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The Matchmaker

Original title: Once I Was
  • 2010
  • 1h 52m
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
901
YOUR RATING
Dror Keren, Adir Miller, Maya Dagan, Tuval Shafir, and Neta Porat in The Matchmaker (2010)
Drama

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.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.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
    • Avi Nesher
  • Stars
    • Adir Miller
    • Maya Dagan
    • Dror Keren
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.3/10
    901
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Avi Nesher
    • Writers
      • Amir Gutfreund
      • Avi Nesher
    • Stars
      • Adir Miller
      • Maya Dagan
      • Dror Keren
    • 12User reviews
    • 20Critic reviews
    • 69Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 4 wins & 7 nominations total

    Photos9

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    Top cast57

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    Adir Miller
    Adir Miller
    • Yankele Bride
    Maya Dagan
    Maya Dagan
    • Clara Epstein
    Dror Keren
    Dror Keren
    • Meir the Librarian
    Tuval Shafir
    Tuval Shafir
    • Arik Burstein
    Neta Porat
    Neta Porat
    • Tamara
    Bat-El Papura
    Bat-El Papura
    • Sylvia
    Dov Navon
    Dov Navon
    • Yozi Burstein
    Yarden Bar-Kochba
    Yarden Bar-Kochba
    • Nili Burstein
    • (as Yarden Bar Kochva)
    Yael Levental
    Yael Levental
    • Tikva Abadi
    • (as Yael Leventhal)
    Kobi Farag
    Kobi Farag
    • Moshe Abadi
    • (as Kobi Faraj)
    Tom Gal
    • Benny Abadi
    Eli Yatzpan
    Eli Yatzpan
    • Uncle Nadgi
    Eyal Shehter
    Eyal Shehter
    • Arik Burstein (Adult)
    • (as Eyal Schechter)
    Ya'ackov Bodo
    Ya'ackov Bodo
    • Advocate Segelson
    • (as Yaacov Bodo)
    Tair Leah Arad
    • Michal Abadi
    Ben Kippris
    • Yoram
    • (as Ben Kipris)
    Aharon Zilberberg
    • Yonel
    Assi Yitzchaki
    • Vendor
    • Director
      • Avi Nesher
    • Writers
      • Amir Gutfreund
      • Avi Nesher
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews12

    7.3901
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    Featured reviews

    9atkinson112

    Tears and tears...

    After 'The Other Story', I wanted to see more of Nesher's films and found that one. Its not like the previous titles in Nesher's filmography and yet I cried so much at the ending. It really because of the charachters that nesher's having.
    8Nozz

    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.
    8larry-411

    Noir thriller-cum-coming-of-age dramatic comedy that delights

    Star Adir Miller plays Holocaust survivor Yankele Bride, a shady matchmaker with some mysterious operations on the side. He takes on a wide-eyed young apprentice, Arik (Tuval Shafir), who just wants an easy summer job. Naturally, the boy gets more than he bargained for in this classic tale of an ordinary man thrust into an extraordinary situation.

    Miller, a veteran television actor, writer, and producer, is captivating (and a dead ringer for Vincent D'Onofrio). He dominates the screen, masterfully orchestrating the actors, and action, in every scene he's in. Shafir plays the streetwise assistant with a magnetic vulnerability that charms everyone who crosses his path. He's quite experienced himself as a teen idol in his native country, having grown up on Israeli TV as the star of a long-running hit series.

    Writer/director Avi Nesher is a true veteran (this is his 16th feature), and it shows. Production values are high, befitting a director considered an icon of Israeli cinema. Veteran cinematographer Michel Abramowicz effectively captures the dramatic landscape of this Mediterranean port city, filled with bright blue skies, lush vegetation, and sweeping mountain vistas. "The Matchmaker" uses multiple locations, both exterior as well as interior. Arik's youthful world is brightly lit with a vibrant primary color palette -- not the pale, washed out blues and grays typical of modestly budgeted European films. In contrast, the seedy underbelly of the city within which Yankele operates is ominously dark and dusty, filled with shadows and potential dangers lurking around every corner.

    Although set in Haifa in 1968, "The Matchmaker" could easily be a classic American noir thriller-cum-coming-of-age dramatic comedy. The evocative soundtrack of original late 60s songs is a plus (Steppenwolf's "Magic Carpet Ride," Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit"). Definitely worth repeat viewings.
    7saadanathan

    A Fantastic Coming to age movie by Avi Nesher 7/10

    "The Matchmaker" (or Once I Was in Hebrew) is a movie by Avi Nesher, one of Israel's finest directors and one who has shaped Israeli cinema for decades.

    The movie centers around the memories of an author, when he was a kid in 1968 in Haifa and the relationship he had with his father's childhood friend, Yankale Bride (Adir Miller).

    Yankale Bride is a Matchmaker who recruits Erik (Tuval Shaffir, the author) for a summer job to search for people who wish to get married. The movie centers around all of Erik's tales and adventures during that summer vacation: How he falls in love with Tamara (Neta Porat), how he writes about his life as a mystery book, his love for spy and mystery tales and his encounter with the secrets of his fellow Yankale Bride.

    Adir Miller and Maya Dagan are a good duo together throughout the whole film. The rest of the cast is perfect and lovely. The focus on the characters is really delicate. The movie shows the struggle of the characters facing the aftermath of the Holocaust and how people didn't know much about it.

    The movie in general focuses on the theme of coming to age among kids, most certainly Erik, who narrates the movie throughout its span. Overall I really enjoyed it, Avi Nesher is known to be a director who focuses on many themes and genres in his movies, just like Spielberg. Even though many believe his movies to be too deep and heavy, this one is less heavy and more emotional and entertaining. Highly recommend it.
    8Red-125

    Not an easy film for a non-Israeli to review

    The Israeli movie Once I Was (Pa'am Hayiti) was shown in the US with the title The Matchmaker (2010). It was written and directed by Avi Nesher. The film was very popular in Israel, where it won four Israeli Academy Awards. The other reviewers of this film are either Israelis or are familiar with Israeli culture, so they can do a better job than I can discussing the reality of the movie. For example, it is set in the seaport of Haifa in 1968, and there are questions about the authenticity of the sets and the accents. I will leave these topics to the experts.

    I'm reviewing the film more on its plot and acting. The plot is fascinating. A Holocaust survivor, Yankele Bride (Adir Miller) is a smuggler and petty criminal. That's his profession, but his hobby is matchmaking. His job is to find mates for people who, for whatever reason, are considered undesirable.

    The saddest of these people is a young woman, Sylvia, who is very beautiful but has achondroplasia. (The role is played by the extraordinary actress Bat-El Papura.) Sylva wants to be married, but no person of normal height will consider her as a spouse. Even the hapless character called Meir the Librarian turns away from Sylvia when he meets her. Yankele does his best for her, but he never succeeds.

    The most obvious theme of the movie is a coming-of-age story of Arik Burstein (Tuval Shafir), whose father is also a Holocaust survivor. Arik starts work as Yankele's "spy," the person who checks out the matchmaker's clients to make sure that they are who and what they say they are. (There's another theme about a visiting American cousin, who is a liberated young woman, but that subplot never goes anywhere.)

    The key theme, as I saw it, is that Holocaust survivors were welcomed to Israel, but they weren't admired or honored. As Arik's father says, "people always want to know what we had to do in order to survive." The clash of cultures--eastern European survivors who were seen as victims vs. Israelis who had fought for independence--is in the background of the entire movie. (Sometimes this clash is overt, sometimes it's subtle, but it's always there.)

    Of course, Arik is impressed by the brash, streetwise Yankele, as opposed to his own quiet, respectable father. We are supposed to be impressed by Yankele too, because his criminal activities are treated as amusing foibles. I don't think that smuggling goods into Israel was an appropriate way to thank the country that took you in, but he is definitely a likable character in the movie. Each viewer will have to decide about Yankele for herself or himself.

    I liked this film well enough to suggest that it's worth seeing if it comes along. I'm not sure it's a movie I would seek out for viewing. We saw The Matchmaker at the excellent Rochester Jewish Film Festival, screened at the wonderful Dryden Theatre at George Eastman House. It will work equally well on a small screen.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Authors mentioned by Meir and Arik in the library include Dashiell Hammett, Ernest Hemingway, Shmuel Yosef Agnon (1888 -1970; Nobel Prize laureate writer and a major figure of modern Hebrew writing) and Yehiel Dinur (1909 - 2001; also spelled Dinoor or De-Nur; also known by his pen name Ka-Tsetnik, a Jewish writer and Holocaust survivor).
    • Goofs
      Arik has a promotional picture of John Wayne from the film, "The Cowboys:", on his wall. This film was not released until i972, 4 years after this film's setting.
    • Crazy credits
      Composer Philippe Sarde wishes to dedicate his score in memory of his grandmother Marie.
    • Connections
      References The Kid (1921)
    • Soundtracks
      Balkan Folk Songs
      Accordion by Anatolie Gieko

      Violin by Pavel Levine

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • August 17, 2012 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • Israel
    • Language
      • Hebrew
    • Also known as
      • Provodadžija
    • Filming locations
      • Haifa, Israel
    • Production companies
      • Metro Communications
      • Artomas Communications
      • United Channel Movies
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Budget
      • $2,150,000 (estimated)
    • Gross worldwide
      • $2,920
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 52 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital

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