The Matchmaker (2010)
"Once I Was" (original title)

During the summer of 1968 a teenage boy goes to work for a matchmaker who has survived the Holocaust - both their lives are forever altered.

Director:

Avi Nesher

Writers:

Amir Gutfreund (novel), Avi Nesher (screenplay)

Stars:

Adir Miller, Maya Dagan, Tuval Shafir

4 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Adir Miller	...	Yankele Bride
Maya Dagan	...	Clara Epstein
Tuval Shafir	...	Arik Burstein
Dror Keren	...	Meir the Librarian
Dov Navon	...	Yozi Burstein
Yarden Bar-Kochba	...	Nili Burstein
Neta Porat	...	Tamara
Bat-El Papura	...	Sylvia
Kobi Faraj	...	Moshe Abadi
Yael Levental	...	Tikva Abadi
Tom Gal	...	Benny Abadi
Eyal Shehter	...	Arik Burstein - Adult
Ya'ackov Bodo	...	Adv. Segalson
Eli Yatzpan	...	Uncle Nadgi
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Shira Alfandari	...	The Rabbi's wife

Storyline

During the summer of 1968 a teenage boy goes to work for a matchmaker who has survived the Holocaust - both their lives are forever altered.

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Plot Keywords:

matchmaker | teenage boy | holocaust | reference to paul newman | jewish | 

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Taglines:

He gets you what you need, not what you want!

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site [il]

Country:

Israel

Language:

Hebrew

Release Date:

17 August 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ein Sommer in Haifa

Filming Locations:

Haifa, Israel

Box Office

Budget:

$2,150,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro Communications, Artomas Communications, United Channel Movies

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

User Reviews

Good-hearted, well acted, overdesigned

When they came to Israel, survivors from Nazi Europe did not manage to leave their emotional scars behind.

Even decades later, they found themselves misunderstood by those who had not been "there" in Europe, but in some cases (at least as portrayed in this movie) they thought of love as the great healer and pursued it. They pursued individual love, not free love or universal love, so it is strange that the movie adds a subplot, with an explicit contrast, about the first stirrings of imported Woodstock culture in Israel. Too much, I think. I would rather have seen the story take place ten years earlier and leave out the counterculture. Two cultures, that of the European-born and that of the Israeli-born, would have been contrast enough. I would also rather have seen less effort put into a reconstruction of a square in the Haifa port area that makes it look too vibrant, too colorful, too Fellinesque. (This may be the first Israeli movie that would have benefited from a smaller budget.) But when the movie is on-topic and concentrates on the adult characters rather than on the dream-Haifa set, the period props, or the invasion of American music, it works very well and with the help of some admirable actors, it creates something fresh and good-hearted.