Comedies are an important part of the Israeli movie industry, but they’re usually over-the-top, filled with slapstick and gross-out humor, which audiences do tend to love. But there haven’t been enough gentle character-driven comedies here, especially in the rom-com genre. So Matchmaking 2, the sequel to Erez Tadmor’s extremely popular 2022 comedy about dating in the ultra-Orthodox world is especially welcome now. It opens in theaters on Thursday.
If you live in Jerusalem or a few other parts of the country, you’ve seen serious-looking young ultra-Orthodox couples on dates arranged by matchmakers, where they sit in cafes or hotel lobbies over one soft drink each, dates that look more like job interviews. There isn’t that nothing-to-lose mentality about a date that exists in the secular world. If a young man or woman goes on too many dates without finding someone, even that can be seen as a mark against them.
David Ehrlich, the late author who owned the Jerusalem restaurant Tmol Shilshom, where many such dates took place, told me that during the Second Intifada, there was a suicide bombing in the Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall not far from the restaurant one evening, and a couple who had just started their date went to the window for a minute. Then they sat back down to continue despite the terror attack. It was too big a deal to them to reschedule it.
This high-stakes dating arena provides the perfect backdrop for Matchmaking 2. In the original, the focus was on Moti (Amit Rahav), an Ashkenazi who falls for a Mizrahi girl, Nechama (Liana Ayoun), and this couple is still around in the sequel. The conflict between their parents as they plan the wedding provides many of the laughs: Moti has to pretend to like traditional spicy Mizrahi food and that kind of thing.
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BUT THIS film is mainly the story of Baruch (Maor Schwietzer), who had a supporting role in the first movie. He isn’t as young as he used to be and is still trying to find his soulmate. In the haredi world, men are under pressure to marry young, and while that pressure isn’t as fierce as it is on women, it’s still there. As Baruch laments in one scene, “I’m not second class, I’m not even third class.”
Baruch still works doing odd jobs for Malki (Irit Kaplan), a maternal but tough matchmaker. She hasn’t given up on him, but she isn’t all that hopeful, either. In an early scene, she sets him up on a date with a woman who carries a huge stuffed animal around with her, and he is appalled.
He realizes he’s been downgraded and is upset with Malki, but still agrees to pick up her daughter, Shira (Omer Nudelman), at the airport on a Friday afternoon. Through a series of mishaps, they can’t catch a cab to Bnei Brak in time to observe the Sabbath, and are forced to stay over in the airport, along with a few other observant Jews in the same predicament.
Before the sun sets on Saturday, Baruch is head over heels in love with Shira, who is gorgeous, smart, and sweet. She is interested in him as well, which prompts Malki, who unabashedly declares she is out of his league, to set them both up with other people.
Things get complicated at this point, of course. He goes out with Ruth (Niv Sultan, who is Schwietzer’s real-life wife), who is also lovely and a talented baker, but he won’t give her a chance because he is so smitten with Shira. Malki asks Baruch to recommend someone for Shira. He deliberately chooses his nerdiest friend, Moishi (Noam Imber), who is devoted to his work as an ambulance driver and paramedic. His devotion to this profession somehow makes him not a great catch in this world, where being a brilliant yeshiva student is valued most.
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SUSPENSE IS a key element in romantic comedies, so I won’t say much more about the story. One of the most important subplots is about prejudice against the disabled in this community, where having a special-needs sibling has traditionally been seen as a liability, especially when it comes to landing a mate. This part of the film is really touching, and deals with a real issue in a way that isn’t preachy.
Another surprise is that there is an Arab character, the head of the kitchen in the dormitory where Baruch lives, who is played by Hitham Omari. The charismatic
Omari, who was a news cameraman until he was cast in the movie Bethlehem, steals all his scenes as a wise, funny confidant who gets Baruch to look within and admit what’s really going on in his heart.
In addition to a sweet story and relatable characters, the movie features many of Israel’s most appealing young actors. Schwietzer starred in the recent movie Air War, and in the series Valley of Tears, Line in the Sand, and Red Skies (which is about a friendship between an Arab and a Jew that I hope will become available for international audiences soon). He has leading-man looks as well as good comic timing, and these qualities work well in his portrayal of Baruch. For the movie to work, you have to believe that he believes his life will be miserable if he doesn’t marry Shira, and he convinces us of that.
Sultan is best known for her starring role in Tehran, where she is a fearless undercover Mossad agent, but she is just as good playing an insecure young woman here. Imber played the adult son on the autism spectrum in Nir Bergman’s Here We Are. In both that film and Matchmaking 2, he is extraordinarily winning, and I look forward to seeing him in more movies. The rest of the cast, including Rahav, Kaplan, Nudelman, Reymonde Amsellem, Roy Assaf, Netta Spiegelman, and Guy Loel are all excellent.
If you’re craving a story that’s both romantic and funny, Matchmaking 2 is a good match.