Dover Koshashvili’s latest film, The Giants of Easter Island, which opens around Israel on Thursday, is his best movie in many years, since his breakout hit, Late Marriage, over 20 years ago, and it’s no surprise that the director has returned to the Georgian immigrant culture that was also the subject of his first feature.
Late Marriage, which is currently available on Netflix with English subtitles, was an incredibly assured debut film and seemed to herald the arrival of a major talent on the Israeli film scene. Set among Georgians in Israel, the community in which Koshashvili grew up, it tells the story of a philosophy graduate student (Lior Ashkenazi), still dependent on his stern Georgian father (Moni Moshonov), whose parents decide he must break up with his sexy, divorced girlfriend (Ronit Elkabetz) and marry a nice, Georgian girl.
The three leads gave incredible performances and many actors playing smaller roles were actually Georgian character actors, giving the movie a sense of authenticity. Much of the dialogue was in Georgian.
Koshashvili’s own mother, Lili Koshashvili, played Ashkenazi’s mother and the movie swept the Ophir Awards, winning Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay as well as awards for all four of its stars. The movie was also notable for the fact that it didn’t go for some kind of cheap, love-conquers-all conclusion and wasn’t afraid to paint its incredibly handsome, charming lead character as weak.
In the years since then, Koshashvili has made a number of movies and has returned at times to the Georgian milieu, notably in the comedy Gifts from Above (2003), but none of his movies have displayed anything close to the storytelling flair and memorably quirky characters in Late Marriage. The Giants of Easter Island, a sprawling comedy-drama, looks at a community of Georgian immigrants in Or Yehuda in the 80s and he returns to the themes of the conflict between fathers and sons, and to the many obstacles in the path of anyone who is in love.
In Giants, Koshashvili also revisits a highly praised student short film he made in 1999, even using many of the same names of the characters and much of its plot. The new film focuses on one family and its children. Zaza, a bright, resourceful kid, has fallen in love with Zehava, a neighbor, and the two, like most of their peers, share a passion for collecting cards that feature the greatest sites of the world.
The card that all the kids covet shows the Giants of Easter Island, and eventually, he steals money from his father to get one of these cards for her. It’s touching and evocative to see these kids, who know very little about anything outside their neighborhood, poring over pictures of the wonders of the world.
Medea (Kate Konlin), his older sister, actually plans to go and see the world. She is just finishing up her military service, a triumph in a neighborhood where no one seems to make it out to do anything, and she is planning to go abroad to study dentistry. Her father encourages her, but Vazu, a young thug who is the king of their street, is in love with her and wants to marry her. Meanwhile, her uncle is in debt to Vazu and the local gangsters.
In another movie, Medea would be the main character, and the story of Zaza and his struggles with his father, especially after his father discovers he has stolen, would have been the main subplot. But in Giants, the movie keeps shifting, eventually presenting a canvas of dozens of characters, many of whom are cleverly conceived. But when so many people drift in and out, few make an impact.
Kate Konlin, a model who until now was best known for her involvement with the “Tinder Swindler,” gives a very appealing performance as Medea. Unfortunately, the script doesn’t adequately explain her character’s sudden shifts in attitude, but Konlin does the best she can.
Visually interesting and entertaining
The film is visually arresting and the elaborate patterns on the clothes, rugs, and walls may bring to mind the movies of Wes Anderson and Pedro Almodovar. The score and music beautifully add to the atmosphere, and the many actors, among them Gavri Banai, give fine performances.
While scene by scene, the movie is quite entertaining, as you watch, you may wonder what the plot is leading towards. Zaza’s and Medea’s stories are constantly interrupted by characters we care less about. Given the director’s passion and affection for his many characters, it seems that this might have worked better as a television series, where each character would be developed over the course of a season and episodes could focus on different people. As a movie, it’s fun but, at times, its lack of focus becomes frustrating.