A Matter of Size - Japanese culture in Israel!

Herzl has a problem. He's in a weight-loss program but he keeps gaining weight. He's also been told that he's a bad influence on the others. On top of that, his boss also told him that he's been demoted from the front of the restaurant to the kitchen.

After quitting his job, Herzl finds a job at a Japanese restaurant as a dishwasher. His Japanese co-workers watch Sumo and they comment that Herzl is like a Sumo wrestler. The boss Kitano is a former Sumo referee. Fed up with the diet club and inspired by Sumo, Herzl is inspired to take up Sumo Wrestling. He enrolls his friends to participate and they all have other issues in their lives in addition to being "big." Aharon has problems with his marriage. Gidi is an in-the-closet gay "bear."

I don't want to say too much more about the plot and spoil it for anyone interested in watching it except that it's funny, entertaining, heart-warming and thought-provoking. I thought it was unusual to mix Israeli and Japanese culture.This is also a multilingual film with dialogue spoken in English, Japanese and Hebrew.

This film definitely deserved to win some awards and it did! It's a very enjoyable film directed by Sharon Maymon and Erez Tadmor. Sharon also worked on the screenplay. Those watching this film might also enjoy the soundtrack.

Herzl (which by the way in German means "little heart!') is played by Itzik Cohen and his love interest Zehava is played by Irit Kaplan. Kitano is played by Togo Igawa who lives in England and was the first Japanese actor to become a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company!


Here are some quotes from this film:

"Don't forget... with your mouth...we only talk."---Geula, diet club consultant

"Got married. Got divorced. Then got married again, then divorced...gained 10 kilos each time."---Zehava

"You're just a cook at a salad bar. So don't feel so heavy at the heart."---boss to Herzl

"But even on a diet you've got to eat. Do you want to starve to death?"--Herzl's mother to Herzl

"Hey, he looks just like a sumo wrestler!"---Japanese restaurant co-workers about Herzl

"No hot water again! And you call yourself a plumber!"---Aharon's wife

"It's crucial when and how much we eat. Cuz hunger is our slave, not our king."---Geula

"What's the deal? Does everyone have to be thin? You decided that fat is sick and we ate it all up. They're selling us self-hate here!"---Herzl

"So, should we get a little dirty?"---Zehava to Herzl

"Just since you haven't been able to fit in store-bought clothes."---Herzl's mother about her sewing

"Hope you don't like having sex in the dark."---Zehava

"When I was here in the sumo ring, I felt healthy for the first time in my life."---Herzl

"You think I'd cry about such nonsense? I've been hurt so many times before, I've lost count. I've got skin as thick as an elephants's."---Zehava

"I'm not wearing that. I'm no faggot."---Aharon

"My wife didn't cheat on me because I'm fat but because I'm a bad husband."---Aharon


Here are some scenes from this film:

Here's the official trailer for this film:

The Other Son, An Israeli film about a baby mix-up

The French title of this film by director Lorraine Levy is "Le Fils de l'Autre" which literally translates into "The Son of the Other." In my opinion, this is actually a more accurate title for this story.

Joseph Silberg (played by French-born actor Jules Sitruk, who had to improve his Hebrew and learn to play guitar for this role) is a young Israeli Jew in the process of joining the military. When his blood test raises questions, it leads to the discovery that he was mistakenly switched shortly after his birth in Haifa during a missile attack. His real birth family is Palestinian.

Eventually he searches out his other family and he becomes friends with Yacine (played by Medhi Debhi). Mahmud Shalaby portrays Bilal, the angry brother of Yacine. This actor has been in a number of interesting films. I'll review some of them in the near future.

Orith, Joseph's mother (played by the lovely French actress Emmanuelle Devos)

It's the modern and Middle-Eastern version of The Prince and the Pauper with powerful political overtones. It raises important questions like: Are you the faith of your original birth family or of the faith you've been raised in? Where do your loyalties lie?

What I also found very interesting about this film is that it had multiple languages: English, Hebrew, Arabic and French! Both families have French connections. It's an interesting point for the story because both knew some English and French, so they were able to communicate despite the fact that neither family spoke each other's traditional languages (Hebrew & Arabic).

It's also interesting to not that there seems to be many connections in many ways between Israeli, Palestinian and French Culture.

This film has some absolutely gorgeous shots in it too!! Great plot, acting and visual artistry make The Other Son an interesting, pleasurable and thought-provoking film to watch.

The director Lorraine Levy claimed to have been greatly influenced by the Israeli writer Amos Oz. Without the use of multiple languages, it probably wouldn't have been possible to shoot this film.

Here are some quotes from the film:

Joseph's conversation with military in-take:
"Hashish?"
"No."
"How often?"
"Tell me the truth, Joseph."
"Now and again."
"What's 'now and again'? Every day? Once a week?"
"Yeah, once a week or so. I'd rather my parents didn't know."

*********


"As you see, our villages are still imprisoned and our lands cut in two. A curse on those who stole from us!"---Bilal to his brother Yacine while they drive back to their home.

"No, he's an engineer. Only he's not allowed to work outside his village."---Yacine talking about his Palestinian father.

"I might have been a jerk like you obsessed with clubs and clothes."---Yacine to Joseph.

"Well, thanks to this jerk you won't look like a hick in front of Yona. ---Joseph to Yacine.

"Look. Isaac and Ishmael. Abraham's two children."----Yacine as he looked at himself and Joseph in the mirror.

"If I had died, would I have been buried as a Jew or an Arab?"---Yacine, from his hospital bed.



Some Quotes from the featurette:


"Family is the microcosm of the genesis of who we are."---Lorraine Levy, director of The Other Son.

"Adults are just children who earn money."---quote by Kenneth Branagh, repeated by Lorraine Levy.

"She made this because you're here. Eat.---Bilal to Joseph at the dinner table, indicating the Arabic customs concerning food.

Here are some scenes:

Here is the official trailer:

Gloomy Sunday - beautiful music with sadness...

Gloomy Sunday

If you've had a difficult Sunday, you might not want to see this film?! But the great thing about this mulitlingual post is that you'll be exposed to many different languages with music!

The original German Title of this film by German director Rolf Schuebel was, “Ein Lied von Liebe und Tod.” It translates into “A Song about Love and Death.” This German film takes place in Budapest before, during and after World War II. Laszlo (Joachim Krol, who played briefly as Inspector Brunetti) is a restaurateur in Budapest who has restaurant called Szabo’s.. His lover Ilona, played by the lovely Hungarian Erika Marozsan works as a waitress in his restaurant. One day Andras (portrayed by Italian Stefano Dionisi,(just an aside but this actor played the famous castrato Farinelli!) a pianist auditions and gets a job to entertain there. Many men are charmed by Illona. But her two great loves are Laszlo and Andras.

A regular German customer named  Hans Wieck ( played by Ben Becker ) falls for her too. When she rejects his proposal, he jumps off a bridge and is rescued by Laszlo. The next morning Laszlo sees him off at the Budapest-Berlin Express.  Andras writes a song for Ilona which is recorded and helps promote Szabo’s.  The song becomes a hit and attracts many new patrons to the restaurant. But it also has a dark side to it as many people commit suicide while playing the song.

I don't want to say too much about the plot except that the time period is before, during and after World War II in Budapest, Hungary. Yes, it has Nazis.

The screenplay for this film inspired by a real song that was written by a Hungarian composer named Rezső Seress. This film is a love story and a mystery. Enjoy it and don’t let the music make you feel too sad…
Here are a few scenes from this film:

Regarding the song...

One of the most well-known recordings of this song in English was done by Billie Holiday in 1941. It's been recorded in many different languages.

Here are links to a number of different versions of it:

Link to version from the film in German:



A Hungarian version from the film:


Video about legend and original recording:

Here's a French version:

Here's Billie Holiday:

An Italian version done live:

A version that's in Spanish with piano and gypsy flavor to it:



A version by Sarah Brightman:

Bjork's version at a memorial:

Japanese version:


Here's a Russian version:

Here's a Vietnamese version: