A Matter of Size

Sipur Gadol

(Israel, 2009, 90 mins, 35mm)

Wisconsin Premiere

cast: Itzik Cohen, Irit Kaplan, Dvir Benedek, Alon Dahan, Levana Finkelstein, Togo Igawa
writer: Sharon Maymon, Danny Cohen-Solal
director of photography: David Gurfinkel
editor: Einat Glaser-Zarhin
producer: Chilik Michaeli, Avraham Pirchi, Tami Leon, Daniel Bauer, Oliver Simon
co-producer: Antoine de Clermont-Torrenne

It takes a genuine comedic talent and confident directing to create a warm and emotional film out of an outsized idea: sumo wrestling in Israel. Our hero is Herzl (Itzik Cohen), who loses his job as a salad-bar chef because customers complain about his size. He had joined a diet group, but they don’t tolerate his weight increases and boot him out. He finds work washing dishes at a Japanese restaurant, where they’ve tuned in the sumo wrestling match on their satellite TV behind the bar. In this competitive sport, being large brings honor and respect. It’s what Herzl craves, and would be good for his buddies, too, for they are all generously sized and have too much free time. Herzl convinces the restaurant’s owner, Kitano, to train them in the venerable sport of sumo. Surrounding the wonderfully compelling presence of Herzl are his friends, all wrestling (sorry) with their own problems, like Gidi’s online dating or Aharon’s unfaithful wife. Their enterprise — for men only — is also having an impact on his blossoming relationship with Zehava. Together they make for one of the sweetest and most vulnerable couples in recent comedies. Thrown into the mix is dynamite Israeli Jewish humor, which works even in translation. Winner, Audience Award, 2009 Karlovy Vary Film Festival.

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