In Tel Aviv, 17 year-old Meni (Daniel Efrat) wears only the most fashionable clothes, is interested in music, loves the cinema, and works as a rent boy. He is the father of the baby of former girlfriend Mika (Nili Tzerruya), a young drug addict prostitute. Mika has serious mental problems with drug abuse and is also homeless. She shows up at Meni's apartment and they have lengthy conversations about themselves and their daughter. Meni has an adoptive mother Grace (Gila Goldstein) who is a trans-gender prostitute, and clients that contact him on his cell-phone. One night he meets Tal (Yuval Raz), also a hustler and they decide to spend the night together. During that night their lives take on a new meaning, and in the morning they decide to meet later at a club. Until the meeting, both of them have to deal with their weary routine of clients, marginalized people, and unexpected events.
One evening a voyeuristic john enlists the pair to have sex together. But the experience proves to be more than just a simple trick: it stirs up feelings between Meni and Tal, and they decide to meet again the next day. But they never see each other. Meni becomes upset. Tal gets picked by a brutal, vicious, corrupt cop (Dvir Benedek), who becomes his pimp. He is beaten up and badly abused, and Tal retaliates by killing him. Mika drops off her little girl with one of Meni's friends and goes back to prostitution. Meni tries to talk her into coming back with him, but she refuses. Then Meni tries to give his little girl to her parents but they refuse. In the meantime, Tal tries to find Meni but fails and goes back to his apartment and bed, falling asleep crying. Meni and a friend with his daughter watch a sunrise, and the movie ends.
Stirring and sexy, with emotional depth, "Yeladim Tovim" was written and directed by Yair Hochner, a high school film teacher and film critic for Israel’s “Seret” cinema website. His love of moves permeates every frame, with inspiration from Godard, Gus Van Sant, John Cooper, and John Waters. It has the look of a documentary in its simplicity and candor, and the dedicated performances, strong scripting and good direction adds up to a very good film. Eli Surani composed the music score. In Hebrew with English subtitles. The English title is "Good Boys".
