"A Matter of Size" is Coming Out in Boston!

A Matter of Size is now playing in Boston at the West Newton Cinema, and the accolades just keep on coming for this "ludicrously funny" film! Recently, the film was reviewed by Roger Brigham for EDGE Boston, Boston's leading gay website.

Here's what EDGE had to say about A Matter of Size:

"There is a basic principle the rules in the world of sumo wrestling: stand your ground or be shoved aside. It is a theme that resonates throughout "A Matter of Size" and one that should resonate with the queer community.

Herzl (Itzek Cohen) is a fat lonely man who has just quit one job as a chef in dissatisfaction and is gaining weight while attending group therapy session with other don’t-wannabe whales and living with his mother. He finds happiness when he embraces his true girth and dedicates himself and his friends to the discipline of sumo, and finds greater happiness when he finds the courage to be honest instead of only saying things to please people. There is one character who comes out of the closet, but it is the overall story of the power of self-acceptance and integrity that makes this film a champion.

Fat people, guys in loin cloths, Jewish guys dreaming of going to Japan -- there are tons of possibilities for cheap shots and buffoon humor. Writers Sharon Maymon and Danny Cohen-Solal take none of them while delivering a story of good humor and subtle poignancy. Cohen, Levana Finkelstein as his girlfriend Mona and Dvir Benedek as his hot-headed friend and counterpoint are standouts in a solid cast."

Read the review at EDGE Boston

A Matter of Size is playing in Boston theaters now!

For more information, visit Menemsha Films

Audiences Love "A Matter of Size"!

This just in: A Matter of Size has won the Audience Choice Award for Best Narrative Feature at the Seattle Jewish Film Festival!



This is the fourth time audiences have put their weight behind A Matter of Size! The film has been honored with Audience Awards at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, the Washington Jewish Film Festival, and the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

A Matter of Size is now playing in Boston. for more information and to find out where you can see it, visit Menemsha Films!

Early Reviews Are In: "A Matter of Size" is "One Big Charmer"

The first reviews for A Matter of Size are coming in from Boston!

First, Brett Michel of The Boston Phoenix gives his take in this week's issue:

"Director duo Sharon Maymon and Erez Tadmor have fashioned a look at a group of blue-collar Israeli men (and one woman) and how they came to accept who they are. Sounds like your usual coming-out tale, no?

Except that they're not gay. (Well, one is.) They're fat. And getting fatter. Oh, and they're sumo wrestlers. "

"Add a subplot of plus-sized romance and you're looking at a big charmer."

Read the review at The Boston Phoenix

Daniel Kimmel of The Jewish Advocate had great things to say about the film as well:

"This is a comedy that could take place in any western society where relative affluence leads to people being overweight. The characters are on a journey where they will first have to accept themselves before they can get others to accept them for who they are.

And if they means running through the streets wearing nothing but a red “diaper,” (the traditional garb of the sumo wrestler), it may mean people will stare, but as “A Matter of Size” makes hilariously clear, that's their problem."

Read the review at The Jewish Advocate

Finally, Laura Clifford of Reeling: The Movie Review Show had this to say:

"The cast is uniformly appealing. (Itzik) Cohen uses his big eyes for mope puppy appeal and carries himself with the grace many large men inexplicably seem to have. (Dvir) Benedek is the tough, macho plumber and the only real threat to Herzl in the ring. (Alon) Dahan is delightful - he makes Gidi's joy radiate when he discovers the gay bear subculture."

"(Irit) Kaplan is a lovely romantic interest and a poster girl for sexy zaftig ladies. (Togo) Igawa, who had to learn how to speak Hebrew for this role, is dignified, but with a slight devilish streak, one which is subtly brought out by (Levona) Finkelstein as Herzl's mom."

"...it's gentle humor and band of underdogs will surely bring a smile. It's a unique cross-cultural comedy."

Read the review at Reeling Reviews

A Matter of Size premieres this Friday, March 19th in Boston, and will soon be playing in a theater near you!

West Newton Cinema
1296 Washington Street
West Newton, MA
(617) 964-6060
Website

Stay tuned for more news and reviews from the Boston premiere of A Matter of Size!
For more information, visit Menemsha Films

Smash Hit Comedy "A Matter of Size" In Theaters Friday!

A Matter of Size, the hit Israeli film that has been playing to packed houses and rapturous laughter at film festivals around the world, is making its North American Theatrical Premiere in Boston! The film opens Friday, March 19th, and is playing for a limited time. Variety calls the film “ludicrously funny”, and MTV says its “hilarious”. Come see the film that everyone is talking about!

The film tells the story of four overweight friends from the Israeli city of Ramle who are fed up of dieting and the weight loss club they belong to. Herzl (Itzik Cohen) has been struggling with his weight ever since he was young, and his overbearing mother made it no easier on him. When he loses his job as a cook and starts washing dishes in a Japanese restaurant, Herzl discovers the world of Sumo, where large people such as himself are honored and appreciated.

Through the restaurant owner Kitano (Togo Igawa), a former Japanese Sumo coach (supposedly hiding from the Yakuza in Israel), Herzl and his friends fall in love with a sport involving "two fatsos in diapers and girly hairdos". However, Herzl’s dedication to this demanding men-only sport threatens his budding relationship with Zehava, a plus-size social worker. A Matter of Size is a comedy about a 'coming out' of a different kind - overweight people learning to accept themselves.

This film, directed by Sharon Maymon and Erez Tadmor, is the latest in a string of critically acclaimed films to come from Israel in recent years, including Ajami, nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at this year’s Academy Awards, as well as Waltz with Bashir (2009 Academy Award Nominee), Beaufort (2008 Academy Award Nominee), Lebanon and The Band’s Visit. A Matter of Size was the winner of three Israeli Academy Awards, and won Audience Awards at the Washington Jewish Film Festival, the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival and the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

A Matter of Size conveys a powerful message of acceptance and inner beauty, but does so in a hilarious, light-hearted manner. The movie is peppered with dry Israeli humor, musical montages, and loveable characters that audiences will be rooting for from beginning to end! A Matter of Size has something for everyone- competitive sports, laugh out loud dialogue, romance, a positive message and optimistic outlook. Nobody will want to sit out on this massively appealing comedy! In Hebrew with English subtitles, A Matter of Size runs 90 minutes and is unrated.

The film is playing at the West Newton Cinemas:
1296 Washington Street
West Newton, MA
(617) 964-6060
www.westnewtoncinema.com

If you don't live in Boston and want to see A Matter of Size, stay tuned to this blog and our website to find out when the film will be playing near you!

For more information and to watch the film’s trailer, visit http://www.menemshafilms.com/.

The Undeniable 'Find' of the Festival

Just in from the Berlin International Film Festival, Shane Danielsen of indieWire has posted a glowing review of Kawasaki's Rose, the latest film from Czech master Jan Hrebejk, which premiered this past Friday as the opening night selection of the prestigious Panorana Special section. Here's what he had to say about the film:

"Theirs were the usual discontents: The parties were fewer. The market was slow. There were no good movies. Had they not seen ‘Kawasaki’s Rose’? The latest from prolific Czech director Jan Hrebejk and screenwriter Petr Jarchovsky, it was easily the best feature of the first few days, the one undeniable ‘find’ of the festival so far.

I couldn’t say I was surprised. To my mind, Hrebejk has long been the most criminally neglected of major contemporary international filmmakers: a consummate director of actors, with a subtle but undeniable visual sense and an instinctive grasp of structure. Yet despite having produced roughly one film a year for the past decade, and having been nominated for a Best Foreign Film Oscar (for 2000’s ‘Divided We Fall’), this is the first of his works to premiere at one of the Big Three European festivals. And even then – in another inexplicable programming decision – it wasn’t in Competition, as it should have been, but appeared instead as a “Panorama Special”.

Writing in Variety last September, I pointed out that there’s a complete body of work there – nine features to date – awaiting discovery by some enterprising programmer or festival. They’re small movies, mostly modern-day domestic dramas, but are distinguished by their humanity, unusual intelligence, and the unadorned elegance of their craftsmanship. “You have to stay small to go deep,” one character says here, and a neater explication of Hrebejk’s philosophy I have yet to find.

This one – about an elderly man, a respected figure from the Communist resistance, whose misdeeds during the Dubcek era are slowly revealed – slipped easily back and forth between various perspectives (and such is Jarchovsky’s skill, every character here was nuanced, contradictory, fully realized), and parceled out its revelations as deliberately and rigorously as a conspiracy thriller. Less hectic than ‘Horem Padem’, more emotionally resonant than ‘Beauty In Trouble’ (as fine as each of those films was), it ranked among the writer and director’s very finest work to date. "

Check out the rest of the article here:

indieWIRE

Variety ♥'s Kawasaki's Rose

Derek Elley of Variety recently posted a great review of Kawasaki's Rose, which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival this past Friday. The good word of mouth just keeps flowing for this film! Here's a preview of what he had to say:

"While many other Central European countries have dealt with their collaborationist past in movies, Hrebejk and Jarchovsky claim theirs is the first to do so in the Czech Republic. Typically, but without devaluing the content, it's dealt with in a very Czech way -- sans real bitterness, marbled with a lightness of touch, and capped by a final scene that's wound-healing in its tartly genial humor."

"Ensemble performances are topnotch, from Huba and Kolarova as the husband and wife who still retain their dignity even as their past becomes media property, through Vlasakova as their conflicted daughter, to smaller parts like Anna Simonova as Bara, Lucie's restless teen daughter. One cross-generational scene between Huba and Simonova is a beauty, showing how Jarchovsky's well-worked script keeps all family members involved in the ensemble at all times."

You can read the rest of the article here:
Variety