Felix and Meira (2014) New York Jewish Film Fesitival 2014

Felix and Meira is a decidedly off beat “romance”. The story of two lost souls looking for something more is a moving little film.

Meira is a married with woman with a young child. Living in a very closed Orthodox Jewish community she is looking for something more. Her life is full of the same rhythms and same acts repeated over and over again. She wants some break from the tradition that regulate every moment of her life. The trouble is the things from the outside that bring her joy, say the sous and gospel music she loves to listen to, cause her no end of trouble with her husband who is strictly religious and very much against all of that stuff. One day she meets Felix who is reeling from the recent death of his father. At first things between the pair are not so good. But slowly they connect. For Meira the connection sends shockwaves through her life since she really begins to see the world outside of the orthodox community she lives in.

When I say that the film is “romance” with the quotes I mean that the film is not so much about finding a soul mate but finding a doorway to another place. Meira wants freedom. She wants very much to get out from under all of the restrictions of her community and really see the world. She wants to be the person she feels she should be and not the person that her husband and her community says she should be. Felix is looking a way out of his grief. Showing Meira the world brings him out of the darkness.

I like the film a great deal. There is something about the film’s atypical take on things that won me over. Actually what won me over was the interaction between Meira and Felix, since until they meet the film really didn’t work for me.

Definitely worth a look.

For tickets and more information go to the film’s festival page.

GoGo Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films (2014) New York Jewish Film festival

Q: How do you become a filmmaker?
A: Don't do anything else. If you love movies,you want to be a movie maker you have to give yourself to the movie. You have to forget your other life

One of two recent films on the history of Cannon Films, the other being Electric Boogaloo: The Wild Untold Story of Cannon Films which will be screening as part of Film Comment Selects in three weeks, The Go Go Boys:The Inside Story of Cannon Films is both excellent and disappointing. Its excellent because it’s the wonderful story of Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus who made movies and changed popular culture as we know it. It’s disappointing in that the presentation, while fine, is a bit too sedate for such a crazy story. Yea there are wild stories (Jean Luc Godard signs a contract on a napkin) but at the same time the film isn’t as wild as the stories.

For those who don’t know Cannon film was a film studio founded by cousins Golan and Globus.They started making films in the 1960’s and then continued on making more and more films, some prestigious (Runaway Train) many exploitive (Pick a Cuck Norris film). A lot of the 1980’s and 1990’s Chuck Norris, Charles Bronson and Jean Claude Van Damme films came from them. Most made money.

The film begins with Menahem Golan talking about what it takes to be a filmmaker (See the quote above). The film then plunges head long into his movie making career and how his cousin Yoram was brought in to help secure financing for a film project thus planting the seed for what became the powerhouse Cannon Films (thanks in part to their mega hit Breakin which got them noticed). The film has tons of clips and interview footage not only with the cousins but also the actors (Norris, Van Damme, Jon Voight) , directors (Andrei Konchalovsky) that they worked with and fans (Eli Roth). It’s a wild ride and apparently all of the stories I heard over the years are true.

The problem- and it’s a small problem mind you- is that outside of the clips and the stories there is quite the manic energy that one would think should be in the film. The film is largely clips and stories which are frequently wild and crazy. The energy that comes from say watching Van Damme parroting Menahem telling him he’s going to be a movie star falls away when we see Menaham just talking.

Growing up and into my 20’s and 30’s Cannon films were always the films I looked for. As Eli Roth states you knew there was going to be lots of sex and violence in them. Sure it would be over the top and crazy, but it was a lot of fun. You knew going into the films that you were going to have a great time even if the films weren’t good. They became so synonymous with a certain type of action film that we’d go into video stores and look for Cannon films.

To be honest I really miss their films. Sitting in a press screening for Keanu Reeves directorial debut Man of Tai Chi with Hubert Vigilla and Peter Gutierrez we bemoaned how the film was being released 20 years too late. Had the film come 20 years ago it would have been released by Canon and hailed as a classic. A long discussion of the studio and its films followed.

Watching Go Go Boys was like recapturing my late childhood/early adulthood. If you’re like me and grew up on Cannon’s films you must go to the Walter Reade and see Go Go Boys when it plays at The New York Jewish Film Festival when it Plays on the 29th. For tickets and more information go here.

Above and Beyond (2014)

I've been chasing after ABOVE AND BEYOND for the last four months. The film has played at multiple film festivals (including the just concluding New York Jewish Film Festival)and I missed it every time. Finally with the film arriving in theaters this Friday I finally got to see it.

ABOVE AND  BEYOND is the story of how the newly founded country of Israel ended put together an air force in order to hold off the the impending war with the Arab states. With an embargo in place the Israelis, the Israeli's turned to American supporters and pilots who risked jail time and loss of American citizenship to help.

This is a good look at a largely unknown story outside of Israel told by the men who were there. A mix of talking heads, archival footage and recreations the film nicely explains what happened and why. If the film is lacking in some details (there are several times where they don't give enough details)  the film more than makes up for it in  the wonderful stories told by some wonderful men  who recounted their youthful exploits.

I like the film but I really wish the film didn't feel like a History Channel special

The film hits theaters this Friday

The Tugendhat House (2013) New York Jewish Film Festival

The first and most important thing about The Tugendhat House is that if you go and see it don’t think that the first five or ten minutes are what the film is. The opening bit of the film is made up of panning and tracking shot through the empty house while voice over quote from reviews and pieces on the house. Its cold and sterile and goes on long enough that if you’re like me you’ll be afraid the whole two hours is like that. It not.

The Tugendhat House is a look at the so named house house which was built by the Tugendhat family in 1929. The house was one of the finest examples of steel construction at the time. The house was abandoned by the family eight years later when the family fled Czechoslovakia for Switzerland when the Nazi’s took over the country. The house then went through a variety of owners and uses over the year and over the last few decades efforts have been made to try and restore the house to its original form.

This is a very good look at the house, the family and the march of almost 90 years of history. It’s a look at how one house could have a place in the events of a century. I was, for the most part, carried along with the story of the house and it’s family. This is an interesting exploration of a footnote event in history.

If there is any real problem with the film as far as I’m concerned is that its 117 minute run time is probably a half an hour too long. (I probably should also say that this may not be for ll audiences, if you’re not into architecture, especially something with a design that is as “cold” as this you may not warm to the film)

For tickets and more information go here.

How to Beak into Yiddish Vaudeville (2014) New York Jewish Film Festival 2015

Shane Baker explains Vaudeville, Yiddish Vaudeville and his life. Done in a style of Neon animation the film is a kind of illustrated lecture.

An amusing look at the art form of Yiddish Vaudeville is hurt by the visual style of having someone draw images of the things that Baker is saying.  While the style is fine for awhile  by the half way point I stopped watching and just sat and listened to the story.

The story on the other hand is very funny and very informative. This is the story of a pretty much long gone art form told by a master storyteller. Its a film that will make you smile as stories of Sophie Tucker and others are recounted.

As something to watch it's okay. As something to listen to and as a record of a dying art form it great.

The film screens January 28th with Natan.For tickets and more information go here.

Natan (2013) New York Jewish Film Festival 2015

Portrait of Bernard Natan a forgotten innovator in film history

Natan was born in Romania and then moved to France where he got any job he could working in the movies. Before WW1 he was arrested for selling erotic films. His record was then expunged after service in the Great War. After which he helped to rebuild Pathe Studios in to a world wide power. However accusation of swindles and that he was making hardcore porn films caused him to fall from grace.

Solid portrait of a man any film lover should know but doesn't seeks to restore Natal's place in history.  The film's genesis seems to have its origin in trying to debunk the legends of Natal's porn career which seems unlikely since several of the films he is alleged to have starred in look very little like him.

As an hour long look at Natal's life this is a really good primer on someone I had never heard of (nor had the film students who attend school in his former studio). Its such an intriguing tale that I really would love to try and find a biography of Natan so that I can get more details on his life and times.

What an absolute gem of a film. This is why I love going to film festivals, they open doors and show me films and people that under normal circumstances I would never have seen otherwise.

This is a must see for anyone who is interested in the history of film or anyone who wants see the story of an almost forgotten man who needs rediscovery.

The film plays twice on January 28th with How to Break into Yiddish Vaudeville. For more information and tickets go here.

(In the interest of full disclosure there are clips from the antique porn films which while relatively tame might get the film a hard R rating.)

Angels of the Revolution (2014) New York Jewish FilmFestival 2015

One of a kind film will enthrall some and confuse others as it tells the story of five Avant-gardists who make their way to a new city in the wilderness. They are looking to reconcile the Soviet ideas with those of the native people.

Part absurdist satire, part social commentary this is a look at what happens when very educated people clash with a native culture that wants no part of them. Set during the Kazym Rebellion (The press notes call it the Great Samoyedic War) the film reflects a portion of Soviet history where Communism was spreading outward, in this case into the wilds of Siberia. the natives wanted no part of the change and fought back. They held out for a brief period before Stalin sent in his troops and crushed them.

The film is at times very absurd as we see what the artists are doing and see how that clashes with real life, Its a a very literal representation of how the Soviets took their high minded ideas into the wilderness and forced them on the natives. The result was often rather silly. At first the natives are amused but as time goes things get violent.

This is a very good little film, though I'm not sure it will work for everyone. There is a knowingness to much if it that creates a bit of a distance. also some of the things that the artists do will come off as overly silly. As much as I liked the film I still wish that things had been played a little straighter, a little less formally.

On the other hand this was a welcome palette cleanse. Its a film that is very much not like every other film out there. Its a film that drew me in with its differences and its story of some history I never knew. I think it's a solid little film a definitely worth your time if you don't want the same old thing.

The film plays January 27th at Lincoln Center. For tickets  and more information go here.

The Birdcage (1996) New York Jewish Film Festival

I was unsure if I should bother writing up The Birdcage for its run at the New York Jewish Film Festival. The problem was not so much that the film is bad, rather with the passing of Mike Nichols and Robin Williams the film was once more a high profile film as the film was used to highlight the careers of both men. Then again I decided that maybe a small piece would be in order and go with that.

The film is a remake of the semi classic French film La Cage aux Folles which spawned several sequels and a Broadway musical. The plot of the film has a happily entrenched gay couple (Robin Williams and Nathan Lane)in Miami beach getting word that their son is getting married. The trouble is that she is the daughter of an ultra-conservative politician (Gene Hackman) who hates gays. Deciding to make bow to convention for the son they love they decide to pretend to be straight with Nathan Lane pretending to be Williams’ wife. Of course it all goes sideways.

Its broad farce done so as to be very funny and deeply touching. Its so good that as I said it was trundled out in many areas as part of tribute screenings for the late Robin Williams and Mike Nichols. If you’ve never seen it you really should make an effort to do so. If you have seen it why not see it again.

For more information and tickets on the screening go here.

Naked City (1948) New York Jewish Film Festival

Running as part of the new York Jewish Film Festival’s side bar Noir and the City, The Naked City is one of the first large budget Hollywood films to shoot almost entirely on location since the film industry moved out west.

The film is structured as a portrait of New York City with the through line being the investigation of a murder. A young woman is found dead in bath tub and the case grips the city. Meanwhile detective Berry Fitzgerald and his partners try to run down what happened and why. All along the way we are treated to wonderful shots of New York not long after the second world war.

Full confession-until I sat down to watch the film for inclusion in the NYJFF coverage  I had never seen the film from start to finish. I thought I had but I was wrong.

How is it?

It’s a good film that is ultimately more of interest for what it spawned rather than for what it is. As a film unto itself it’s a good and reasonably gripping film. In a weird way I understand why the film wasn’t a big hit either critically or financially. It’s not

The film itself, a police procedural of the sort that has been a staple of TV for decades is a good little drama, but it’s nothing special. Any uniqueness has worn away thanks to the decades of being copied. The mere fact that the film feels been there and done that speaks volumes about its influence. Everyone copied the film.

The film was also influential in its location shooting. Pretty much every scenes was filmed on location and it shows. The film feels real. Even now some 65 years later some of the stores and landmarks are still there. Even when you go to new stores now the old signs are there as well. Watching the film I kept going “I know where that is” simply because of the store fronts. Its very cool for an old New York junkie like me.

The on location shooting opened things up for filmmakers. People really could shoot on the streets. While its clear from some of the crowds that they didn’t lick the on looker problem the film did show it could be done. And yes it had been done on smaller scale previously, a shot here or there or by independents (say the film C Man).

If you want to see New York as it was or a good film that was wildly influential in any number of ways get down the Lincoln Center when the film Plays at the New York Jewish Film Festival.

The film runs on the 24th. For tickets and more information go here.

Let's Go! (2014) New York Jewish Film Festival

Michael Verhoeven adapts Laura Waco's autobiographical novel set in 1968 about a young woman returning to her parents home in the wake of her father's death and sister's catastrophic injury in an accident. She is forced by the tragedies around her to come to terms with her Jewish heritage and ponder how it was that her parents survived the Second World War and why they remained in Germany after the war.

Prickly film is going to beloved by some and hated by others.The trouble is not to do with the subject matter, which is deftly handled and extremely thought provoking,the problem is that many of the characters are not easy to like,  Laura is a bit too closed up to truly connect to and her mother can be a bitch on wheels completely unable to show affection and keeping those who lover and, and whom she loves as well distant. As Laura says her mother never hugged her.

The prickliness of the characters while realistic, makes it hard to get a foothold into the film. I spent a great deal of time on the outside looking in. While I liked the look at post war Germany I really wished I had more likable tour guides.

Don't get me wrong I like the film, intellectually I think it's very good, I just never connected to it emotionally. Despite my reservations I think its a film that you should try if you find the subject of interest.

For more information and tickets go to the film's festival web page.

Forbidden Films (2014) New York Jewish Film Festival

Felix Moeller's look at the largely still banned films from Nazi Germany is a film I'm very mixed about. While I applaud his making a film that will start discussions, I am bothered by how much he leaves out, worse I intensely dislike that the film largely is operating in a kind of vacuum where the films discussed have no connection or no counterparts anywhere or any when else.

Broken into sections  as to the type of films  Moeller's film looks at some of the 40 films (once 300) banned after the Second World War in Germany (though that isn't made clear the film simply says the films are banned). The film mixes talking heads of scholars, film historians and a Neo Nazi recruiter with clips and discussions of the films following screenings to ponder whether these films should be banned and what effect releasing them on the public would have.

While the subject is intriguing  the film is deeply deeply flawed in it's execution. The problems begin early on when the film throws up stats to show the power and popularity of the the films by comparing movie viewership numbers from the war years to modern day viewer ship. There were ten times more viewers for a film such as THE GREAT LOVE as opposed to AVATAR the film trumpets,but fails to explain the film going habits of Germans (there was no TV or internet), or what THE GREAT LOVE is.

The second problem with the film is that it never really explains what any of the films we are seeing are. It simply cherry picks moments from the films to illustrate the point that they are propaganda but they don't tell us anything beyond that. Much talk is made about Emil Jennings UNCLE KRUGER project and how it's propaganda but what exactly is it? We're not told. This is especially troubling since the project was supposed to have been following the actor around as viable subject going back to Hollywood days.

While it's understandable that the Neo Nazi recruiter is in shadow his sequences kind of become laughable  with his talk bout using the films to turn kids into Nazi's. While what he says is probably right on (he warns that banning the films make them seductive to kids who think there must be truth in them if they are hidden) but the presentation had me chuckling the more he was shown.

The most damning thing against the film is that the film largely operates in a vacuum, There is no effort connect the films similar portrayals of ideas in Hollywood or elsewhere. The rah rah pro-Nazi/antisemitic stance of some of the films is troubling but there is no effort try and explain why parallels with some Hollywood propaganda is okay or at least less troubling.

What bothers me is the film makes an effort to show one guy after after JUDE SUSS screening say that the stereotypes in the film are used elsewhere even today against Arabs who are portrayed as terrorists and then does no follow up. Why raise the issue if you're going to do nothing about it? There in lies my problem with the film, we are looking at the dangers of Nazi propaganda but what of our own? Its never addressed-and it should have been.

I'm at a loss to fully comprehend what the point of the film is. That these films exist? Okay. That they are banned? And what? I don't know.

I do understand the fear that a handful of the films, THE ETERNAL JEW, JUDE SUSS and one or two others could pose if they are not given context, but some of the entertainment films covered have me scratching my head, I've seen a number of them and others and other then the settings and or references from the time  and place when they were made I see nothing wrong with them. There is nothing really wrong with them other especially if you take a look at them in context to some of the films coming out of Hollywood.

I'm disappointed. This could have been a film that really put it all into context, but its too myopic to really amount to much. While it got me ranting and raving, which is something, I still feel as though I've wasted my time and that therehave to better explorations of the subject out there.

For more information and tickets fo to the film's festival page here.

Battle of Algiers (1966) New York Jewish Film Festival

Banned off and on since it's release by a variety of governments The Battle of Algiers is one of the great treasures of cinema that you'll end up watching over and over again simply because its a great thriller.  That the New York Jewish Film Festival is running it as part of their War Against War sidebar is a treat since it's a chance to see the film on the big screen the way it should be seen.

The film is the story of the Algerian uprising  in the late 1950's that eventually led to the countries freedom from France. the focuses on a group of freedom fighters over the course of several years.

I don't know how much I should say abut the film.  I don't know how much needs to be said. For me the film is just a great thriller/war film.The fact that the film pissed off the French and is feared by some people in various governments who see it as a blueprint for revolution only adds to the films mystique.

Actually I think the key point about the film is that it really is a good film. Its a film that once you see it, once you get past all of the  pretentious bullshit about the film being a classic... being one of the greatest films of all time... basically once you kick the pedestal out from under it you realize that its a good film. Its actually one of the few films on the supposed all time great films that I'd just put it on for the hell of it. I watch it because I want to munch popcorn while watching a ripping good yarn not because I want a "great" film.

If you've never seen it go see it

If you've only seen it on the small screen go see it big

If you've seen it big go see it again

This film kicks butt

For tickets and more information go to the film's festival page.

The Zionist Idea (2014) New York Jewish Film Festival 2015

Because the film is world premiering at the New York Jewish Film festival I went into THE ZIONIST IDEA unsure of what I was going to get. Here was 160 minute examination of Zionism,  what was the track that the film going to take? Would it be a true examination of the subject with a look at all sides or would it be a purely one-sided take on a very complex subject? The thought of a one sided affair scared me, Zionism is too complex a subject with too many related issues for an honest film not to take them head on.

I needn't have worried. THE ZIONIST IDEA deals with all of the issues making it one of the first great films of 2015.

The film is a thought provoking at the history of Zionism from the it's creation through today. It wonderfully lays out where the idea of Zionism came from and how it evolved,  While the exiled Jews were always looked down upon the notion of re-founding Israel seemed out of reach since it was thought that it couldn't be done until the Messiah came. The trouble was that in the late 19th century as many people began to think nationalistically, a move that would ultimately break up the  massive empires of Europe, the Jews were with out a country, they had no where to go. Worse even when they tried to assimilate things didn't always work out. It wasn't until Theodore Herzel began to argue that a return to Israel was possible that idea really took hold.

THE ZIONIST IDEA deals with all of the history as well as the very real problem of Palestine and the Palestinians who live and lived in the land where Israel was and is. The problem of Palestine being the home people other than Jews was raised all the way back to one of the first Zionist Congresses which sent a delegation to see if a country of several million Jews would be possible, They found it would be possible but unfortunately the land was already occupied. That the issue is dealt with and the debate with in and without the Jewish and Israeli community is addressed gives this film lots of points in my book.

This film knocked my socks off and I went in not expecting to like it, to knowing that I was going to have to make time to see the film a second or third time to really be able to digest and discuss it with a modicum intelligence.

This film is a must see. Not only for Jews, but for non-Jews and even those who have issues with the existence of Israel. While I'm sure you all know the history of the country and the ideas that lead to its founding, but at the same time you haven't seen it laid out like this.  This is really cool and will get you thinking.

Highly recommended when the film plays on the 22nd and 26th. For tickets and more information go here.

King of Nerac (2015) New York Jewish Film Festival 2015

Portrait of David Breurer-Weil an art dealer who turned into an artist is a stunning look at art and the creative process. Directors Guy Natanel and Annie Sulzberger follow Breuer-Weil over two years as he paints, installs sculpture and contemplates life and art.

I think the best way to describe this film is WOW.

This is a fantastic look at an artist and creativity. Its a glorious film that over whelms the eye, the heart and the mind. Its a film that is a work of art in it's own right.

One of the real joys of the film is the craft of filmmaking. Beautifully marrying image, with Bruer-Weil's words, with music with the art this film creates a marvelous head space and soul space where art and creativity filters off the screen and into the viewer. The gulf between  film and filmmaker  disappears as the large than life images created by Bruer-Weil fill the screen and forces us to become one with the art and the artist.

I don't know what to say Words kind of fail me.  This is one of the best films on art and creation that I've seen. And while I could probably pick portions of the film apart, the magic the film creates over the course of it's 80 minutes is so great that it wipes away anything that I could say about the flaws.

A must see film that may end up on my end of year lists

The filmplays January 20 and 21st at Lincoln Center. For tickets and more information go to the films festival page.

Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem (2014) New York Jewish Film Festival 2015

Israel's Foreign Language entry for the Oscars and the winner of multiple awards across the globe Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem is a wicked trip into the land very much like the work of Franz Kafka..While it is a often a heart breaking film, it is also frequently quite funny in the "they can't be serious" sort of way.

Viviane has been married to her husband for 30 years. He is a rabbi of some standing. However for the last three years she has lived at her bother and sister in laws house. She can no longer live with the man who is her husband, She has taken him to the religious court to get a divorce. The trouble is that unless he agrees there can be no divorce.

Boldly told, the film takes place entirely inside the court room or the waiting room outside, We see only what happens in the court and no where else. It takes a long while before we get a clear picture of Viviane or her husband because they don't say much, we have only the word of the advocates for the couple to go on or their witnesses. Its a risk but one that pays off because we're forced to pay attention, we in effect a fourth judge.

There is a level of insanity running rampant through the proceedings that would be laughable if trials such as this weren't happening. Viviane's husband simply won't show up and the court can't do anything about it, except when they do. The husband admits they don't get along but won't let her go and when they try to reconcile he refuses to talk to her. Witnesses for one side or the other do more damage than help. Tactics hinge not on facts but innuendo. You will not believe that rational adults allow this sort of nonsense to go on.

What I like is that the film runs through a wide variety of emotions. Yes the film can be very emotionally trying, but at the same time it is funny. As I said above the film's Kafka like nature is amusing, but there are other very human moments that are just plain funny. When Viviane's sister in law testifies I almost fell out of my chair and down the staircase  next to my seat because I was laughing so hard.

The portrait this film paints is a damning one. In the theocracy that it shows women are genuinely no better than property. What their husbands want is what goes. There is a politeness about everyone and everything that makes you wonder why anyone is married. One of Viviane's neighbors breaks your heart when you see how happy her marriage really is. "Just respect him and you can do whatever you want" she says, her words ringing false since its clear she is little more than a slave to her husband.

This is a near perfect film that will make you laugh, cry and think.

Highly recommended when the film plays two times on the 21st.

For tickets and more information go to the films festival page.

The War Game (1965) New York Jewish Film Festival

My introduction to the films of Peter Watkins came in my high school film class when they ran his Academy Award winning The War Game. The film rattled the class which hadn’t yet seen films like the Day After, Threads, or When the Wind Blows.

Although the film won the Oscar for best documentary the film is, thankfully, fictional. It’s a portrait of an English village after a nuclear attack. The film is, in typical Watkins style, made up of interviews and cinema verite reports of the situation in the small hamlet. We watch as the situation slides as the local authorities are shown to be not even remotely ready for the enormity of a nuclear attack.

Its unsettling, even today. The film is played deadly straight and in your face. As you’re watching the film it seems as if it really is happening. While we’re all fed a steady diet of doom and gloom by Hollywood and TV news shows in small bites seeing the film and it’s extended stay in the town rattles your cage because are defenses are circumvented by the news magazine style of presentation.

I said that the film rattled my film class when it was shown, but consider that the film was pulled by the BBC before it could screen in 1965 and they sat on it for 20 years before they broadcast it. It even took two years before it escaped to festivals.

This film is a game changer on both the social and cinematic levels. Socially this was pretty much the death knell of the idea that we could survive. Duck and Cover was clearly a joke. Cinematically the film altered how we depict the end of the civilization- it’s not with a bang but a whimper. Every serious doomsday movie that followed is the direct descendant of The War Game. Probably its greatest off spring is the grossly underrated (at least as far as the US is concerned) Threads which is a kind of spiritual remake.

If you’ve never seen if go see it at the Jewish Film festival on the 20th. Though I should warn you this is screening with Kubrick’s first film Fear and Desire and if this is running first you may want to skip the second film and go out into the world just to feel better.

For tickets go to the films festival page

(The Book of) Tsili (2014) New York Jewish Film Fesitval 2015

Based on Aharon Appelfeld's Tzili: The Story of a Life which was based on his own war time experiences Amos Gitai's film is going to puzzle many who will wonder about it's intentions.

Opening with our heroine dressed in white dancing against a black background in some sort of modern dance expression of pain the film then jumps to a forest in Eastern Europe where we watch as the young woman wanders through the forest hiding from the war which is happening just outside of view.  Eventually a young man wanders in and they begin to hide out together.

Last Year at the New York Jewish Film Festival ran director Gitai's ANA ARABIA which was the story of a journalist talking to a Holocaust survivor told in a single take. The big deal with that film was not the story but the single take which was supposed to impart some deeper meaning but instead removed the ability to connect with the characters because of the constant motion. Here Gitai's framing of the action cuts the ability to connect to or even care about whats going on screen

Some where around the half hour mark I tuned out. Filmed in a style that insists its about  something the film kind of falls away to become about nothing. Sequences are staged for effect or some sort of meaning rather than for dramatic effect. Shots are perfect images are constructions not representations of real life.  You can feel the meaning of each moment straining to spring out at you to such a degree that after a while you want to scream, "okay stop I get it".

To be honest I wouldn't have cared about being beaten over the head with the film's supposed meaning if I had connected with the characters or if I had become emotionally invested in the story. Sadly any feeling for the characters or the story went out the window almost from the get go because the film wanted to be about something important.

This is the one film at this year's Jewish Film Festival you can skip

The film plays Monday and Tuesday at Lincoln Center. For more details and tickets go to the film's festival webpage.

Jennie Livngston Selects: SOPHIES CHOICE and DR STRANGELOVE New York Jewish Film Festival 2015

The New York Jewish Film Festival is spotlighting the work of Jennie Livingston and as part of that she’s picked a couple of films that she feels should be seen. Both are classics and both should be seen if you’ve never seen them before.

SOPHIE’S CHOICE is a heart shatterer that’s based on the William Styron novel about a young man (Peter Mac Nichol) who comes to know Polish war survivor Sophie (Meryl Streep) and he boyfriend (Kevin Klien). Both are haunted by the recently finished Second World War. Sophie especially is haunted by her past and what happened in the concentration camp where she spent the war.

The film is the place where most people sat up and really noticed Streep. Her performance won pretty much every award ever invented and made her an acting icon.

For me the film is a very good, soap opera. It’s lifted because of performances and the very real tragedy at it’s heart. What happened was something that happened to thousands of other people as well.

I recommend it but bring a box of tissues with you.

For tickts and more information go here.

On the other end of the spectrum is Stanley Kubrick’s DR STRANGELOVE OR HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB which is a very funny black comedy about a deranged general who decides to bomb the Soviet Union in order to protect his bodily fluids.

A great cast, Peter Sellers times three, Sterling Hayden, George C Scott, Slim Pickens, James Earl Jones and others sell this tale of very human people doing very human things and bringing us close to end of everything. Seeing the behavior of some of the characters, Scotts bonkers general, the Soviet leader getting upset that the President only calls him when something is wrong and never just to say hi or even Sterling Hayden’s madman worried about something totally loopy makes the film more plausible because ultimately people are people and not well reasoned constructs that are film characters.

I think this is a great film and if you’ve never seen it you should. In its way it’s the first of the big black comedies that filled the late 60’s and 70’s. MASH, THE HOSPITAL, NETWORK and others would alter the way we would see the world – something no longer bright and hopeful but as dark farce leading us to doom.

I should probably add that on some level that personally I find the blackness is lightened up a bit too much by the very silly humor. For my money the better of the bomb dropping films of 1963 is FAIL SAFE which has a the president of the United States trying to prevent a war which is rapidly approaching due to an accidental bombing. Its as dark as they come with a denouncement that is truly frightening.

For tickets and more information go here

The films both play Sunday the 18th.

German Shepherd (2014) New York Jewish Film Festival 2015

Running as part of the Free Shorts Program at the New York Jewish Film Festival GERMAN SHEPHERD has film maker Nils Bergendal pondering human existence ans whether given the choice to do do good or bad what our choice is.

This intriguing little short is the sort of thing that gets your mind wondering beginning with our narrator talking about his mother and the loss of her family in the Holocaust  we are then asked to ponder if there are good Germans. The narrator says there is, he having more friends there than in New York, He then talks about how he ponders what he would do if given the chance to do good, so bad or do nothing.

What would you do?

I'm not sure what I would do, even after consideration as the result of the film.

A small little kernel to ponder.

The film plays the 17th and 18th for free. For more information go here.

The Polgar Variant (2014) New York Jewish Film Festival 2015

This is the story of the Polgar sisters, Sofi,  Judit and Zsuzsa who were raised by their father, Lazlo, to become geniuses and world chess champions.

Lazlo, a teacher by trade, wondered what would happen if he trained his kids to be the best in the world.  Forgoing regular school, Polgar had his daughters training from early in the morning until late at night learning everything there was to know about chess. At first the chess mavens in Budspest thought it was cute joke until the girls kept beating all comers.

The film follows the girls from their birth, through growing up in Communist Hungary until now when the girls are in the US, Canada and Budapest. The film not only highlights the girls lives but also changes with in the Hungary and the various chess organizations which were male dominated until the Polgars showed up

This is a solid and entertaining film  that plays kind of like one of the best Discovery Channel documentaries. Its a really cool look into another place and another mind set- that of the the chess champion, which is a weird place to be. Its facinating to see how the girls were raised and to realize that in the end the actually seem rather normal,

I like the film great deal

The film screens with Salome's Nose on Thursday the 15th and and January 22nd.For more details and tickets go to the film's festival webpage here.