The shadow of the Holocaust hangs over this unique Israeli coming-of-age film, which deals with a special kind of survivor's guilt.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 14, 2013

Nesher ... has a populist touch, showing a sure hand with the numerous subplots and never allowing us to lose sight of his characters' humanity, even the mostly pathetic villain of the piece.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 14, 2012

This is a sweet, bittersweet comedy, well-executed if perhaps a little heavy on anecdotage.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 13, 2012

A different kind of coming-of-age story, one infused with the lingering horrors of the Holocaust.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 6, 2012

A movie that's somehow delightful even as it visits devastation.

| Original Score: B+ | Oct 19, 2012

The film intelligently portrays how, even years later, the memories of trauma can be enough to inhibit a person from finding happiness - and consequently, how essential love is.

| Aug 17, 2012

Arik's coming-of-age story and the personalities he encounters along the way express the hopes and fears of a country awash in unsettling history.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 16, 2012

Feels like Nesher is simply mashing several stock elements together and gracelessly parading them around.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 14, 2012

The Matchmaker combines the tender tone of a film like Cinema Paradiso with a clear-eyed, street-level vantage on Israel's summer of the Six-Day War.

| Aug 14, 2012

The film ultimately fails to treat history as anything but a string of melodramatic reference points for moody characters haplessly trying to find love.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 13, 2012

It sounds like a throwback to an earlier, more traditional style of Israeli filmmaking but it instead provides a view of that country that's as satisfyingly eccentric and unexpected as anything we've seen.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 28, 2012

[It weaves] fable with realism, coming-of-age innocence with adult grief, and guilt with romanticism.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 21, 2012

This look back at late-'60s Haifa makes for strong, accessible, character-driven drama.

| Feb 23, 2012