Looking Back on Matchmaker

Posted on October 6, 2011 by cfic


The late 1960s have provided inspirational fodder for screen writers and directors and is the prominent theme is innumerable films. Matchmaker takes place during 1968 and highlights how Israel’s society was coping with strife, but not from a current war, although certainly Israel was constantly defending its borders, but from the ghosts of the Holocaust haunting much of its population during the night as they battled stigmatization during the day.

However, Matchmaker is not a Holocaust movie, per say, but a coming of age film. The protagonist, Arik, witnesses the beauty and ugliness of life to him via Yankele Bride, a matchmaker. Both Arik’s father and Yankele grew up in Romania and thought the other had died in the Nazi death camps. Due to the connection, Yankele employs Arik, a detective novel enthusiast, as an amateur private detective.

Matchmaker is an engrossing movie with multiple storylines that create an epic film with provocative themes that could emerge in any coming of age movie, with a narrative that could only be set in Israel. With outstanding performances by Adir Miller, Maya Dagan and Tuval Shafir, director and writer Avi Nesher creates what could have been an unwieldy story into a
beautifully told and wise drama.

– Sharna Marcus

Tickets On Sale 2011

Posted on October 5, 2011 by cfic
Opening Night Chicago Cultural Center, on Wednesday 10/26/2011
Film Row Cinema of Columbia College on Thursday 10/27/2011
AMC Loews 600 for 10/29/2011
AMC Northbrook Court for 10/30/2011
AMC Northbrook Court for 10/31/2011
AMC Northbrook Court for 11/1/2011
AMC Northbrook Court for 11/2/2011
AMC Northbrook Court for 11/3/2011
AMC Northbrook Court for 11/5/2011
AMC Northbrook Court for 11/6/2011

This Is Sodom! Sometimes I Want To Laugh

Posted on September 27, 2011 by cfic

This is Sodom, Zohi Sdom, Characters

Post by Committee Member Erica Fleischer

A complaint I often hear is why are Israeli films so sad?  I generally love how how deep, complicated and moving the vast majority of recent Israeli movies are.  Movies such as Walk on Water and The Secrets have stayed with me and I still think about their moral dilemmas years later.  But sometimes I just want a laugh and that’s where This is Sodom comes in.

This is Sodom, Zohi Sdom, God selling to Abraham and IsaacA comedy of this sort was long overdue for Israel, as shown by it being the biggest box office hit in 25 years.  This modern, satirical telling of the famous biblical story of Lot and Sodom is reminiscent of Monty Python.  The movie starts with God as a smartly dressed tent to tent salesman trying to sell Abraham and his hapless son on a god consolidation plan to monotheism.  The jokes and puns keep going from there.  So yes, Israeli films can be funny.  If you are looking for the lighter side of Israel, this is the film for you.

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