Moti Bernstein (Amit Rahav) is the ultimate Ashkenazi catch. By Jewish culture, this young, handsome yeshiva student is being paired in Israel’s hotel lobbies with other eligible Ashkenazi women through his persistent matchmakers Malki (Irit Kaplan) and her deputy Baruch (Maor Schwitzer). However, Moti is only interested in his sister’s best friend, Nechama (Liana Ayoun), who is from a Moroccan Mizrahi family. Although Nechama is quite pretty and presentable, she is from a Sephardic Middle Eastern origin and is not within the same level as the Ashkenazi European origin Moti.
At its heart, the film celebrates love against prejudice and societal expectations as Moti fakes a disability of blindness to lower his Ashkenazi rank so he can be paired with Sephardic Nechama. With a heavy heart, Moti’s parents allow the pairing to happen, but only because he is now blind. Moti follows his heart, challenging the age-old division between Ashkenazi and Mizrahi families. There is strong chemistry between Rahav and Ayoun, and their believable performances are supported by a solid, well-directed cast, including Kaplan and Schwitzer.
Fast-paced comedy and drama are skillfully meshed in each scene, with the most heartbreaking moment captured when a distraught Nechama confronts Moti’s parents on their views and expectations for their son. Yiddish phrases and cultural references enrich the film, providing an authentic glimpse into the traditions and customs of the Orthodox Jewish community. Tadmor expertly handles the complexities and biases of matchmaking in Israeli society, going beyond the surface while exploring love, tolerance and societal prejudices. With its stellar casting, wit and insightful commentary, the film reminds us that true love transcends one’s origins.
It was a great opening night film for this year’s Jewish International Film Festival at the Randwick Ritz cinemas.
There is a lot of trepidation in Hollywood in handling unsure material as CRAZY RICH ASIANS can attest. The last time an all-Asian cast modern-day Hollywood film was made was 25 years ago in 1993 with THE JOY LUCK CLUB, earning modest critical and box office success.
If the film MAID IN MALACAÑANG were an art form, it would definitely be expressionist in nature, where the concept of reality is slanted so the artist can convey their own interpretations. The reality in director Darryl Yap’s mind is not without artificiality, nor is it faithful to mirroring the truth, and the filmmaker would rather capture these fragmented accounts of events and transform them into palatable moments of marketable melodrama.
