Late Marriage
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Movie Reviews of Late Marriage
Movie Review: Excellent performances!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
The tug-of-war between the old world traditions and the new. The war of generations; the expectations the older demand from the younger and how we either rebel or conform.Movie Review: Really funny.
Summary: 5 Stars
This film made me laugh at how outrageous certain characters were. Absolutely incredible find. Prepare to be amused.Movie Review: A severe indictment on the messiness of arranged marriages
Summary: 4 Stars
Late Marriage is at once shocking, funny, and incredibly cruel. Welcome to the world of middle-class Israel, where arranged marriages are de-rigor and where divorced women with children are looked down upon as outcasts. This movie shocked me but also made me laugh uncomfortably, as I watched Zaza (a simply terrific Lior Ashkenazi), and his extremely predatory family, navigate the strict and messy waters of marital life and inappropriate affairs.
Zaza, the son of Israeli immigrants from the former Soviet Georgia, is good-looking, young, and sexy. He's also a 31-year-old doctorate student who just can't seem to settle down with the right woman, despite the help of his many relatives. His bachelor status has gradually gone from mild discomfiture to mini-scandal. His frustrated and obsessive parents frantically try to hook him up with a 17-year-old girl, but Zaza only has eyes for Judith (Ronit Elkabetz), an attractive, slightly older single mother, whom he helps support by underhandedly using his mother's credit card.
Zaza is appropriately diffident, hesitant, and nonplused at his parents' frustration. He totally ignores their threats that he should grow up and find a woman his own age or younger. Zaza desperately loves Judith and although he knows that his family won't approve, he continues to see Zaza late at night and have long, hot, sweaty sex with her. The movie's focus revolves around Zaza's conflict: Should he obey social convention, honor his family's wishes, or follow his romantic instincts?
Late marriage is a brutal, truthful, and totally abrasive film. Both Zaza and Judith know how messy and complicated their love is, and the ramifications of their liaisons could have disastrous results for them both. He loves her far more than he realizes and she, knowing how much she loves and relies on him, is frightened of its implications. Much has been made of the revelatory sex scene between them both, which is far more explicit than anything seen in an American film. Imbued with a naked honesty and realism (including full frontal nudity) the scene shows how cemented and comfortable their relationship actually is.
But perhaps the film's most haunting scene is when Zaza's family descends on Judith's apartment, and like vultures, belittles and threatens them both in front of her daughter. They ransack the refrigerator, tell her she's dirty, toss her groceries on the table, and even threaten her with a knife. All this is designed to humiliate and frighten Zaza and Judith into submission and make them understand that happiness is the last part of the marriage equation. To Zaza's parents, marriage is all about image and meeting family standards, not love and romance. Does Zaza have enough inner strength to follow his heart and disobey parents' wishes? Most viewers will probably be quite surprised at the outcome.
Late Marriage is a scathing assessment on what happens when the old and the new inevitably collide, and the final enigmatic scene shows how the two have perhaps formed an uneasy partnership. Zaza is asked who his perfect woman is, and his drunken response will probably surprise and shock most viewers. While his rejoinder raises more questions than answers, there's no doubt that it certainly flies in the face of traditional family values. This remarkable film will resonate with viewers long after it has ended, with most coming away with the attitude that if only people could be just allowed to marry whom they love. Mike Leonard March 05.
Movie Review: Insightful cultural study
Summary: 4 Stars
"Late Marriage" is a Hebrew-language movie directed and written by Dover Kosashvilli. It focuses on Georgian Jewish immigrants in Israel who are still bound by old world traditions and where the young generation is still very much at the mercy of the older generation, especially in matters pertaining to marriage. Zaza [ Lior Ashkenazi] is a 31-year-old graduate student working towards his doctorate in philosophy. His parents are eager to see him married and worried that he will choose an unsuitable bride. So Zaza reluctantly goes along with their matchmaking efforts, whilst concealing the fact that he is in fact involved in a long-term affair with a divorced, single mom Judith [Ronit Elkabetz].
Soon enough, things reach crisis point when his parents find out about Judith and rope in their close relatives to help them intervene and put a stop to the affair. The scene where they confront Judith is remarkable in revealing the true nature of some of the main characters. Ultimately, the question is: will Zaza stand up for his rights and protect the woman he truly loves, or will he meekly adhere to his parents' wishes?
The acting was excellent all-round and truly portrayed how some traditional societies are still deeply mired in cultural practices that can be deemed rather out of date by contemporary standards. I could empathize with the situation because I myself had to endure similar intrusions in my personal life by 'well-meaning' relatives before ultimately marrying a man of my own choice. This story may seem a bit shocking to those who haven't experienced such heavy-handed interference in their lives, but I have to say that such things as matchmaking, and arranged marriages are not uncommon in very traditional societies [not just confined to Georgian Jews, but others such as conservative Indians etc]. For some such arranged marriages actually work out well, but many others still prefer to choose their own life partners.
The actor portraying Zaza [Lior Ashkenazi] is convincing in his role as the amorous yet weak-willed lover, and Ronit Elkabetz is amazing as the much maligned Judith who displays remarkable courage and conviction towards the end. The chemistry between the two leads are credible and the sex scenes are quite graphic [both male and female nudity are portrayed] but I guess these scenes sort of serve to establish the immense sexual connection between the pair, though some parts just felt rather overdone to me.
All in all, I felt this was a rather refreshing movie with its less commonly explored theme of arranged marriage, and it provides remarkable insights into a culture I was previously unfamiliar with.
Movie Review: I could imagine that this has happen to A LOT of people.
Summary: 4 Stars
I too have no idea as to why others would compare this film to "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and "Monsoon Wedding." It doesn't even come close to this film. "Late Marriage" may appear as an ethnic comedy at first but the film gradually grows to a melancholic drama, focusing on the main problem of the new generation of Georgian individuals - the dualism between their traditions and between their desires to join the modern society. Zaza (Lior Ashkenzai), who reflects this problem well, is an educated PhD. and yet, he finds it hard to fulfill his desires to marry a girl which is not from his Georgian tribe, for he knows the complications to come, and knows that he will fail in coping with them.
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 story. Zaza's parents steals most of the scenes in this film, both comically and tragically as a couple unable to fully confront the re-opening of their own relationship scars caused by witnessing their son's own struggle. The little girl playing Madonna is an excellent actress playing a child caught in an adult vortex she can neither fully understand nor escape. Meanwhile Lior Askenazi fills out his role rather nicely 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. You can also see that he refuse to give up his long-term passionate affair with Judith (Ronit Elkabetz). In the middle of this there is a long scene of graphic sexual involvement between them, giving the impression of really making love and being in love complete with multiple orgasms and concern about contraception.
Some viewers simply didn't identify with Zaza or found him too "simple" in this story. What could be more complex than someone who lets what he loves be taken away from him? He unlocks the door to his lover's building so that his parents can come up and destroy his relationship. This is all too real, all too human.
I find the ending ingenious. Instead of a normal, fantastic movie ending, we are hit with realism. Other than that it's an enjoyable film to watch.