While I absolutely loved the movie and found it to be both funny and bittersweet, I write here to differ with other displayed comments. The part of the conservative Georgian community shown in this Israeli movie is most certainly NOT matriarchal. The problems that the male protagonist experiences are NOT due to women controlling the society. The reason his family doesn't want to allow him to be with the woman he loves is because it is a *patriarchal* society, where an older, divorced woman with a child -- no matter how loving, intelligent and beautiful -- is viewed through a sexist lens as damaged goods.

Anyone who watches the early scenes where a 17-year-old girl is trotted out as goods for matchmaking purposes and the two male heads of the family control the proceedings, should realize that this is a patriarchal society. Don't be misled by the fact that the professional matchmaker is a woman and that the hero's mother is a firm believer in sexist customs; if some women didn't hold sexist beliefs, sexism wouldn't exist. Note that the 17 year-old's mother is a widow, but her uncle controls the matchmaking decisions instead of her mother. The male protagonist is harmed by *patriarchal* customs, make no mistake. These customs harm both women and men.

I went to see this movie having being told it was a comedy, and it is - until it takes an inevitable and disturbing turn. It's tragi-comedy in the purest, old-Greek sense, where the humour and the dread fuel each other. The star of the film is Lior Ashkenazi, a handsome, charismatic actor who plays Zaza as a complex character - in turn sexy and easy to root for, then weak and pitiable. The sex scene the film is famed for isn't particularly sexy, it is, instead horribly intimate - it's like a scene from your own bed, and the familiarity of it is shocking in a great way. Plus, the lack of fuss concerning nudity is marvellous - perhaps we do live in a civilized, modern world after all? The ending of the film is also disturbing, and in the end the movie isn't easy to take. I wouldn't want it any other way, but it makes repeat viewings difficult.

"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)