THROUGH THE WALL (U, 111 mins)
LOVE finds a way in Rama Burshtein's romantic comedy of self-belief and missed opportunities. Michal (Noa Koller) is a strong-headed and independent ultra-Orthodox Jew, who yearns to be married for the security, companionship and social acceptance that the ring on her finger will bring.
She seeks assurance from a soothsayer Hulda, who confirms that Michal will be married, so long as she continues to believe that the happy day will come. In time, Michal meets and falls in love with Gidi (Erez Drigues), and they book their wedding reception.
Out of the blue, Gidi confides that he doesn't love Michal and can't marry her. Rather than give up on her dream, the plucky singleton keeps the booking for the catering hall, convinced that God will send her a husband within the next three weeks.
THE SON OF JOSEPH (12A, 113 mins)
WRITER-director Eugene Green draws on the familiar story of the Nativity for this offbeat French farce about a teenager searching for his biological father. Morose schoolboy Vincent (Victor Ezenfis) is frustrated that his single mother Marie (Natacha Regnier) won't disclose the name of his father and he must grow up without a positive male role model.
So the young man resolves to turn detective and his covert investigation reveals that his biological parent is a bed-hopping publisher called Oscar (Mathieu Amalric). In an effort to forge emotional ties, Vincent secretly observes his old man from afar. In the process, the teenager is introduced to Oscar's estranged brother and mistaken for a brilliant young author by a book critic.
RATS (Certificate TBC, 84 mins)
DOCUMENTARY filmmaker Morgan Spurlock has tackled a rich diversity of subjects in his work, including the health dangers of excessive fast food (Super Size Me), the global hunt for one of the world's most wanted men (Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden?) and the love lives of the biggest-selling pop boy band (One Direction: This Is Us).
In his latest film, Spurlock investigates our long and troubled relationship with vermin, and gets our skin crawling by revealing that there are far more rats in urban areas than any of us dare admit. Candid interviews with experts including Brooklyn-based pest controller Ed Sheehan, reveal the shocking extent of the problem and the culpability we all share for the explosion in the rat population.
