It seemed at one time that all the best roles for Russian immigrant women went to Evelyn Kaplun (and she aced them). I haven't heard of her for much recently-- this movie is 18 years old as I write-- but here we see her as a victim of human trafficking who works as a cleaner in a brothel because she's not pretty enough bring in good money as a prostitute. The film industry as a whole has a problem with female characters who aren't supposed to be pretty. It's afraid the audience won't watch if not all the young women are stunning. So Kaplun's face is supposed to be ruined by a large strawberry mark, but on my HD TV screen I had to squint to see it. Anyway, she is just one major node in a network of characters who wind up interrelated. The many characters are hastily sketched, but in a way that gives the impression that any of a half dozen carry the germ of a separate movie (the film won Israel's annual Best Screenplay award), and the audience is inclined-- at least I am-- to forgive a couple of improbable coincidences in the way the plot serves to assemble them all in a single sprawling story. My powers of concentration aren't at the champion level, but even I had no problem keeping track of who's who and who belongs where. Well, almost no problem.
Review of What a Wonderful Place
