What makes it different from others?

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

I just found the whole story to be rather confusing because it was rather all the place. I hate to burst anyone's bubble whoever liked this but the movie just was pretty vague, confusing and just boring. The characters weren't even like able either. I give this 1/10 but would like to give a 0/10 in all honesty...

You could be forgiven for mistaking this low budget indie for a great film. "The Bubble" centers on two men, Noam and Ashwar, an Israle and Palestinian respectively, who meet, come together, and live a short fairy tale existence in the protective "bubble" of Tel Aviv. Their relationship is complicated by the Middle East tensions that we, in the U.S., have only a cursory knowledge of. Normal couples, in the early stages of their relationships, will struggle with who will call who next, , doubts of sincerity, or who will say "I love you" first. Noam and Ashwar's early love is complicated by suicide bombings, armed security check points, racism, and thousands of years of cultural hatred. While Noam's friends in Tel Aviv accept, and like, Ashwar, who is an Arab, it is clear that most of Tel Aviv's other citizenry don't. Ashwar adopts a Hebrew name, lives as Noam's boyfriend in secret, and works "under the table" at the "friend of a friend's" restaurant. One of the most touching moments in this film, and there are many, is when Noam and Ashwar attend a production of the play "Bent". We, as movie goers, see them watching this play, and the affect it has on the two of them is profoundly captured in their eyes. They watch two concentration camp prisoners, in the play, expressing their love for one another. Noam and Ashwar are prisoners too and the parallels are inescapable. This touching moment is ultimately played out in a very sad way later in the movie.Just as in the Shakespeare classic, the resentments, bodies, and vengeance pile to a crippling height. Without giving away too much of the storyline, one of the men is blackmailed into a collection of choices with no good outcome possible. Behind door number one - marry his brother in-law's sister - at the threat of being exposed as being gay and a social outcast to his family and community. Behind door number two, go back to his boyfriend in Tel Aviv, and a community that will never accept him, and that routinely abuses and discriminates against his people. It doesn't matter how much the one you love, loves you, when the world he live in hates you. And then there's door number three. With this choice he can become a hero instead of an outcast to his father, minimize the retaliation meant to avenge is sister's murder, and make sure that the fatalities are limited to just one. Or so he believes. Ohad Knoller and Youseff 'Joe' Sweid are outstanding as Noam and Ashwar. Director Eytan Fox is brilliant in creating an interesting and compelling retelling of the greatest romantic tragedy. The romance, sexuality, and sensuality are intense and passionate. It is so refreshing to see this kind of depth and honesty attributed to a gay couple. Ivri Lider renders a music score with the perfect touch of conventional romanticism that says, "love is universal". The most powerful force in this film, however, is the performance by Youseff "Joe" Sweid. He roils in the passions of his heart, the thousands of years of cultural hatred, and the calm place in his soul where his love for Noam rests. Sweid, through Ashwar, shows what it's like to have your heart and your life in complete contradiction with one another. He shows what it's like to find peace for the first time and then discover that peace is a lonely place for some. He is the ultimate outcast in an unforgiving, and undeserving, world. This is a very good film. It has heart, and heartbreak. And like all good love stories, love does win out. But not with the intact glory of it's full bloom. Everlasting love is too complicated for that. Still, though, they will be together forever.

I've seen nearly all of this director's film and found somethings that were not to my taste in all of them. This particular film, because it focus on a political conflict with religious and historical reaches that go back centuries, will never be simply viewed as a piece of art, but for the purpose of this review, I will limit my comments to technical ones regarding the film, performances, scripts, production, etc.Technically, this is a very proficient film. The performances are, for the most part, uniformly good, particularly among the leads and most of the significant supporting characters. The description of it by some users as a sort of Sex In The City / Friend's hybrid is only correct to the extent that parts of the movie have that vibe and such relationships are universal, irrespective of whether the friends are in New York, Tel Avi, Buenos Aires or Tokyo. However, this movie is not a situation comedy by any stretch of anyone's imagination, nor does it resolves its problems in neat, compact story arcs. The script presents many interesting and intriguing elements. Where it takes liberties, it is clear that these are necessary to move the story forward.The movie is watchable and well-made. It's certainly worth the rental and certainly thought- provoking. However, I cannot give it a strong recommendation purely for the fact that it disappointed me greatly in certain key parts, particularly the ending.

"The Bubble" is an effort to make a gay Romeo & Juliet type of story with an Israeli and a Palestinian, although it seems to come at it by way of "Friends" or "Beverly Hills 90210." The characters are shallow and trite as are the dialog and plot line. The movie seems torn between fluff and depth. On the one hand there is a pointed effort at being shallow as (in one example of many) some minor characters even ask questions that invite development of insight into the conflicts at hand, and get answers like, "Hey, we're here to make a poster for a rave against the occupation. Don't get political!" Beyond the obvious absurdity of such a line, it's just one of many ham-fisted signals that the movie is just as hollow and insubstantial as its title suggests. On the other hand, the movie's main pretension to depth follows the lovers to a presentation of "Bent" a play about gays in a Nazi labor camp. The scene on stage is awkwardly rushed, undermining its erotic power (understandable given the constraints of film-time, but still this could have been edited to much better effect.) and comes off as flimsily as the rest of the film. Too bad. This play deserves much better.The characters are so one-dimensionally cartoony some even have names that telegraph their entire (though the word seems inappropriate here) substance. The aggressive soldier from the crack Golani brigade is named "Golan." The militant Palestinian is named "Jihad." The striving-for-chic faghag roommate is "Lulu." Anyone familiar with the checkpoints and life in Palestine, whether from real life or documentaries will find the checkpoint scenes as absurdly unreal as… well, the rest of this fluffy fantasy. When a Palestinian woman goes into the fastest labor on record Israeli soldiers are solicitous and helpful, an ambulance shows up in minutes. (The outcome of the birth serves to show the Palestinians as unappreciative of Israeli beneficence and even downright paranoiac.) Altogether the checkpoint is shown as a mere nuisance, not the series of bone-numbing, soul-crushing, humiliating obstructions with no regard for medical care or necessity in cases of birth, death, or severe illness. Ashraf, the Palestinian lover, seems to get through from Nablus to Tel Aviv with no problems, no papers, no hassles. He just shows up whenever he likes. When the Israelis want to get through it is much more of a challenge involving a scheme worthy of Lucy Ricardo.Against the backdrop of nice, supportive Israelis and surly homophobic Palestinians we move to a resolution that is utterly lacking in motivation or purpose – except as a painfully obvious dramatic device to milk sympathy for the forbidden lovers.Gay Israeli-Palestinian romance has been handled on stage with much more skill and depth as in Saleem's "Salaam/Shalom" so this film is hardly even as groundbreaking as some people would like to think.Gloriously bad films – like the works of Ed Wood -- at least have some striking idiosyncrasy to distinguish them. This one doesn't even have that going for it. Most of the sound track sounds like Simon and Garfunkel on quaaludes, and even with the weird oedipal touches to the gay sex scenes, the general incompetence that pervades this movie plays out like a mediocre TV-movie-of-the-week.