Late Marriage (2002)

hyped garbage

As Good As It Gets

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Late Marriage is an Israeli film that stars Lior Ashkenazi and Ronit Elkabetz together with Moni Moshonov and Lili Kosashvili.The film centers on Zaza, the 31-year-old child of tradition-minded Georgian Jewish immigrants who are anxiously trying to arrange a marriage for him. Unbeknownst to them, he is secretly dating a 34-year-old divorcée,Judith. When his parents discover the relationship and violently intervene, Zaza must choose between his family traditions and his love.Most of the main characters are Georgian-Israeli and the dialogue is partly in the Judaeo-Georgian language and partly in Hebrew.It was written and directed by Dover Kosashvili.The story centers on a couple sets out to find the perfect bride for their son, whether their son likes it or not, in this Israeli comedy. Zaza is a graduate student in his early thirties who has finally found the woman of his dreams -- Judith, a Moroccan immigrant with a daughter, Madonna, from a previous marriage. Zaza and Judith have similar interests, a great personal rapport, a keen understanding of one another's feelings, and excellent sexual chemistry, but for Zaza there's one little problem -- his parents. His mother Lili and father Yasha are bound and determined to marry their son to a nice Georgian Jewish girl (who is, of course, a virgin), and they not only disapprove of Zaza's relationship with Judith, they insist on fixing him up on dates as if he isn't in a committed relationship; when that fails to make an impression on Zaza, Lili and Yasha use emotional blackmail against their son, and Lili even goes so far as to confront Judith and insist she stop seeing her son.It is a different romantic comedy.Obviously,it is a highlight of Israeli cinema of the past decade which features an extremely powerful film.A tale of family tyranny and intergenerational conflict within a Georgian- Jewish community is what it is all about. This film feels truly lived in, and guides us without ever feeling manipulative or calculating. The performances of the cast are naturalistic and utterly convincing.The direction is also superb.It is a must-see for people who like good movies.

So ugly was this movie that I really don't know what to start with. It seems to me that I have such different esthetically taste and ethical values to half of the Planet Earth... Do people like this exist? Do you really meet them on the streets, in the cafés, in the markets in Israel? Do they form the vast majority of the city of Tel Aviv? I don't know which critic(one that I really appreciated) defined this film "splendid"... There's nothing splendid about this film, not one frame, not one second..Everything is plain ugly. No, not ugly, repulsive, obnoxious. And the sex scene...Oh, oh, oh... Is defined realistic... I would call completely tasteless, useless(and I am not a shy type, I loved the sex scenes in Lust,caution, for example)

"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 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.