When a couple is engaged, meeting the parents can be a dangerous event. In “Kiss Me Kosher,” from Menemsha Films,a Shira, an Israeli woman (an outstanding Moran Rosenblatt, recently seen in Hulu’s Holocaust drama, “We Were The Lucky Ones”) and her German girlfriend, Maria (Luise Wolfram, most familiar to American audiences for Hulu’s TV adaptation of “Das Boot”) are in love. They’ve been seeing each other for three months; while Shira’s parents are cool with their relationship, her grandmother, Berta, objects. She will not let her granddaughter marry a German. (Berta has her own problematic love life; she is in a clandestine relationship withIbrahim, a Palestinian man.)
Rosenblatt has a lot of charm, and the character needs it to keep the woman she loves despite efforts to ruin the relationship. As if that was not enough, an old girlfriend pops up and accuses Shira of moving too quickly with a new woman. Maria’s German parents tell her they’re proud of the way she is adapting to Israeli culture. Shira’s mother wants to know what Maria’s grandparents did in World War II; Maria says they were only farmers, but later tells discovers the true story was hidden from her.
Liam (Eyal Shikratzi), Shira’s younger brother, is documenting his sister’s romance for a school project; he stirs up trouble to give his video some drama. When Maria wants to know how to say “I’m not Jewish” in Hebrew, he tricks her into saying, “I eat pork on Yom Kippur.”
Written and directed by Shirel Peleg, “Kiss Me Kosher” is a light-hearted gay romcom that also examines some serious issues. Rosenblatt carries the film and gets to show off her range. While in “We Were The Lucky Ones,” she played a pregnant Jew fearing for her life in Siberia, in this movie she displays a deft comic touch .
Rosenblatt told the Journal that this was her first real foray into comedy.
“I didn’t know if I could do it,” Rosenblatt said. “I was praying.”
Rosenblatt and Wolfram have great on-screen chemistry, but they hadn’t met before the audition.
“We bonded very quickly,” Rosenblatt said. “I was chewing gum, and I threw it out of the window. It was an Israeli thing to do. She was shocked and we were immediately in character.” Asked about her character, she said she believes that if someone is in love and dating someone they want to be with, they should ignore people who disapprove.
“Kiss Me Kosher” is a film that champions the idea that while love might not be able to conquer all, it can overcome many things. It’s currently playing in select theaters and is available to stream.
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