The director-screenwriter Erez Tadmor ("A Great Story", "Wounded Land") is very busy.
On Sunday he will attend the Ophir Awards ceremony at Zappa Tel Aviv, where his film "Nobody's Children" is nominated for two awards.
Today he is releasing "Good Boys", an entertaining and good-hearted romantic comedy that gives a light Orthodox twist to "Romeo and Juliet", which he also managed to write, film and edit during the Corona period.
"After we finished filming 'Nobody's Children,' there was still Corona and there was really no work," says the 48-year-old Tadmor, "so I immediately started working on 'Good Guys.' We wrote, we found investors. When we shot the film, there was still a shutdown." .
They must have been very happy to hear that you do comedy. I understood that you have been bullied to return to the genre since "Sifor Gedol" was a huge hit.
"I really like making comedies, you just have to find the right story. The question for me is how to make a drama that is funny. How to make a film where the humor comes from the situations. I like comedies like this. Dramas that have amusing moments. It's important for me to have both exciting moments and moments funny".
Tadmor is one of the hardworking, prolific and diverse directors in Israel.
While many of his colleagues spend years waiting frustratingly between one film and the next, he seems to be constantly in the making.
Features, short films.
Dramas, comedies.
From everything that comes next.
The main thing is not to stop.
Date palm cedar.
"It was important for me to be precise in the details,"
At the beginning of his career he collaborated with Guy Nativ (he directed "Strangers" and "Son of God") and with Sharon Maimon (he directed "Sivor Gadol" in 2009).
In 2015, he set out independently with the social tension drama "Wounded Land", for which he won the Ophir Award for Best Director.
Since then, he managed to add to his resume "Home Port" (2016), about power struggles and corruption in Ashdod Port, and "Good Tidings" (2019), a semi-autobiographical comedy drama about a couple undergoing fertility treatments.
In "Good Guys", which he wrote together with Chava Divon ("Knitted") Vicky Reisner, Tadmor makes a switch again and enters a territory that is new to him: Bnei Brak.
The story takes place in the world of ultra-Orthodox-Lithuanian matchmaking and centers on Nitsav Moti (Amit Rahab), an Ashkenazi yeshiva boy from a good family, who is ready to do whatever it takes to win the heart and hand of Nachami (Liana Ayon), a young, charming, oriental girl who is an impossible match for him.
Irit Kaplan and Maor Schweitzer play the tough matchmaker and right-hand man, while Roi Assaf, Raymond Amsalem, Guy Lowell and Netta Spigelman play the unhappy parents of the couple in love.
"I didn't know this side of Ramat Gan," says Tadmor, "I was just drawn in and fell in love. It's kind of like a small Manhattan. I was very impressed by the community, and visually it's very beautiful for a movie. The architecture, the alleys, the density. I remembered 'Once upon a time' in America' and in De Sica's films. We did very thorough investigations. We learned all the strict rules of matchmaking, we met with a lot of matchmakers and went on many ultra-Orthodox dates. We would come at night and look at them. We learned to recognize the signs, for example, if the guy doesn't take off his hat, It's a first date. Full of nuances. I actually took a course in religion, I really enjoyed writing and getting to know these characters."
Courtesy of United King Films
Did you show the film to an ultra-orthodox audience? How were the reactions?
"I had concerns because there is a lot of criticism of the Lithuanians in the film, that they are not ready to accept the Eastern bride. But there were actually very positive reactions and I felt that they accepted the criticism with love. They told me that it was time for them to make a film like this. In terms of the nuances, we got the impression that we were very precise. It was more important for me to be precise in the details than to be funny. Because it was a new world for me, I felt that I had to be good at it."
The dating world of the ultra-Orthodox sector was not the only new world that Damor was exposed to during the work on "Good Guys".
To cast his young couple of lovers he had to dive into the world of youth series.
"I was less connected to this world," he admits, "but I met most of the big stars and discovered young and talented people with many hours of experience in front of the camera. They participate in series with many seasons and learn acting along the way - which is the best way to learn. Amit Rahab, who plays Muti, I saw in the series 'The Rebel', which was on Netflix, and I immediately marked him as someone I want to work with. The same with Liana Ayon, who played in series such as 'Neighborhood' and 'The Policeman's Daughter.' She is an actress of a very high level. She really moved us at the audition".
What's next for you? As I know you, you are already deep into the next project.
"I'm doing a series for Keshet called 'Dini Nefshoth.' It's sad, but you have to go with this situation. What is a series in the end? An eight-hour movie. It's perfectly fine to do that too. I'll be back in the cinema soon."
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