Seres queridos

"Only Human (Seres queridos)" is a broadly comic "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" for Shabbat. Even with some of the same silly slapstick as the parallel over-the-top satires "Go for Zucker! (Alles auf Zucker!)" and "When Do We Eat?", it is both intelligent and funny.

Amidst the nonsense that happens when the prodigal daughter returns from a job in Spain to her Argentinian Jewish family with an older academic fiancé who happens to be almost as perfect a Palestinian as Sidney Poitier was a Negro, there are surprising moments of poignancy and truth.

The first refreshing element is that this secular, assimilated family who has changed their last name does not look or act like Jewish stereotypes - they don't seem any crazier than any other family. They are not rich (the father got demoted at his salesman job), though the film does gently mock the daughter's pretentious intellectual TV program like those we've seen in several French films lately. Her fierce sibling rivalry with her sexy single mother, belly-dancing sister has spark. The blind grandfather has a complicated Holocaust and Zionist past that contradicts stereotypes of Argentina as a Nazi haven, though it recalls the family in "Lost Embrace (El Abrazo partido)". The brother's effort to become Orthodox has become a common comic foil in films lately, though his subversive effort to teach his niece Hebrew is quite droll.

The second surprise is that heavy philosophical discussions are made both effectively personal and very funny. including a debate about atheism vs. fundamentalism and Spain's role vis a vis the Inquisition and Muslim Moors. The misunderstandings about his Israeli passport are geo-politically amusing, including his travel travails. When told his mother is from Nablus, her confused mother is surprised: "There must not be many Jews in Nablus." Even though we don't learn too much about him (other than that Guillermo Toledo of "Crimen ferpecto" is one sexy dancer), he becomes increasingly more human as he's caught in awkward situations during the course of the film, culminating in a hilarious, no holds barred "I'm not a racist!" lovers' quarrel about religion, lifestyle, history and politics.

The slapstick is mostly funny, particularly a traveling frozen and defrosted chicken soup. Perhaps lost in translation is a too long side odyssey the dazed father takes through the city streets, let alone a silly duck.

The score and klezmerish and Middle Eastern musical selections are marvelous, though used a bit too much to emphasize the slapstick, including "Havah Nagilah" too heavy-handedly in one scene. The setting is mostly limited to one apartment, with every inch used very effectively.

The subtitles are always legible, though the print released in the U.S. uses British spellings and quizzical slang, that may have something to do with the four country funding from Britain, Spain, Portugal and Argentina. As is usually frustrating with subtitled comedies, dialogues are put on screen before the punch line is spoken out loud.

This film is an interesting comedy that explores all the differences between Palestinian and Jewish people creating several situations that make not only people laugh but also think about how close these cultures are in fact. The story begins when Leni, a Jewish girl, decides to introduce his fiancée, a Palestinian boy, to her family. After being shortly shocked with these news, Leni's mother decides to support their wedding, blessing their engagement. Then, an accident caused by Rafi gives rise to several comic situations that will keep you laughing all the time. Doubtless the cast is very good, but I would like to mention Norma Aleandro's performance.

I knew nothing about this film, and 'Spanish comedy' was not a genre I was familiar with or had particular expectations of. But this turned out to be the funniest thing I have seen for a long time. It has pure farce, played with impeccable timing, with such unlikely props as a tub of frozen soup and a duckling. It has wild satire both of religious fundamentalism and of amoral sexual behaviour and several other things in between. It centres on the relationship between a Jewish woman and a Palestinian man, and although it casts no profound light on their situation, it manages to portray them without excessive stereotyping and to include one quick fire debate which contains a potted history of the entire conflict without losing comic momentum. Yet it leaves all the characters with some shreds of human dignity, in spite of their farcical characteristics.

I had the opportunity to see a preview of this movie (to be entitled "Only Human" for English-speaking audiences).

A genuinely funny take on a very real situation: Spanish Jewish neurotic girl who is a TV presenter in Madrid brings home her Palistinian lecturer boyfriend to meet her dysfunctional family.

Her sister is a nymphomaniac belly-dancer who lives at home with her five year old contrary daughter, younger brother (who is going through a faux ultra-orthodox stage), blind grandfather, pre-menopausal mother and a duckling!

The farcical plot (such as it is) revolves around some frozen soup, belly-dancing, Jewish-Islamic shiboleths and all the fun you can pack into 96 minutes!

It's cleverly plotted, extremely convincingly acted, neatly directly and very reminiscent of Pedro Almodavar - on acid! I fell off my chair laughing.

The use of klezmer-meets-belly-dancing music by Charlie Mole is a masterstroke of scoring.

Sure to be a great word of mouth hit, much as "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" eventually became.

The funniest film I've seen in years, "Only Human" is a comedy about Leni, the daughter of a eccentric Jewish family, who brings her fiancé home to meet her relatives for the first time. Dinner is planned, and all is going well, until Leni reveals that her fiancé Rafi is Palestinian. Of course the reaction is hysterical, and Rafi retreats to the kitchen to help in preparing the meal. He offers to take care of the chicken soup, but in removing the frozen soup from the container, it accidentally falls out the window, landing on the head of a man outside and knocking him out. To make things worse, the man may be Leni's father, and the soup may have killed him. Things really take off from there... With a cast of talented comic actors and a truly funny and irreverent screenplay, Only Human gave me more honest laughs than any film I've seen in ages. The characters are definitely oddball, but they are treated with respect, and there is no low humor or mocking of the characters' weirdness. It's good to see a comedy that takes it's humor from the situation and the personalities of the characters, rather than making them look stupid for a cheap laugh. Highly recommended. 10/10