The Decade List: Late Marriage (2001)

Late Marriage - dir. Dover Koshashvili

Most films about the religious/cultural tradition of arranged marriage, from fairy tales about princesses to contemporary tales from the Middle East, India and China, have the same thing to say about the institution: arranged marriage = bad (this can also be extended to really any tale of star-cross'd lovers where there's a disapproving family involved). In reiterating the same tired belief, almost all of these films end up accomplishing exactly what the pegged villains are trying to do by sacrificing human emotions for their own unjustified cause. Despite these constant reminders of the pitfalls of arranged marriages, nothing has changed socially. These practices still exist, and that's where you'll find Dover Koshashvili's Late Marriage.

I'm always skeptical calling a film a response to what's come before it. In the case of Late Marriage, this temptation probably arises from its adoption of the role of a typical modern versus tradition comedy. By dressing the part, Koshashvili addresses not the tradition itself, but the legacy by which it has been depicted in other works. The film begins well after the two lovers, thirty-one-year old philosophy student Zaza (Lior Ashenazi) and thirty-four-year old divorcée and single mother Judith (Ronit Elkabetz), met and courted one another, and most importantly, well after the tales of true love overcoming obstacles became standard.

Despite all his intellectual pursuits and skills with the opposite sex, Zaza is a child, and this is why his romance with Judith can't go on. His entire lifestyle is supported by his parents, and his fear to fend for himself is what ultimately drives that wedge. During the confrontation scene with his family, Zaza tells his father (Moni Moshonov) to cut his head off with Judtih's ex-husband's sword. Though on one level we know he doesn't wish to die, we also get the notion that death would be the preferable option to supporting himself. When his mother (Lili Koshashvili) goes to Judith's house to make peace after the fact, Judith tells her, "I realized then that he loved you more than he loved me." While Judith is certainly wiser than Zaza, she mistakes his need for support for a "love" for his mother. It might also be suggested that Zaza and Judith weren't really in love, but I think that's untrue. In what I'd go as far to call the best sex scene of any film this decade, everything is revealed, not just physically but emotionally as well. Their chemistry saturates the entire candid sequence and squashes some of the family members' belief that he's only into her for the sex.

In a welcome change of pace, Late Marriage displays a realm where the good wills of individual people can't change the world around them. The tragedy of Late Marriage doesn't just affect the doomed lovers, but the ones who are splitting them up as well. Just as Zaza and Judith can't convince his family that their love is enough, Zaza's parents can't convince him that they have his best interests in mind. Koshashvili doesn't condemn any of the characters' beliefs and makes it difficult for their viewer to by showing them with all their contradictory affectations. Late Marriage is a shattering film. Its final scene is reminiscent of the one in Claire Denis' Beau travail. It's not just bittersweet, it's unexpected, acerbic and absolutely staggering. Late Marriage won ten Israeli Film Academy Awards, in all four acting categories (Ashenazi and Elkabetz are phenomenal here), as well as picture and director, and was the country's official submission for the Academy Awards. "Tragi-comedies" really don't get much better.

With: Lior Ashkenazi, Ronit Elkabetz, Moni Moshonov, Lili Koshashvili, Sapir Kugman, Aya Steinovitz, Rosina Kambus, Simon Chen
Screenplay: Dover Koshashvili
Cinematography: Daniel Schneor
Music: Iosif Bardanashvili
Country of Origin: Israel/France
US Distributor: New Yorker Films

Premiere: 17 May 2001 (Cannes Film Festival)
US Premiere: September 2001 (Telluride Film Festival)

Awards: Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor - Lior Ashkenazi, Best Actress - Ronit Elkabetz, Best Supporting Actor - Moni Moshonov, Best Supporting Actress - Lili Koshashvili, Best Screenplay, Best Editing - Yael Perlov, Best Sound (Awards of the Israeli Film Academy)

Coming (or Not Coming) in 2009: Part 3

Part three of my posts looking at a number of films that may show up at film festivals during 2009 will focus on the continent of Asia, as well as a pair from Australia/New Zealand. Previous posts have covered France and the rest of Europe, and earlier posts about the Berlinale mentioned the new film from Chen Kaige.

Blake Williams first gave me word of the new film from Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Tropical Malady, Syndromes and a Century). You can find more information here on the director, and his latest project Primitive: Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives which is going into production shortly via this link. Thanks Blake.

The latest film from Johnnie To (Mad Detective, Election) will be a French/Hong Kong co-production and filmed in English, entitled Vengeance. Filming now, Vengeance stars Johnny Hallyday, Simon Yam and Sylvie Testud. Variety reports that this is not the planned remake of Le cercle rouge, however. It is slated to be released in France on 20 May.

Following Lust, Caution, Ang Lee returns to the US for Taking Woodstock, which is set to be released in the States in August. It will be the third teaming in a row for Lee with Focus Features. Taking Woodstock stars, among many others, Emile Hirsch, comedian Demetri Martin, Liev Schreiber, Paul Dano, Kelli Garner, Imelda Staunton, Katherine Waterston, Eugene Levy, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Dan Fogler.

Like Hou Hsiao-hsien before him, Tsai Ming-liang will make his next feature in France, entitled Visage [Face]. The film explores the myth of Salomé, the biblical figure who performed the Dance of the Seven Veils which resulted in the beheading of John the Bapist. The dream cast includes Laetitia Casta as Salomé, Jeanne Moreau, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Mathieu Amalric, Fanny Ardant, Nathalie Baye and frequent actor Lee Kang-sheng. No dates set, but check this link (thanks to Nimzo!) for more information.

Hong Sang-soo's latest You Don't Even Know is currently filming. I couldn't find much information about the film, but it does star Kim Tae-woo and Go Hyun-jung from Woman on the Beach as well as Ye Ji-won from Turning Gate.

Park Chan-wook's Thirst looks to be ready in time for Cannes. The film already has distribution in France (Wild Side), the UK (Palisades Tartan), South Korea (CJ Entertainment) and the US (Focus Features) and will hopefully be out by the end of the year, before the Old Boy remake hits theatres. Thirst stars Song Kang-ho (The Host), Shin Ha-kyun (No Mercy for the Rude), Mercedes Cabral (Serbis) and Eriq Ebouaney (35 rhums).

I Come with the Rain will be Tran Anh Hung's first film since The Vertical Ray of the Sun in 2000. Produced by France, I couldn't find any substantial release dates for the film, but it stars Josh Hartnett, Elias Koteas, Lee Byung-hun (The Good, the Bad, the Weird), Simón Andreu and Takuya Kimura (2046).

No one seems to know what's going on with Wong Kar-wai's intended remake of The Lady from Shanghai after star Nicole Kidman dropped out. If I hear anything, I'll let you know.

The new film from director Mira Nair will be an American biopic of Amelia Earheart, with Hilary Swank as the doomed pilot. The film, called Amelia, will be released by Fox Searchlight in October. Amelia also stars Richard Gere, Ewan McGregor, Christopher Eccleston, Virginia Madsen and Joe Anderson.

John Woo's Red Cliff Part 2 was released in China on 8 January; the first installment was released last summer, though it doesn't look like any US distributor has picked up either. Red Cliff 2 stars Chang Chen, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Tony Leung.

Abbas Kiarostami's Copie conforme [Certified Copy] is currently in production and is set to star Juliette Binoche (she really does get to work with the world's best directors, doesn't she?). mk2 will release the film in France when it's completed.

The Duel will be the first American film from director Dover Koshashvili (Late Marriage). It looks to be finished filming, but I couldn't find anything further about the film.

Jane Campion will follow the terrible In the Cut with Bright Star, which examines the relationship between poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne. Pathé should release the film by the end of the year in the UK. It stars Ben Wishaw, Abbie Cornish, Paul Schneider and Kerry Fox.

The new film from John Hillcoat (The Proposition), called The Road, was bumped from last fall to sometime this year. The cast includes Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, Robert Duvall, Garret Dillahunt, Michael K. Williams and Molly Parker. The Road is based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy.

As there always seems to be one, I forgot to mention the two new films from Fatih Akin (The Edge of Heaven) when doing my European post. Soul Kitchen is to be released in France on 11 November by Pyramide Distribution; the film stars Moritz Bleibtreu and Birol Ünel. The other film is a documentary entitled Garbage in the Garden of Eden.