Arik was a teenager in the late 1960s, when several things happened one summer. A matchmaker, Yankale, an old friend of his father's from "those" days (WW2 concentration camps) offers to find matches for those who need help--peculiar people, meek people, the deformed. At first Arik and his friends trick him but Yankale is actually more savvy than that and hires Arik to be a sort of spy for him. When he has a client whose story sounds shady, he sends Arik to tail them to find out if their intentions are sexual or really for a love match.
Yankale is helped by a lady friend, Miss Clara, who has also suffered during the war, and now has to fend for herself as well. Arik is concerned they have a black market business because he likes them.
Another event is his best friend's Americanized (and sexy) female cousin visits.
The acting in thie film was pretty good all around, including supporting characters like a dwarf lady who needed a match and a meek librarian. I didn't like too much the Americanized cousin, it seems like American culture always seem to be depicted as a negative in movies taking place in an earlier era, and a shortcut to depict the culture becoming more modern. The film could have done without this element and focused more on the Yankale/Arik relationship, which is the meat of the story. The actor who played Yankale, Adir Miller, was very good, and he reminded me somewhat of Vincent D'Onofrio.
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