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Late Marriage (2001)
Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins
Synopsis: Like the protagonist of LATE MARRIAGE, writer-director Dover Kosashvili was born in Georgia (of the former USSR) and raised in Israel. Kosashvili's provocative debut feature is a very funny, but sometimes painful account of one man's late journey of self-discovery. Zaza (Lior Loui... Like the protagonist of LATE MARRIAGE, writer-director Dover Kosashvili was born in Georgia (of the former USSR) and raised in Israel. Kosashvili's provocative debut feature is a very funny, but sometimes painful account of one man's late journey of self-discovery. Zaza (Lior Loui Ashkenazi) is thirty-one years old, and his parents, Yasha (Moni Moshonov) and Lily (the director's own mother, Lili Kosashvili), are supporting him while he attends grad school. They believe in the traditions of "the old country," and they are distraught and embarrassed because their only son is not married. After many abortive attempts to arrange a marriage for him, they discover that Zaza is having a torrid affair with Judith (Ronit Elkabetz). Zaza's parents won't let him marry Judith because she's older than Zaza, she's divorced, and she has a nine-year-old daughter, Madona (Sapir Kugman). It's a familiar story, but Kosashvili eschews easy laughs, stereotypes, and clichés in favor of subtly performed, well-observed family drama. The frank presentation of Zaza and Judith's relationship gives LATE MARRIAGE an erotic charge. Kosashvili never shies away from Zaza's fecklessness, or the ugliness of his families' prejudices, but he finds plenty of humor and life in the film's sad story. [More]
Genre: Comedies
Starring: Lior Loui Ashkenazi, Ronit Elkabetz, Moni Moshonov, Lili Kosashvili, Aya Steinovits
Screenwriter: Dover Kosashvili
Producer: Marek Rozenbaum, Edgard Tenembaum
Composer: Joseph Bardanashvili
Reviews
An accomplished and tremendously engaging debut from Israeli director Dover Kosashvili.
A highlight of Israeli cinema of the past decade, Kosashvili's impressive feature debut is an extremely powerful film is a tale of family tyranny and intergenerational conflict within a Georgian-Jewish community.
Unfunny comedy with a lot of static set ups, not much camera movement, and most of the scenes take place indoors in formal settings with motionless characters.
I am sorry that I was unable to get the full brunt of the comedy.
This film feels truly lived in, and guides us without ever feeling manipulative or calculating. The performances are naturalistic and utterly convincing.
a blistering (and often funny) critique of conservative family traditionalism intruding on the realm of romantic love
'...young, savvy cinematic sensibility framed by the limitations of a conservative, unrelenting culture.'


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