Matchmaking

Endlessly witty, visually rapturous, and sweetly romantic, Matchmaking is a Romeo and Juliet-like saga (sans the tragedy!) of two young, eligible ultra-Orthodox singles looking for a match. Moti (Amit Rahav) spots Nechama (Liana Ayoun in a breakthrough performance), his sister’s friend, and is instantly smitten, but isn’t allowed to date the charming, beautiful young woman because she doesn’t come from an Ashkenazi (European origin) family like his own, but rather comes from a Mizrahi (Middle Eastern origin) family. Over the course of time, Moti is sent on a whirlwind of dates with beautiful girls in the Orthodox community, but against everything he knows, he finds he must pursue his one true love, Nechama. A joyous tale about tolerance and love, Matchmaking is Israel's biggest box office hit of the year and is full of hijinks, jokes, and slapstick humor thanks to matchmaker Malki (Irit Kaplan) and her deputy, Baruch (Maor Schwitzer), along with plenty of one-liners about spicy salads and noodle kugels, with a heavy dose of Yiddish sprinkled into the Hebrew script. (Miami Jewish Film Festival)