Seres queridos

I had the opportunity to see a preview of this movie (to be entitled "Only Human" for English-speaking audiences).

A genuinely funny take on a very real situation: Spanish Jewish neurotic girl who is a TV presenter in Madrid brings home her Palistinian lecturer boyfriend to meet her dysfunctional family.

Her sister is a nymphomaniac belly-dancer who lives at home with her five year old contrary daughter, younger brother (who is going through a faux ultra-orthodox stage), blind grandfather, pre-menopausal mother and a duckling!

The farcical plot (such as it is) revolves around some frozen soup, belly-dancing, Jewish-Islamic shiboleths and all the fun you can pack into 96 minutes!

It's cleverly plotted, extremely convincingly acted, neatly directly and very reminiscent of Pedro Almodavar - on acid! I fell off my chair laughing.

The use of klezmer-meets-belly-dancing music by Charlie Mole is a masterstroke of scoring.

Sure to be a great word of mouth hit, much as "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" eventually became.

Rafi and Lina are in love and she is gonna show him to her family. The main problem is that she is Jew while Rafi is Palestinian. While Lina's mother is trying to digest the notice, Rafi accidentally throws a frozen soap through the window and hits a man that seems to be Lina's father. This, mixed with a fanatic brother, a crazy grandparent, a nymphomaniac sister and all the family as eccentric as this will cause endless comic situations. It is not precisely a masterpiece, but it is terribly funny. It's the proof that in Spain it is possible to make good comedies not related to sex, and, being a little film, it is surprisingly funny.

I went to see this with very limited expectations as I had not read many reviews but I have to say I really enjoyed it. Its slight zaniness is recognisably Spanish while there were also elements of typically Jewish humour. Some of the set pieces in the film are laugh at loud funny, while the characters are superb - in particular the ex-Israeli army granddad, the ultra religious but very confused son and the nymphomaniac daughter. This is a family with real problems and the comedy is often tinged with sadness. In an albeit short argument at the end between the Jewish daughter and her Palestinian boyfriend the Middle East debate is given a very vocal hearing, and while this film does not attempt to delve into the subject too deeply, it is an amusing, feel-good take on family relationships and Jewish-Arab relations.

The funniest film I've seen in years, "Only Human" is a comedy about Leni, the daughter of a eccentric Jewish family, who brings her fiancé home to meet her relatives for the first time. Dinner is planned, and all is going well, until Leni reveals that her fiancé Rafi is Palestinian. Of course the reaction is hysterical, and Rafi retreats to the kitchen to help in preparing the meal. He offers to take care of the chicken soup, but in removing the frozen soup from the container, it accidentally falls out the window, landing on the head of a man outside and knocking him out. To make things worse, the man may be Leni's father, and the soup may have killed him. Things really take off from there... With a cast of talented comic actors and a truly funny and irreverent screenplay, Only Human gave me more honest laughs than any film I've seen in ages. The characters are definitely oddball, but they are treated with respect, and there is no low humor or mocking of the characters' weirdness. It's good to see a comedy that takes it's humor from the situation and the personalities of the characters, rather than making them look stupid for a cheap laugh. Highly recommended. 10/10

Thoroughly enjoyable tale of a woman in Spain bringing her Palestinian boyfriend home to meet her Jewish family. Needless to say all sorts of stereotypes and clichés pop up but it's all done in a reasonably realistic yet funny way. It's all played very much for laughs and this works as it is certainly one of the funnier movies that I have seen this year. It is also a victory for the basics of cinema. There are no special effects, no big artist soundtracks and as it was a foreign movie for me, it translated well and had no big stars. The story moves along perfectly and we see all of the characters that we need to see for the purposes of the story. If I had one criticism it would be that the end slightly over simplifies certain issues raised and feels a little too tidy given what has gone before. I felt that there either should have been one last joke to end on or perhaps an edgier/darker resolution to the issues raised. Nonetheless, it remains an amusing insight into the fact that families will drive you mad, no matter what!