28/01/2026 - Israeli filmmaker Moshe Rosenthal's second feature is a complex and rich, if sometimes overbearing, film about a father-son relationship that deals with masculinity and trauma

l-r: Mor Dimri, Yair Mazor and Neta Orbach in Tell Me Everything

The 1980s have become a shortcut to nostalgia ever since the Stranger Things breakthrough, and the multitude of TV shows and movies since have certainly worn it out. In his second feature, Tell Me Everything, which has just world-premiered in Sundance's World Cinema Dramatic Competition, Israeli filmmaker Moshe Rosenthal aims to do something very different with the era, and while the film is not immune to its pitfalls, it is a strong family drama that focuses on a father-son relationship.

It kicks off in 1987, with preadolescent Boaz (the talented and inspired Yair Mazor) and his father Meir (comedian Assi Cohen, acting wonderfully against type) playfully male-bonding after a swimming-pool session. At home, they are welcomed by their wife and mother, beautician Bella (a charismatic Keren Tzur), and Boaz's teenage sisters (Mor Dimri and Neta Orbach, memorable in a key scene). There is excitement as Boaz's Bar Mitzvah is approaching, and we get an inkling of what's coming in the kid lip-syncing and performing to a pop song.

Things first take a turn for the worse with Meir's furniture business going bust, but it is when the boy finds his father having gay sex in the pool's bathroom that the real drama starts. Everything in this first half of the film is told from Boaz's perspective, so this experience has the texture of a blurry memory of trauma that will scar him for life, being presented as more of a suggestion than anything explicit.

The news of the AIDS epidemic in the USA is unavoidable, and the boy spirals into a nightmarish panic before finally telling his sisters, which results in Meir being forced to leave home. We then move to 1996, when Boaz (now played by a fiery but sometimes over-the-top Ido Tako) is working as a petrol-station attendant who displays an uncontrollable homophobic impulse. He is looking for his father, with a desperation that is explained through flashbacks from his Bar Mitzvah ceremony.

Craft-wise, it is a detailed and meticulous work. The first half is totally 1980s, with fine grain and smoothness in DoP Ziv Berkovich's image, along with hazy, overaccentuated light, plus lots of convincing effort from costume designer Hava Levy Rozalsky and make-up artist Maya Levi Shamay. The original score by Gael Rakotondrabe, all dramatic synths and saxophones, is certainly overused, and the director relies too heavily on music montages set to 1980s hits for mood changes. In the second half, the feature is more grounded and much darker in both tone and visuals, equally true to its own era.

Rosenthal's script is rich and touches upon many other topics besides masculinity and the father-son relationship, sometimes peeking into corners that are taboo even today. It rings true psychologically, while leaving enough room for the viewer to come to their own conclusions. His directing is sometimes a bit heavy-handed, but is disciplined enough to stay within the confines of the story and faithful to the characters' arcs. Editor Dafi Farbman often has to focus on keeping Rosenthal's complex mise-en-scène legible for the viewer. Even if it is sometimes overbearing, Tell Me Everything is an emotionally impactful family drama with at least two sequences that will stay with the viewer.

Tell Me Everything was produced by Israel's Green Productions and United King Films, and the UK's Liminal Content, in co-production with France's Paradise City Films, which also has the international rights.