David and Layla
David is something of a public access cable celebrity, host of an interview show called Sex & Happiness, a show that playfully explores the correlation between sex, spice, and contemporary coupling. During a taping of one episode he almost literally trips over a voluptuous, mysterious, sensual Middle Eastern dancer named Layla. Though he’s already reluctantly engaged to another woman, Abby, a svelte, Jewish, kick boxing instructor, David falls head over heels for Layla, who turns out to be a Kurdish Muslim refugee. Despite this seemingly insurmountable hurdle David pursues Layla with reckless abandon.
As if their own personal cultural differences were not enough to derail this funny, obsessive romantic entanglement, here come the parents. David’s parents, observant conservative Jews, greet the news with equal feelings of rejection, and abandonment. Forget about the fact that David’s father is a cheerful philanderer. The acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree, indeed. Layla’s uncle (her family was killed in Iraq by Saddam Hussein) is as radical a traditionalist as David’s mother and father are devoted Jews. At David’s editing bay, during a rare, touching and sober vignette, Layla provides a brief but shocking history into the genocide of Kurds in 1988 in Halabja, Iraq.
Meanwhile, Layla is having immigration problems, which would seem to make David’s proposal of marriage a welcome proposition, especially given her parents choice of a mate: Muslim Dr. Ahmad, a wealthy, middle-aged ex-patriot who holds no sense of adventure or romantic potential for Layla. Still and all, Layla will not accept David as a husband unless he agrees to become Muslim, a plan that doesn’t even sit well with the local Lebanese Imam, that is, until Howar, Layla’s musical accompanist, explains that one of the most revered translations of the Koran was written by a Jewish scholar. Just when Solomon-like wisdom peeks its head around the corner comes another revelation: that vasectomy David had earlier been subjected to, at the teasing suggestion of his ex-fiancee, Abby.
Directed by
Jay Jonroy
Cast
David Moscow - David Fine
Shiva Rose - Layla
Callie Thorne - Abby
Peter Van Wagner - Mel Fine
Polly Adams - Judith Fine
Will Janowitz - Woody Fine
Ed Chemaly - Uncle Ali "Al"
Anna George - Zina
Tibor Feldman - Rabbi Rabinovich
Production Co.
NewRoz Films
Intrinsic Value
Films International
Produced by
Jay Jonroy
Gill Holland
Tracey Soast
Aimee Schoof
Studio
Films International
Writer
Jay Jonroy
Music
Richard Horowitz
