Late Marriage

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...

"Late Marriage (Hatuna Meuheret)" makes "Monsoon Wedding" seem like a commercial Hollywood flick in comparison in dealing with a similar theme -- families imposing traditional marriage on an adult son in today's world.

This film is an intense and heartbreaking examination of a Georgian Russian immigrant family pushing tradition on an older son in very modern Israel. Through a very gradual unveiling as we learn more and more about each member of the family and relationships, every character is strongly individually wrought, flaws and all, complex sympathies and all.

The blunt scenes demonstrating traditional relationships are paralleled with extremely frank contemporary ones.

I thought at first that the lack of a soundtrack virtually up until the closing scene was due to writer/director Dover Koshashvili's obvious minuscule budget. Instead the closing band music punctuates a bittersweet, ironic tension-builder as the audience waits anxiously to see how the central figure of Zaza/Dooby resolved his unresolvable philosophical, familial and romantic dilemmas amidst very competitive, strong-willed women.

The sub-titles are sub-par; it's awkward, for example, to translate "Shalom" as peace be with you as it's really more just colloquial hello.

(originally written 5/24/2002)

I saw Ronit Elkabetz in The Band's Visit and wanted more. I certainly got more in this movie - much more.

Zaza's (Lior Ashkenazi) parents are trying to get him married and he makes the rounds visiting all the eligible females. However, Zaza only wants Judith (Elkabetz), a divorcée with a child. Why wouldn't he? Even his father admits she is hot - and she truly is! The whole family arrives at her apartment and act like complete jackasses in their effort to split them up. They accomplish their mission in an unexpected manner, and Zaza is forced to marry a woman he does not love to make his parents happy.

That's what happens when you are castrated. How is he going to make grandchildren? Elkabetz was magnificent. I want more!

Late Marriage is one of the best Israeli films in many years. It is to the credit of director Dover Kashashivili to translate it to the screen into one of the frankest depiction of a love affair seen in recent memory. The director avoids the clichés of other films that pretend to show a sexual relationship between two lovers in a a film. He doesn't leave anything to our imagination as the characters of this story clearly show us.

The two main actors, Lior Ashkenazi, Zaza, and Ronit Elkabetz, the Judith of the story, are mature individuals who obviously feel a passionate love for one another. They're powerless against the wishes of Zaza's family who are hell bent into separating them. Never mind that is very obvious how both feel about each other. She's an older divorcée who obviously will be the ruin of the scholarly Zaza.

Both Mr. Ashkenazy and Ms. Elkabetz could give acting lessons to our repressed so-called movie stars. Their passion is on the surface for us to see and feel. What we really enjoyed was the way these two actors act against each other in what could have been very embarrassing scenes. They pulled it off with panache.

The ensemble cast is very good, but of course, they don't come close to the stars who take the film and run away with it. Let's hope we can see more of them in other Israeli films.

Mazel tov!

I thought this movie achieved two remarkable things: First, it defies conventional categorization. It is a comedy and a family drama and a steamy romance. It manages to transcend geography as well: This could have easily taken place in the US, Italy or any one of a number of countries.

Second, I thought that each scene was surprising and inventive and unexpected. I could not have predicted what was going to happen next, but each successive scene made perfect sense.

I highly recommend this movie to fearless moviegoers who value clever plotting and ingenuity.