Blush

Seventeen-year-old Naama is bored out of her mind. She and her disaffected friends smoke cigarettes and scowl throughout the day at school. The situation at home is worse. Her mother invades her privacy, her brutish father is always yelling and her older sister Liora stole her fishnet shirt and didn’t come home all week. Then in walks Dana with her bleached hair, ripped jeans, a radical haircut and a single dyed eyebrow. It’s quite clear that Dana is living life her way. The friendship is tentative at first, but soda bottle bong rips lead to flirting and dropping ecstasy. Soon, Naama finds herself falling hard for the bad girl. Sex, drugs and nightclubs make Naama’s social life more interesting, but problems snowball at home as her family becomes increasingly concerned about her sister’s absence. They search for Liora on the military base where she is stationed and as far as Kfar Kassem, but she is nowhere to be found. It seems Naama isn’t the only rule breaker in the family. Suddenly, everyone is deeply rattled. Anchored by Sivan Noam Shimon’s nuanced, award-winning lead performance, Blush is more than a foray into the delight and heartache of first love. It’s also a vivid portrait of modern Israel through the eyes of the youth who are pushing the boundaries. —Alexis Whitman Note: Mature Content