A teenage girl trying to overcome her grief. A widowed husband mourning his early departed wife. The Day after I´m Gone by Nimrod Eldar (2019) is a drama of growing up and out of the young age growth pains, set in Israel. The setting is important because it moulds the uniqueness of the experience and the human interactions - besides the language - but the struggles and emotions caught on the film are universal.
The father, Yoram, is a veterinarian in Tel Aviv, a cynical, calculated, cold person, an overwhelmed parent unable to see what is not obviously seen. He is highly precise when operating big animals in need of medical help, but he is unable to figure out the deep depression his daughter was sinking. Until, one night, a special suicide intervention team knocked at his door based on online hints received that someone in danger of suicide may live in the house (what a great thing it is, although some may say it is an infringement of democratic rights of privacy, still...). They were right, his daughter was laying unconscious in bed after trying to take her life with an overdose,
Spontaneously, he decides to take a trip together to visit her mother´s family, in an effort to figure out together what it is all about. The dialogues are sparse, exactly as it happends nowadays with teenagers, no matter where they live. The verbal exchanges in the movie in general are very limited, as the nonverbal communication is better framed and insightful.
My favorite dialogue though is when the girl, recently saved from the ER after her failed suicide attempt, is asking his father what would it happen if she would have died. Precise, put together, the father explains step-by-step the bureaucractic procedures accompanying the death. The daughter looks horrified. Nothing else would have happen, it seems. Not that traumatic dramatic change someone who commits at this age suicide expects to happen. As simple as that. Zohar Meidan, who is playing the daughter, makes a very good role at that, a combination of genuine naivity and struggle to find a self that suits her, playing a game of masks alternating the little curious girl and the woman she is supposed to be but don´t know yet how. Meidan also has experience in playing in theatre.
The trip was healing, although not in the smooth, seamless way one may expect. In life, things are never happening this way and this is much healthier. Wounds may never heal, love could be lost for ever, but we are still pushed to keep living. The compassion and empathy shared through the dialogues is one way to survive. The other is to entrust people around us. Exactly as the father did to his daughter in the end. Even it was just a little step, it leaves the door to the soul ajar.
Besides the simple yet empathical way such a worned-out - and personally not beloved one - topic as teenage drama is approached, the images, in their sheer simplicity are also inspiring. The beginning and the end of the story are methaphorical projections and an inspired way to enter and leave the movie.
The Day after I´m Gone by Nimrod Eldar was shown at around 30 festivals all over the world and was premiered at Berlin Film Festival in 2019. As for now, the movie is available to stream on mubi.com.
Rating: 4 stars
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