A deliciously mordant, bitter black comedy, the Israeli feature "Late Marriage" depicts the efforts of a 31-year-old man to resist the extreme pressures imposed on him by his family to enter into an arranged marriage. The film should manage to overcome the cultural gap inherent in its story line and connect with American art house audiences thanks to its dark wit and inherent truthfulness to the human condition. A hit in Israel, it is due for a commercial release next month.

Concerning the members of a community of Soviet Georgian emigrants living in Tel Aviv, "Marriage" depicts the travails of Zaza (Lior Ash-kenazi), a graduate student who remains unmarried at the "advanced" age of 31, a situation that severely dismays his frustrated parents. The film's opening depicts one of what is presumed to be many meetings that the parents have set up for Zaza and various prospective brides, this one a sexually precocious 17-year-old for whom he shows surprisingly little interest.

The reason for Zaza's detachment is his secret relationship with Judith (Ronit Elkabetz), a Moroccan woman who is older, divorced and a single mother, which makes their relationship scandalous. The story line coalesces into a harrowing, comic encounter be-tween Judith and Zaza's family.

The film's skillful mixture of black comedy and psychological drama is even more vividly rendered in the climactic sequence, featuring memorable episodes like the one in which Zaza pays dramatic homage to his father's loins.

LATE MARRIAGE
Magnolia Pictures
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Dover Koshashvili
Producers: Marek Rozenbaum (Transfax Film Production), Edgard Tenembaum (Morgane Prods.)
Executive producer: Udi Yerushalmy
Cinematographer: Danie Schneor
Sound editor: Yael Perlov
Production designer: Avi Fahima
Cast:
Zaza: Lior Ashkenazi
Judith: Ronit Elkabetz
Yasha: Moni Moshonov
Lili: Lili Koshashvili
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 102 minutes