Demon (2015)

In this episode, we review Demon (IMDb link), directed by the late Marcin Wrona.  

It tells the story of a young man possessed by a dybbuk (which in this case is the spirit of a Jewish woman who was murdered in Poland at some point during the last century). We discuss the film's treatment of anti-semitism in Poland, the Shoah, and Poland's complicated past as oppressor and victim.

Next Time and Thank You

We review Dough (IMDb link), a 2016 British comedy directed by John Goldschmidt. Thank you as always to the Klezmer Rebs for allowing us to use their music in our podcast. Check out their bandcamp and webpage. 

Aaron

Hester Street (1975)

This film, directed by Joan Micklin Silver, is oft-discussed as an American, Jewish classic. We discuss the film's central interest: the tension between assimiliation and tradition felt by Jewish immigrants in the 19th Century. Is assimilation the evil portrayed in the film? 

Next Time and Thank You

We leave the seventies behind and review Demon (IMDb link), a 2015 film directed by Marcin Wrona. Thank you as always to the Klezmer Rebs for allowing us to use their music in our podcast. Check out their bandcamp and webpage. 

Aaron

Presenting Princess Shaw (2015)

Samantha Montgomery (Princess Shaw) is a talented singer/songwriter and kind soul whose personality gleams throughout Ido Haar's 2015 documentary (the film we reviewed in lieu of Hester Street because it recently played at the Chicago Festival of Israeli Cinema). The film chronicles Montgomery's day-to-day existence in New Orleans and Atlanta, as well her long-distance collaborations with Kutiman, the Israeli visual artist and musician, which eventually lead her to international travel and fame.

Listen to Shoshanah and I gush over Montgomery, talk about her YouTube channel, and discuss whether Kutiman is an opportunist, a sensitive artist, or the victim of Haar's artistic choices as a director.  

Next Time and Thank You

As promised, we'll move onto Hester Street (1975) (IMDb link), directed by Joan Micklin Silver. This is yet another reputed "Jewish classic," though I hear good things (shout out to Mitchell Brown over at The Discreet Bourgeois).

Thank you again to the Klezmer Rebs who continue to graciously let us use their music as our theme song.  Their website is located here, and their bandcamp site is here. Listen to them! 

Aaron

After a long hiatus, we're back with a review of The Frisco Kid, the 1979 buddy pic starring Gene Wilder and Harrison Ford and directed by Robert Aldrich. We're asking a provocative question: What is it about this film that's earned it a place of honor in the body of Jewish American films (or at least in the memory of certain American Jews)?

Join us as we talk about Gene Wilder's eyes, Harrison Ford's roguish charm, unfortunate stereotypes, and the possibilities of what this story might mean for American Jewish identity. Full show notes will be available at chosenfilms.podbean.com.

The Golem (1920)

This German film, co-directed by Paul Wegener (he also plays the eponymous golem) and Carl Boese, loosely follows the Golem legend associated with Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel (also known as the Maharal), who lived and wrote in Prague in the 16th Century. Shoshanah and I agree that the film is beautiful. Where we differ is in determining whether the film is also sinsister. It's clearly an inaccurate portrait of Jewish religious philosophy and practice, but is it anti-semitic? Weigh in on the debate!

Next Time and Thank You

Next time, we'll continue journeying through the world of classic Jewish(?) films with The Frisco Kid, a 1979 film directed by Robert Aldrich (and starring Gene Wilder and Harrison Ford) about a rabbi trekking through the Wild West on his way to San Francisco.

As always, thanks to the Klezmer Rebs out of New Zealand for graciously allowing us to use the radiata mix of their song, "Yishama-o-rama," as our theme music.

Check out their website or bandcamp page.

Aaron

Everything Is Illuminated (2005)

Few of us are as obviously obsessed with the past as Jonathan Safran Foer, the protagonist of writer/director Liev Schreiber's 2005 film. Except maybe Jonathan Safran Foer, real-life author of the 2002 novel, Everything Is Illuminated, also starring Safran Foer as one of its protagonists. Confused by this ouroboros of fact and fiction? Join us as we examine its braid and knit our own family histories into its weave.  

Amichai - Parting Note

As an addendum to this episode's discussion about memory, we'd like to point you to a small portion of a much larger poem entitled What Has Always Been by the Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai. It's found in this collection, as well as at least one other.  

The stanza below speaks about the dangers of diving too deply into the past; we may drown in the details of history without truly understanding what they mean (if they have meaning at all). Amichai's invention of a "Field Guide to Human Beings" beautifully evokes this dilemma. We catalog and we catalog and we catalog, but it's no guarantee that we understand or that we fill our "empty heart." 

 2

Now two generations of forgetting have passed and the first generation of remembering has come. Woe to us that we have already come to remember because memories are the hard shell over an empty heart. Soon people will walk about the fields and cities and like nature lovers holding a Field Guide to Plants, they will hold a Field Guide to Human Beings. And they will call out to one another: Look, I found it, I wasn't mistaken, here are the distinguishing features, the typical color of eyes and of hair, the characteristic smile, thescent and the name, this one was a friend, a friend of a friend, that one a woman from long ago, this one is father-shaped, that one is me-shaped and you-shaped, when are you in bloom when do you wither, this is the scientific name,that's the common name among friends and lovers, this is a name without a man, and this, a man without a name. And that's the way it was.

 

Next Episode and Thank You 

We'd love to hear feedback and thoughts; our e-mail address is [email protected].

 

Next month, we'll review The Golem (IMDb link), a 1920 film from the silent era directed by Paul Wegener and Carl Boese. Of course, many thanks to the Klezmer Rebs out of New Zealand for graciously allowing us to use the radiata mix of their song,"Yishama-o-rama," as our theme music. Check out their website or Bandcamp page.

 

Aaron

Meduzot (2007)

How does a person continue to seek new experiences and relationships that fulfill them when, despite their high hopes, it all appears to be "dogshit and jellyfish" (in the words of one character in the film)? This 2007 Israeli film, co-directed by Shira Geffen and her husband, Etgar Keret, follows three women in Tel Aviv over the course of a few days as they wrestle with the intricacies of this conflict. We discuss each character's contribution to this theme, as well as the film's surreal, whimsical style. 

 

 

Next Episode and Thank You

Next episode (end of February), we'll be discussing Everything is Illuminated (IMDb link), the 2005 adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer's break-out novel of the same name. It promises to be a good discussion, as I enjoy the film more than the book, and Shoshanah doesn't understand how this is possible. 

Once more, many thanks to the Klezmer Rebs out of New Zealand for graciously allowing us to use the radiata mix of their song, "Yishama-o-rama," as our theme music. Check out at their their website or Bandcamp page.

Please add us on iTunes! We'd love to hear feedback and thoughts. Our e-mail address is [email protected].

Aaron

Farewell Herr Schwartz (2014)

We're back. In director Yael Reuveny's first feature-length film, she explores her family's complicated relationship to the Holocaust through a series of interviews and personal reflections. Her grandmother's and great uncle's tragic Holocaust experiences are at the core of the film, and Reuveny devotes a sizeable amount of time to investigating them. The other half of the film catalogues the ways in which those tragedies shaped the lives of Reuveny's Israeli family, as well as the lives of her German cousins (her great uncle's children and grandchildren). We discuss the film's bright spots and shortcomings as it explores its themes, using our bubbes as a guide, and reflect on our own particular Jewish identities.

 

Next Episode and Thank You

Next episode (end of January), we'll be discussing Meduzot (Jellyfish) (IMDb link), a 2007 film co-directed by Shira Geffen and Israeli superstar Etgar Keret.

Thanks again to the Klezmer Rebs out of New Zealand for graciously allowing us to use a remix of their song "Yishama-o-rama" as our theme music. Check them out at their website or Bandcamp page.  

We hope that you’ll add us on iTunes or listen to us here; we’d love to hear your feedback and thoughts. Our e-mail address is [email protected] (or feel free to write comments here). 

Correction

Apologies; I butchered the pronunciation of “Łódź" (a city in Poland). Shoshanah, luckily, did not.  

Aaron

The Farewell Party (2014)

Regardless of whether a film has merit, it usually makes for a good conversation with friends; this podcast is a seat at the table for those conversations. Not being terribly familiar with either the Jewish and Israeli films of the past eighty years or the present, we're here to explore (and take you along for the ride). 

Our first film is The Farewell Party, directed by Tal Granit and Sharon Maymon. This film revolves around a group of elderly friends (located in Israel) dealing with questions about the propriety of euthanasia, the loss of dignity, and the specter of imminent death. But as our conversation reveals, its also about the depth of feeling that can be achieved, even in such circumstances.

Shoshanah fills in the gaps with respect to Jewish perspective(s) on euthanasia and the related question of when we are obligated to extend life (the film doesn't explore these issues directly).

Next Episode and Thank You

Next episode, we’ll be discussing Farewell, Herr Schwarz (IMDb link), a 2014 documentary by Yael Reuveny.

Thank you so much to the Klezmer Rebs out of New Zealand for graciously allowing us to use the radiata mix of their song "Yishama-o-rama" as our theme music. The Rebs’ take on Klezmer music is fantastic. Check them out at their websiteor Bandcamp page.

We hope that you’ll add us on iTunes or listen to us here. We’d love to hear your feedback and thoughts. Our e-mail address is [email protected].

Correction

The Naomi Shemer song in the film, "B'eretz Lahadam," was first published in 1975.

Aaron