VeAz Hi Hegiaa

Last night, I had the pleasure to see this movie at the East Bay Jewish Film Festival, here in Northern California. After weeks of rainy weather here, I felt that I needed to get out and have something to lighten me up. Rom-Coms are not designed to win any awards, but just to entertain you. So, I went in there not expecting too much. There are actually very few rom-coms that I think to recommend to my friends, as they usually have no substance. This movie had enough going on that it kept my interest the entire time and at the end, it got polite applause from our full auditorium.

The last reviewer seems to be an Israeli, who knows more about Israeli society than I do. There is this connection to Israeli football (soccer to us) that is part of the story and one also needs to know that Israel has many kind of Jews and Jews from all over the world. This is central to the story, as the waitress he has interest in, is not from the higher parts of Israeli society, as the girl who he has been dating for many years has. In the US, it would be equivalent to the girl from the other side of the tracks. But there is enough going on with the romance and the career path of Dan to keep it interesting and funny enough. For me an 8 out of 10.

"And Then She Arrived" (2017 release from Israel; 104 min.) brings the story of Dan. As the movie, "inspired by true events", opens, it is "28.08.1998" and we get to know Dan, who is almost 30,. Dan is a lawyer working at his dad's firm, a once-promising guitarist-singer in a band, and a huge fan of Hapoel Haifa, the local football team. Oh, and he's got a long-time sweetheart/girlfriend. Then one day, after a court hearing in Jerusalem where Dan did surprisingly well, he and his dad go out to lunch nearby to celebrate, and the waitress clumsily spills ice cream on Dan's shirt... At this point we're not even 15 min. into the movie, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just had to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the feature length debut movie from well-known Israeli TV director Roee Florentin. Here he brings a true story to the big screen. It all plays out very nicely, and that is unfortunately part of the problem, at least for me. It is one of those films where all the work is done for you, and nothing more is required from the viewer than to sit and watch it play out on the big screen (or small screen, I suppose). I like my films a bit more engaging and challenging, frankly. I realize that this probably reflects more on me that on the intrinsic quality of this film. So to be clear: "And Then She Arrived" is not a 'bad' film by any definition, it's simply not the type of movie that suits me very well.

I saw "And Then She Arrived" recently as part of the 2018 Jewish & Israeli Film Festival here in Cincinnati. The Tuesday evening screening where I saw this at was close to a sell-out, and lots of people in the audience seemed to enjoy it. If you are in the mood for a lighthearted rom-com playing out in an Israeli setting (Haifa, Jerusalem), you will probably enjoy this too.