Através do Muro

Michal (Noa Koler) is single, Orthodox Jewish woman in her thirties and living in Jerusalem. Desperate in her desire to be married, she arranges a wedding with the intent that God will help her find a groom in time for the ceremony.

Indeed, the premise is odd but it might have worked if director/writer Rama Burshtein had taken the approach of a comical farce. As the comical moments are too few and a more serious approach is used, the film falls flat by the second half even though it's fairly enjoyable in the earlier segments.

Koler is certainly likeable in the role but her character is repeatedly and annoyingly self-defeating. After a while, I had a "Cher/Moonstruck" fantasy where I wanted to bring Cher's character into this movie and slap Michal hard in the face twice and shout "Snap out of it" and then disappear and go back to "Moonstruck". (I also had this fantasy while watching the excruciatingly long "Zodiac". In that scenario, Cher's slap victim would have been the Jake Gyllenhaal character.)

By the time the conclusion rolls around, it doesn't seem to matter whether or not it is plausible. The rest of the movie before it had already lost momentum. - dbamateurcritic.

An orthodox Jewish girl, aged 32, is looking for a man to marry and spend the rest of her life with. Unfortunately, she has had no luck in finding a husband, despite countless first dates that don't work out for her. Either the suitors she chooses to date are either not her cup of tea, or else marry someone else.

The plot of the movie is very clever and compelling. Noa Kooler's performance is outstanding. Without a doubt she deserves the awards she has won.

Yes, there is a Hollywood style happy ending, but the path the movie takes to get there, especially the twist at the end, were most enjoyable.

A chick flick for the whole family.

"The Wedding Plan" (2016 release from Israel; 110 min>) brings the story of Michal, a young woman who happens to be an Orthodox Jew. As the movie opens, we see Michal consulting a fortune teller on what she needs to do to find a suitable man to marry, having tried for over a decade (we later learn she's had 123 dates over that span). In the very next scene, we see her with her fiancé (hurray!), who admits he doesn't love her (boo!). Michal is devastated. But in a whim, she decides to rent the wedding hall big enough to accommodate 200 people, and fix the wedding day on the 8th night of Hannukah, exactly 22 days later. She has a wedding hall, a wedding dress and not the only thing left is to find a groom. At this point we're less than 15 min. into the movie. Will Michal find her man? To tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the second feature-length movie from writer-director Rama Burshtein. A few years ago, she surprised us all with her debut film, the exquisite "Fill the Void", which also was set in the Orthodox-Jewish community in Jerusalem.and also dealing with the theme of marriage, but in a very different way. In a way, the movie could be called "The Misadventures of Dating in the Orthodox-Jewish Community", and there are some funny moments for sure, although I wouldn't call this movie an outright comedy. The movie is helped tremendously by the charming performance of Noa Kole as Michal. She appears in virtually every frame of the movie. The movie tends to lag a bit in the middle part, and probably could've benefited from some tighter editing and shortening its run by about 15 min. I was already in my mind ready to give this a 5/10 rating, but then we come to the movie's outstanding concluding 15 min. It is an emotional wallop which I did not see coming. That's all I will say about it (mustn't spoil!!).

"The Wedding Plan" opened recently at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati (same one where I saw "Fill the Void"). The Wednesday early evening screening where I saw this at was attended so-so (less than 10 people in the theater), I'm guessing the nice weather and being a weekday evening had to do with that. If you are in the mood for a foreign film that shines light on life in the Orthodox-Jewish community with mostly a light touch, I readily recommend you check out "The Wedding Plan", be it in the theater, on VOD or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray.

"Through the Wall" takes the form of a shaggy dog story. A woman sets herself a deadline for finding true love. Is this guy the one? Apparently not, but we're not sure. Time is running out. Is the next guy the one? Apparently not, but we're not sure. Time is running out. Is the next guy the one? And so on. The movie rests largely on the shoulders of the female lead, played by Noa Kooler, and she won Israel's annual Best Actress award. Simple though its structure is, the screenplay also won the best-of-year award. It has to do not only with finding Mister Right but with the question of whether it is nobler for a marriageable young woman (or, by implication, for anyone else) to hold onto the dream or to settle. If someone holds out, is that faith or is it arrogant self- centeredness? The same question, in fact, confronted the heroine of Rama Burstein's previous film, "Fill the Void," but this one has more comical exaggeration surrounding the protagonist while the lead actress herself, despite plentiful experience in comedy, plays it straight.

After a slow wind, this film is sweetly romantic, spiritual, with flights of funny tenderness.