Hochzeit wider Willen

This is a charming little film that depicts very well the sectarian differences within the Israeli community. Although the contrary of a feel good movie, the script of Hatuna Meuheret is very light and the film contains even some hilarious moments camouflaging the underlying sadness and bigotry. Wonderful acting especially by the actors who play the parents of the groom to be. Moshonov, who plays the father of the groom, had actually learned Georgian for the part and speaks nothing else the entire film. Pretty amazing!

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.

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...

This movie doesn't seem like it should be that fantastic, as the tradition-versus-modernity relationship topic is well-trodden in foreign films to say the least, but I absolutely couldn't take my eyes off of this well-acted, well-scripted work. Zaza's parents steal the show, both comically and tragically as a couple unable to fully confront the "elephant in the room", the re-opening of their own relationship scars caused by witnessing their son's own struggle. Meanwhile Lior Askenazi fills out his role brilliantly as the entangled groom-to-be, whose only escape from his unsolvable dilemma is to sink as deeply as possible into his aloof, impulsive persona. Also, Askenazi's character reminds me uncannily of my friend Mike Goldstein, so Mike, if you're reading this, see this movie immediately! And the same goes for everyone else. Yasher Koach!

I thought this was an interesting film, though it didn't cover as much of the relationship between the guy and his family. As an ethnic Korean male, I can understand family pressure on marriage and to marry someone who will fit in. The good thing about the film was the end, as unlike most Hollywood fare, the ending was very realistic in that it didn't fall into cliche and the like. It presented the probable ending as opposed to the sentimental ending.

Three stars.