Hatuna Meuheret (2001)

Director:

Dover Koshashvili

Writer:

Dover Koshashvili (writer)

Release Date:

24 October 2001 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Sometimes, love doesn't conquer all.

Plot:

Zaza is a 31-year old Israeli bachelor, handsome and intelligent, and his family wants to see him married...

Plot Keywords:

Jewish | Bachelor | Superstition | Georgia Europe | Arranged Marriage

Awards:

18 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Lior Ashkenazi	...	Zaza (as Lior Louie Ashkenazi)
Ronit Elkabetz	...	Judith
Moni Moshonov	...	Yasha
Lili Koshashvili	...	Lili
Aya Steinovitz	...	Ilana
Rosina Kambus	...	Magouly (as Rozina Cambus)
Simon Chen	...	Simon
Sapir Kugman	...	Madona
Dina Doron	...	Luba
Leonid Kanevsky	...	Otary
Libia Hakmon	...	Margalita (as Libia Hakmon-Ayali)
Eli Turi	...	Bessik
Maria Ovanov	...	Lali
Orit Buchnik Sher
Rivka Gur

Also Known As:

Late Marriage (International: English title)
Mariage tardif (France)

Runtime:

102 min | Canada:98 min (DVD)

Country:

Israel | France

Language:

Georgian | Hebrew

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Brazil:18 | France:U | Hong Kong:III | Netherlands:AL | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | Canada:R | Australia:MA (cable rating)

Company:

Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC)

Movie Connections:

Featured in Historia Shel Hakolnoah Israeli (2009)

Interesting, but flawed

This film opened last night in Los Angeles, and seemed to draw a pretty good crowd -- I assume they'd all heard the same positive buzz I'd heard...

Interesting look at a very old fashioned culture (Georgians who emigrated to Israel), and the demands they make on a grown son. From an American perspective, the parents' objections to the son's choice in girlfriend (or potential wife) seem trivial: she's slightly older, and divorced.

But here are my issues with the film: The character Zaza is a very weak-willed man who bends too easily to his parents' demands. Now, it's interesting to see someone who's not a traditional Hollywood "strong" hero -- but it was hard to be sympathetic with this guy, since he didn't really seem to disagree with his parents. There's a pretty long sex scene(which has been justifiably lauded as much more realistic than anything you'll see in a Hollywood film), but later in the film, he treats his girlfriend pretty badly. There's a pivotal scene in which he sides with his parents vs. the girlfriend, and I just lost all respect for the character at that point.

Also, the movie drags on a bit...Could have benefited from quite a bit of editing. Couple other criticisms: Characters are introduced, but it's not clear who they are, or how they are related (maybe it loses something in the subtitles). More importantly, I read a review in a newspaper here that said a key plot point was the different ethnic backgrounds of Zaza and his girlfriend: But that did not come across at all! Maybe in Israel that is a big deal, and if so, that should have been made clear to American audiences, as well. Again, I suspect something got left out in the subtitle translations...

Still, it's interesting to see an Israeli film, and maybe this director will have something better up his sleeve next time...