Bride races to find groom in time
Will 32-year-old Michal (award-winning newcomer Noa Koler) get her “Hanukkah miracle” and find a groom in 22 days for the wedding she has booked at an expensive hall for 200 invited guests? Or will God let this devout, lovable and undeniably daffy Orthodox Jew down and leave her jilted under the chuppa?
These are questions asked by “The Wedding Plan,” a faith-based, romantic comedy from New York Cityborn writer-director Rama Burshtein, whose previous Hasidic-based feature “Fill the Void” left hard questions about the treatment of women in the Orthodox world unanswered.
“The Wedding Plan” has such a strong-headed heroine, almost an Orthodox version of a Jane Austen character, at its helm that such questions are not as worrisome. No one is going to put Michal down.
In opening scenes, Michal is among a group of young women visiting the home of what appears to be a combination match maker wedding planner, who also bakes and whose adult son drops by to take out the trash. The matchmaker rubs smelly fish blood on a disgusted Michal’s face. A few months later at a tasting at the hall they have reserved for their wedding, which is run by the matchmaker’s son (Amos Tamam), Michal’s cowardly fiance (Erez Drigues) breaks up with her and shortly afterward gets engaged to her roommate.
Michal has a sister and several friends with whom she runs a mobile petting zoo, plying their trade at children’s parties. One of Michal’s friends is very ill, and Michal’s best friend is the loyal Feggie (Ronny Merhavi). Asking about prospects, Michal learns of a Japanese man who has recently converted and who appears comically in full regalia at her door. She also has meetings with other eligible men. But she hits it off with no one until she flies to Ukraine to visit the tomb of a saintly rabbi and meets Yoss (a very charismatic Oz Zehavi), a handsome Israeli pop star, who claims to fall in love with her. Although she is unconventionally quite attractive, Michal is skeptical, to say the least.
“Fill the Void” was hardly a laugh riot, so it was quite a surprise to find that writerdirector Burshtein has a wry sense of humor and is capable of such an offbeat and unique romantic comedy. But “The Wedding Plan” strikes universal notes and should appeal to all sorts of audiences.
Burshtein writes good dialogue. But her tendency to stage scene after scene focusing on two people in close quarters shot very tightly can be wearisome. But Koler and “The Wedding Plan” will win you over.
(“The Wedding Plan” contains mature themes and a scene of emotional distress.)