Tag: Jewish-themed films

GREENER PASTURES – SLJFF Review

Shlomo Bar-Aba as Dov in the Israeli comedy GREENER PASTURES. one of films at the virtual 2022 St. Louis Jewish Film Festival. Courtesy of Israeli Films

In the delightfully funny Israeli comedy GREENER PASTURES, a retiree named Dov (Shlomo Bar-Aba) feels like he has been put out to pasture, and not a greener one. The widower grandpa in his 70s is dismayed that his daughter, who lives out of town, has moved him to a retirement home and out of the house he loves. A retired postal worker, he has been done out of his pension following privatization.

GREENER PASTURES is part of the 2022 St. Louis Jewish Film Festival, which is virtual again this year, meaning all films can be streamed through the festival website through March 13. For tickets and more information, visit their website https://jccstl.com/arts-ideas/st-louis-jewish-film-festival.

Sure, the retirement community he’s in is nice but it’s not home and he hates it. even though he has only been there one week. Dov is determined to find a way to buy his house back, intending to move back and stay there until he dies. Dov’s grandson shows little interest but his girlfriend Dana (Joy Rieger), a lawyer, is a more sympathetic ear.

Enter the grass – that is the medicinal marjuana that all Israeli seniors are eligible to get through prescription. While pot is illegal in Israel, it is easily available to its senior citizens. Dov isn’t interested in smoking it, but he recognizes selling it could help him raise the funds to buy back his old house. A colorful old pothead, now in a wheelchair, Yehuda (Doval’e Glickman), who lives nearby, helps with getting the business rolling. A friend of Dana helps as well. Soon, Dov is well on the way to funding his plan to buy back his home, if he can just stay out of jail.

Cannabis, a nosy cop and a pair of sinister gangsters are all part of this tale of a rebellious retiree who is not content to accept what fate has dealt him.

This Israeli comedy is superbly acted, with an ensemble cast on their toes with the comic timing. Assaf Abiri and Matan Guggenheim co-wrote and co-directed this sly comedy, which has been nominated for 12 Ophirs, Israel’s version of an Oscar. Crackling comic dialog blends humor with family drama, thriller and even romance aspects, along with some social commentary, and topped by a clever twist at the end. It is a big plus that seniors are treated with respect in this comedy, as smart resourceful people and not objects of fun themselves. GREENER PASTURES uses its humor to tackles the issue of cannabis in modern Israel, as well as attitudes toward senior citizens, the impact of privatization, and even government corruption, all done with the satiric humor. GREENER PASTURES also spotlights friendships across generations and finding a second chance late in life.

The cast really makes this film. Shlomo Bar-Aba as Dov is delightfully droll, deadpanning in scene after scene. His slightly sarcastic delivery is particularly funny against the broad humor of Doval’e Glickman as Yehuda, a older wheelchair-bound rock star wannabee, whose slangy speech and kingpin posing have Dov rolling his eyes and us guffawing. By contrast the warmth that grows between Dov and his grandson’s girlfriend Dana, played with charm by Joy Rieger, is appealing, and a dash of romance is added as Dov’s relationship with the retirement home’s doctor evolves beyond the professional.

While things go smoothly in the pot biz at first, and Dov is on the way to having enough to buy back his house, a bumpier ride is in the offing when a cop starts sniffing around and a powerful gangster enters the picture. The film develops a little thriller side as the story progresses and Dov and his friends find themselves in a tight spot.

The ending puts a perfect spin on the tale. GREENER PASTURES is film filled with comic delights, snappy dialog, fine performances, with some thought-provoking subtext, and nice final twist to cap it all, making it one enjoyable film. GREENER PASTURES, in Hebrew with English subtitles, is available to stream as part of the 2022 St. Louis Jewish Film Festival through Mar. 13. For tickets and more information, visit their website https://jccstl.com/arts-ideas/st-louis-jewish-film-festival.

NEIGHBOURS – SLJFF Review

A scene from NEIGHBOURS, one of the films at the virtual 2022 St. Louis Jewish Film Festival through March 13.
Courtesy of St. Louis International Film Festival and SLJFF

The 2022 St. Louis Jewish Film Festival is virtual again this year, meaning all films can be streamed through the festival website through March 13. For tickets and more information, visit their website https://jccstl.com/arts-ideas/st-louis-jewish-film-festival. One the best films at this year’s St. Louis Jewish Film Festival is

One of this year’s best Jewish-interest films is “Neighbours” (Nachbarn), a Swiss film set in Syria 40 years ago, in a small village where Kurdish and Jewish families are neighbors. Actually, at this point, there is only one Jewish family left in the village, although there used to be more, a change due to the increasingly hostile policies of the ruling Baathist party. There is a lot of sly satire and humor in this child-centric tale from Kurdish-Swiss director Mano Khalil. Partly based on the director’s bittersweet memories of his own childhood, he captures the joys and heartbreak of childhood and also explores the absurdity of bigotry, antisemitism, and conflict, through the lens of those childhood memories.

“Neighbours” begins with a framing device in the present, where a Kurdish extended family who fled the violence in Syria are living in a refugee camp and waiting to hear from someone they reached out to in Switzerland. The reply comes in the form of a picture and a request that the family patriarch (Sherzad Abdulla) identify the people in it. But it is not a photo, but a child’s drawing, a drawing that sparks childhood memories of 40 years ago.

The flashback takes us back 40 years to childhood memories, when the middle-aged man was a seven-year-old boy in a small mostly Kurdish village on the Turkish-Syrian border. Starting with the subject of the drawing, little Sero (Serhed Khalil) and his beloved uncle Aram (Ismail Zagros) prank the Turkish border guards by releasing balloons in the Kurdish national colors. It is something sure to enrage the Turkish guards but it otherwise a harmless thumbing their noses at a border that divided Kurdish families, including theirs, and left them outsiders in both countries on either side.

Uncle Aram is Sero’s father’s younger brother, a fun-loving, mischievous young man whom the seven-year-old adores. In their little Kurdish village on the border, everyone knows everyone, and everyone gets along, while the kids tear around the village, playing, while the village elders watch and shake their heads. The seven-year-old’s neighbors are a Jewish family, who his family has known and been friendly with for years. Sero even helps them on the Sabbath by lighting the lamps and stove, something Aram used to do too when he was younger. There were once several Jewish families in the village but they are now the only ones left, as others have fled. They would like to leave too but now the Baathist government won’t recognize Jews as citizens or give them passports.

The village is waiting for the arrival of two things: the electrical power and the new teacher. The power lines have been in place for some time and village homes have been wired for electricity but no power has arrived yet. Sero particularly longs for electricity so he can watch cartoons like the kids in the city do – and he continually pesters his parents for a TV.

Still, there is a great deal of humor and the charm in this childhood world of play, although there is a serious side to this dramedy, and tragic events eventually strike. A lot of that charm comes from young Serhed Khalil as Sero, a sweet-faced boy full of mischief and playful joy. But all the cast bring warmth and appeal to their roles, particularly Ismail Zagros as Aram, and Uygurlar Derya as Hannah, the daughter of the Jewish family. The Jewish parents would like to escape Syria, and especially want to get their daughter out, but Hannah does not want to leave her home behind, and particularly her childhood friend Aram.

While there is still no electricity, the new teacher (Jalal Altawil) does arrive, a rigid true-believer in Assad’s Baathist party, whose ideology is a mix of communist and pan-Arab ideas, without really being either, but with a big dose of antisemitism. The teacher thinks instilling these antisemitic ideas are as much his job as teaching reading and writing. One of the first things the teacher does is insist that the children only speak Arabic in class and at home. Sero does not much like school anyway but he is really at a loss when the teacher insists that everyone speak only Arabic, which he neither speaks nor understands, leaving Sero struggling to catch up. Sero doesn’t believe what the teacher says about his kindly neighbors but other children buy in to the lies and other evilness.

The teacher is the outsider who brings hate and antisemitism to the village and disrupts their quiet lives, along with a local man who is the village’s sole Baath party member, a membership that gave him a house and a job despite his illiteracy. These two are the primary villains but other representatives of the authoritarian government also bring either danger or a callous indifference and corruption. The film has a powerful, satiric punch in its chilling depiction of how hatred is taught, as the teacher indoctrinates his charges in antisemitic ideas that include the old “blood libel.” Sero’s parents and grandparents, and his kindly Jewish neighbors, are the counterbalance to this, with their long friendship and willingness to help each other.

“Neighbours” is both a touching, warm human tale laced with humor and childhood appeal, and a pointed satiric look at the roots of hate in Syria. “Neighbours,” in Kurdish, Arabic, English and Hebrew with English subtitles, is available to stream as part of the 2022 St. Louis Jewish Film Festival through March 13. For tickets and more information, visit their website https://jccstl.com/arts-ideas/st-louis-jewish-film-festival.

2022 St Louis Jewish Film Festival is virtual through March 13

The annual St. Louis Jewish Film Festival has returned, again in a virtual format, March 6 -13 but shifted to a new spring season instead of its previous summer slot. Being virtual means all the exciting lineup of films, including documentaries on an array of subjects plus comedy and drama narrative films, are available to view anytime during the festival, through March 13, from the comfort of your own home. For tickets and more information, visit their website https://jccstl.com/arts-ideas/st-louis-jewish-film-festival.

The 27th annual festival, which is virtual like the last two, has an array of 13 international and U.S. films with Jewish themes, with five outstanding documentaries on varied topics, and eight engrossing narrative features including dramas, comedies, historical films and thrillers, plus a trio of enticing discussions and a pre-festival bonus short film, “Touch the Sky,” which is available to stream starting Jan. 17.

Countries represented include Israel, France, Switzerland, and Germany, and languages include English plus Hebrew, German, French, and Italian, with English subtitles. Three of the films also have intrguing discussions, which are available free of charge.

Documentaries include the charming “The Automat,” featuring Mel Brooks, which takes a loving look back at a New York culinary institution, and the uplifting, music-filled “The Conductor,” about Marin Alsop, the first woman conductor to lead a major American symphony. “Not Going Quietly” is a moving documentary about Ady Barkan, a new father with a promising career in progressive politics, who suddenly finds himself battling ALS.

Narrative feature films include the touching drama “Tiger Within” featuring Ed Asner in his last role, “Greener Pastures,” a hilarious hit Israeli comedy about retirees and cannabis, and an intriguing Israeli/German historical drama, “Plan A,” based on true events, about a group of Jews plotting revenge on Germany in the wake of WWII.

The film selections range from comedy to drama to thrillers, plus documentaries, with films to appeal to a wide range of interests and tastes. Other documentaries are “High Maintenance: The Life and Work of Dani Karavan” about the nearly 90-year-old award-winning Israeli artist, “Blue Box” about the legacy of the young Israel’s historic effort to plant forests but which also displaced Arab villages.

Additional narrative features include “Neighbours” a Swiss kid-centric story about a Kurdish boy and his Jewish neighbors, and “200 Meters” a Palestinian Israeli thriller, both of which also played last fall’s St. Louis International Film Festival. There are also the light-hearted “Tango Shalom” about a Hasidic rabbi and a tango contest, “Wet Dog” a German autobiographical drama about a Jewish-Iranian teen in Berlin, “The Specials,” a French comic drama about a Jewish man, played by Vincent Cassels, taking care of autistic youths who partners with another man named Malik, who is helping other young people in need.

For many years, the St Louis Jewish Film Festival took place in June, but the Covid pandemic changed things. The 2020 film festival shifted to fall and went virtual. The 2021 film festival was still virtual but returned to its usual summer season. Now that is changing to spring, which will be the fest’s new time going forward.

Once again the film festival will be virtual but the film festival committee did considered going back to in-theater this time.

“The committee really pondered whether to go back to the theater for the festival,” said Marilyn Brown, one of three co-chairs of the Jewish film festival, along with Jeffrey Korn and Paula Sigel. “So, after discussing the pros and cons, [such as] watching a film on the big screen, enjoying movie popcorn, etc., we decided to go virtual. All of the committee members were just not comfortable going back to the theater with the uncertainty of the COVID situation.”

“And we considered some of the advantages of the virtual experience,” Brown said. “Patrons can view the films at their convenience during the week of March 6-12. They don’t have to watch any film at a pre-scheduled, inflexible time. That is something we would have to do in the theater. Also, patrons can be comfortable in their own homes and pause the films whenever they want or need to. And most people are used to streaming videos now, so the learning curve would be minimal.”

“We also had great positive feedback regarding the film discussions last year. And this year will be just as good, if not better, than last year! We would not be able to have the hour-long discussions in a theater, so this is another benefit of a virtual festival,” she said.

All festival films and discussions will be available on-demand anytime from March 6 through March 3 with purchase of a ticket or All-Access pass, and can been seen through the festival’s viewing platform. Details on that are below and on the festival website https://jccstl.com/arts-ideas/st-louis-jewish-film-festival. Although the festival is virtual again. some changes have been made to make it a smoother experience, including using the same viewing platform that worked well for the St. Louis Jewish Book Festival last year.

Intriguing discussions, all free, accompany three of the documentaries. Last year, these discussions were a big hit with festival audiences. “I am particularly interested in the discussion on ‘The Conductor.’ Erik Finley from our own St. Louis Symphony [Orchestra] is interviewing Bernadette Wegenstein, the film’s director,” Brown said. “This is an example of being able to virtually interview the director of the film from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. For “Not Going Quietly,” another excellent, moving documentary, we have Stacey Newman, former member of the Missouri House of Representatives, interviewing the film’s director, Nick Bruckman. And [for “High Maintenance – The Life and Work of Dani Karavan”‎], Ellen Futterman, [Editor-in-Chief] of The St. Louis Jewish Light, will introduce and interview the film’s director, Barak Heymann. All three discussions are free of charge, but I would recommend watching them after viewing the film.”

“The speakers seem to be very pleased with the virtual format, since they can participate in the comfort of their homes or offices,” Brown said. “And we can have speakers from all over the world without having to pay travel expenses!”

Single movie tickets are $15 and the All-Access Pass is $98. All-Access Passes is the best deal, as it provides access to all 13 films and can be used by a whole household. All film discussions are free. To buy tickets or for ticket questions, contact the JCC Box office by phone at 314-442-3179 or by email at boxoffice@jccstl.org.

Tickets or passes also can be purchased via the festival’s viewing platform which is also how all films and discussion will be shown. You will need to create an account to purchase tickets through the film festival’s JCC website. After buying your tickets or pass, you will receive an email with information on how to unlock films for viewing. Festival tech support is available through the festival hot-line at 314-442-3179. Live technical support will be available during the festival.

GREENER PASTURES. Courtesy of St. Louis Jewish Film Festival and Israeli Films