The Black Book was a collection of first-person accounts of the Nazi extermination of Soviet Jews during the war. A detailed documentation of antisemitism, it itself became the target of antisemitism within the USSR. This is a fantastic documentary, utilising a huge amount of contemporary footage, and the writings of the people directly involved. Rather…
This movie is so French. It’s about a cook who is fired from the service of an evil Duke, and opens the first restaurant in France. It’s basically about the first Frenchman to French. It’s great. Delicious is a feast for the eyes, even with its almost fable-like plot. Every shot is sumptuous, tracing light…
Based on George Orwell’s The Road To Wigan Pier, Juliette Binoche stars as an undercover journalist reporting on work instability and poverty in France. The first half of the film shows the realities of work on the tenuous end of the breadline in 21st century France, while the latter half of the film deals with…
Ugh. First dud of the UK Jewish Film Festival. The opening scene of the movie is of a young woman trying to drown herself in a tin tub. She introduces herself as the narrator, and she addresses Modigliani in second person. She is Jeanne Hebuterne. She was an artist and a painter, and Modigliani knocked…
Oh, that was so good! Sublet is about middle-aged, fastidious travel writer Michael who sublets an apartment in Tel Aviv from Tomer, 20-something hipster. It’s basically an Air BnB meet-cute. This film is basically an ode to inter-generational friendship. Tomer wakes Michael up to the world around him, giving him healing and hope, and Michael…
Yeah, I didn’t like this. I didn’t like how it was filmed more than anything else. It smacks heavily of white saviour. The film follows Alexander von Bismark of the Environmental Investigation Agency, an America activist who works to expose illegal logging practices. I think it was a mistake to make him the film’s main…
Yikes! Ok. Well. My takeaway from that was probably not the one the director intended. Journey to Utopia is about a Norwegian family moving to live in a self-sustaining climate-neutral community in Denmark. I however felt like the story of the film was about a domineering and emotionally manipulative person who buys into what is…
My Papa would have loved this film. Proper classic style comedy, from the very first scene, with the main character espousing his efficacious detecting methods, while in the background a store is pilfered by half a dozen people. Officer Azulai is clueless, with a heart of gold. His naivety is matched only by his honesty.…
This movie is so fucking Russian. Like Dostoyevsky levels of Russian. Like just short of a fallen noblewoman driving her shoeless children through the snow, singing the songs she recited at court. It feels like a play. You know, the ones called Winter, and you’re just waiting for everyone to get tuberculosis. With the feel…
Shalom Taiwan is a real heartwarmer. A rabbi’s temple is about to be foreclosed on in the latest financial crisis, and his usual round of donation-pleading to wealthy Americans falls on deaf ears, as they too feel the pinch. In his desperation, he follows a connection to Taiwan, where he tries everything to raise the…