A Matter of Size

Sipur Gadol
Director: Sharon Maymon and Erez Tadmor
Israel 2009 90 mins
Language: Hebrew with English subtitles
Awards: Winner of the Audience Award at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival

In this highly original Israeli comedy there is plenty to discover about turning life around and making something out of being socially unacceptable when the unwritten rule is that 'thin is beautiful'.

Herzl (Itzik Cohen) is a chef living at home with his mother and, unarguably,a hefty guy.He is unemployed and cannot find work and finally takes a job as a dishwasher at a Japanese restaurant where he becomes exposed to the world of Sumo wrestling. One by one Herzl,and his equally overweight friends,leave their slimming club, and take up the challenge of Sumo wrestling under the eye of Sumo Master Kitano (Togo Igawa - Memoirs of a Geisha). Herzl finds romance but also finds it difficult to leave his doting Jewish mother and her endless supply of meals.

This feel-good comedy brings together a cast of lovable characters who prove that life can be lived to the full if they follow their dreams. JI