Directed by Haim Tabakman. Starring Zohar Shtrauss, Ran Danker 15A cert, Light House, Dublin, 90 min

HAIM TABAKMAN, director of this formidably controlled if somewhat suffocating drama, has, almost certainly, become used to hearing his work described as " Brokeback Mountainwith orthodox Jews".

The comparison is unavoidable. Set among the twisting, decaying streets of Jerusalem, Eyes Wide Opendetails a hurried, secretive romance between a butcher and a slightly younger student. As in Ang Lee's film, the heroes gain a kind of emotional epiphany from the experience. "I feel alive now," the butcher says. "I was dead before."

You can hear Heath Ledger's intonations in that line, but the atmosphere of Eyes Wide Openis very different to that of its American predecessor. The cowboys had their weeks of escape to big skies and yawning planes, but Tabakman's film – a few brief interludes at a grey lake aside – takes place entirely within one oppressively constrictive community.

Not much at home to humour, scored to sombre ecclesiastical organ chords, the film does a fine job of conveying the kosher smells, tense rhythms and self-lacerating pathologies of Orthodox Jerusalem. It will not be easily mistaken for an emanation of that locale’s tourism authority.

The story is simple. Aaron (Zohar Strauss), married to an apparently decent and loving woman, has recently taken over the running of his late father’s butcher’s shop. One day, he encounters a young man (Ran Danker) sheltering from a rainstorm. He offers him a place to stay and, subsequently, a job. Before long, the religious authorities – most terrifyingly, a gang of heavies called the “modesty squad” – begin lurking with malign intent.

Though delicately modulated, the film either fails or doesn't try to make rounded personalities of its two main characters. Eyes Wide Openhas more to do with social structures than individuals and, thus focused, makes something impressively scary of its chosen milieu. Indeed, as events progress and the standoffs become more frequent, the piece takes on the quality of an unusually restrained cowboy picture.

Come to think of it, Tabakman's film is closer to a traditional western than was Brokeback Mountain. Just don't go expecting any gunfights.