Late Marriage

I went into this film not knowing what to expect, and it kept taking turns I didn’t anticipate. Dover Koshashvili sets his film within the Georgian emigre community in Israel, and indeed casts his mother as the mother of his protagonist, so this comes across a bit like a home movie -- and what a strange home it is. Lior Ashkenazi plays a superannuated student still living off his parents while he completes a doctorate in philosophy. The actor looks disconcertingly like Steve Carrell, so I was tempted to look at this film like “The 31-Year-Old Non-Virgin.” His parents are eager to arrange a marriage for him, and the film starts with one in a long string of matchmaking meetings, this with a hot but sullen teenager. Later in the evening we find out why Zaza showed so little interest -- he goes to visit his lover, a 34-year-old Moroccan divorcee, played with unabashed sexuality by Ronit Elkabetz. I wasn’t expecting an extended sex scene in an Israeli movie, and this one is startling in its naturalness, quite unlike any film sex I’ve ever seen. But Zaza’s family finds out about the affair and takes collective action, which is just as startling. This insular community is rigid in its ways, and will accept no deviations from its norms. What will Zaza do? Whatever you expect, you will be surprised, and probably not satisfied. It’s a strange world, and you’ll likely remain on the outside looking in. Is this a deadpan comedy, a scathing satire, or a scarring familial drama? You decide. (2002, dvd, n.) *7* (MC-82.)