go, the two develop a bond that is, at best, unhealthy. At worst, it’s downright dangerous.
Come Closer is simply gorgeous and its soundtrack will get stuck in your head, which makes it fun in a more casual sense. Think of it as the perfect coming-of-age story for the TikTok generation. Meanwhile Nesher’s gentle story-telling - from lighting to cinematography to color grading – manages to feel quite comforting despite the film’s dramatic undertones. Nesher tells the story of a young woman’s pain and trauma in a way that only a fellow young woman could do.
It’s heartbreaking, well-acted and at times a little uncomfortable. But the discomfort serves a purpose in illustrating the complications of grief. Come Closer will burrow under your skin and stay there.