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Festival Roundup—New York Jewish Film Festival 2025

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Tuesday, 21 January 2025 04:10; Written by Kevin Filipski

New York Jewish Film Festival

Through January 29, 2025

Walter Reade Theater, Film at Lincoln Center

filmlinc.org

The films I saw at this year’s New York Jewish Film Festival—the 34th annual edition, co-presented by the Jewish Museum and Film at Lincoln Center—were, with one notably memorable exception, all based on real people and true stories, whether dramatized feature or documentary accounts.

Midas Man

The festival opener was Midas Man, a long-gestating biopic of Beatles manager Brian Epstein, directed by Joe Stepehenson and written by Brigit Grant. It hits the usual beats: managing his dad’s record store in Liverpool, Brian sees the Beatles at the Cavern Club, changing his and the band members’ lives, and he guides the lads to a record contract with Parlophone through producer George Martin and onto The Ed Sullivan Show and worldwide Beatlemania, all while his messy personal life is filled with drugs, alcohol and casual sex with other men. While this familiar tale is told in a familiar way, there are compensations. With no Beatles songs on the soundtrack, only covers (it’s cheaper, obviously), someone else is at the center of their universe; Jacob Fortune-Lloyd is a charismatic Brian, even selling the hoary device of speaking directly to the camera. The actors playing the Fab Four are decent without being caricatures, but Jay Leno’s bizarre casting as Ed Sullivan is a headscratcher. Epstein died at 32 of an accidental overdose, which the filmmakers wisely keep offscreen, giving Brian his own Abbey Road cover moment for the final shot.

The Glory of Life

Also dying far too young was Czech writer Franz Kafka, who succumbed to tuberculosis a month shy of his 41st birthday; Georg Maas and Judith Kaufmann’s The Glory of Life takes the measure of the artist as a dying man, vacationing near the Baltic Sea for rest, but meeting and falling in love with Dora Diamant, who would accompany him through his final days. The filmmakers flirt with but manage to skirt soap opera thanks to a lack of hysteria and a pair of pitch-perfect portrayals by Sabin Tambrea (Franz) and Henriette Confurius, whose Dora is full-bodied and immensely sympathetic.

Ada—My Mother the Architect

A trio of documentaries chronicled three audacious lives. Yael Melamede’s touching and intensely personal Ada—My Mother the Architect is a first-person look at Ada Karmi-Melamede, an important Israeli architect who was even more importantly Yael’s mother. We get the sense of Ada as a creator of brilliantly conceived buildings alongside her loving relationship with her daughter, shown through touching discussions between them.

The Spoils

In The Spoils, a tragic and complex story is told of Jewish art dealer Max Stern, whose impressive gallery holdings were broken up, as were so many others by the Nazis, although he did escape to London and later to Canada. Jamie Kastner follows the trail of the ongoing attempts at repatriating his works alongside documenting the German city of Düsseldorf’s decision to pull the plug on a Stern museum exhibit in 2017, nominally over the provenance of a single artwork. The morality and legality of restitution is argued—especially by a Dusseldorf lawyer aptly named Ludwig von Pufendorf, whose pronouncements skirt anti-Semitism. For highly contentious subject matter, Kastner navigates the many sides and players with intelligence and clarity.

The True Story of Tamara de Lempicka and the Art of Survival

The title tells all in The True Story of Tamara de Lempicka and the Art of Survival, which is Julie Rubio’s informative if chatty portrait of the singular Polish artist who was famous in her circle in her lifetime but has become far more renowned now, nearly four decades after her death. For those with little or no knowledge of Lempicka’s artistry and legacy, Rubio has created a good primer, and her interviews with Lempicka’s granddaughter and great-granddaughters provide a welcome personal touch.

Blind at Heart

The lone fiction feature I saw, Blind at Heart, was in many ways the most remarkable. Based on Julia Franck's prizewinning novel Die Mittagsfrau (The Blindness of the Heart), Barbara Albert’s arresting and formidable feature follows Hélène, a young Jewish woman who arrives in Berlin in the midst of the liberal Weimar Republic hoping to become a doctor and hiding her identity—when the Nazis come to power, she makes decisions that will change the course of her life. Albert tells this intimate story about extraordinary resilience on an appropriately epic scale, and it’s centered by the tremendous performance of Mala Emde, whose Hélène is an unforgettable creation.

January '25 Digital Week II

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Thursday, 16 January 2025 03:17; Written by Kevin Filipski

4K/UHD Release of the Week

The Mother and the Whore

(Criterion)

French director Jean Eustache’s 1973 masterpiece may be the greatest film his compatriots Jacques Rivette, Eric Rohmer or Jean-Luc Godard never made—its mammoth length (3 hours and 40 minutes) belies the simplicity of its subject and execution: it’s a look at a narcissistic young man’s relationships with his live-in lover and a new woman in his life. Although it’s nearly all talk, since it’s Eustache’s script—with supposedly no improvisation—it’s emotionally direct and honest.

This is by far Jean-Pierre Leaud’s best performance, and Bernadette Lafont and Francoise Lebrun equal him as his eponymous lovers. The photography and editing are sublime, and the shattering ending reminds one of Ozu, which is high praise indeed. The B&W film looks stupendously sharp in UHD; extras comprise new interviews with Lebrun and filmmaker Jean-Pierre Gorin; archival interviews with Eustache, Leaud, Lafont and Lebrun; and a restoration featurette.

In-Theater/Streaming Release of the Week

Wicked

(Universal)

It starts with an ugly, CGI-drenched opening and ends more than two and a half hours later with the showstopper “Defying Gravity”—which is only the end of the first act of Steven Schwartz’s blockbuster Broadway musical. That means we have to sit through another two-plus hours next holiday season to finish this thing.

So is it all worth it? Not really—it’s a mighty slog to get through, the songs are mainly negligible, the story isn’t as clever as it should be, and only Cynthia Erivo has the requisite vocal chops and acting prowess to make Elphaba soar into the stratosphere. Ariana Grande also has a powerhouse voice, but when she tries to act, she’s laughably inadequate. Further, Bowen Tang, Jeff Goldblum, and Michelle Yeoh are wincingly hammy, while Jon M. Chu’s direction consists of making things bigger, louder and more garish without settling on a consistent tone or style.

In-Theater Release of the Week

Every Little Thing

(Kino Lorber)

Sally Aitken’s heartwarming documentary is an intimate portrait of author Terry Masear, who diligently and lovingly rehabs hummingbirds out of her California home, taking in those that were orphaned or injured and meticulously nurses them back to health.

Aitken’s camera follows Masear, who founded Los Angeles Hummingbird Rescue 20 years ago and wrote the book Fastest Things on Wings in 2016, and also provides stunning views of the birds themselves—as Maseur notes, hummingbirds flap their wings 50 times a second, something that seems impossible to contemplate even as Aitken records it.

Streaming/Blu-ray Release of the Week

Touristic Intents

(First Run)

Prora, which was a huge resort complex on Germany’s Baltic Sea, was built but left unfinished by the Nazi regime, and Mat Rappaport’s informative and thoughtful documentary explores its postwar life: the East German government continued its construction, using the place for military operations as well as housing for conscientious objectors.

Then there are the lasting implications of its history—through insightful interviews and on-location footage, Rappaport raises important questions exploring the dissection of tourism and politics. There’s an excellent hi-def transfer.

Blu-ray Release of the Week

Mozart—Mitridate re di Ponto

(Unitel)

One of Mozart’s early operas, a tragedy about a king and his two sons who are all in love with the same woman, comes off as stately and often static in director Satoshi Miyagi’s 2022 Berlin State Opera staging, despite Mozart’s often melodious music.

The cast, led by Pene Pati, Ana Maria Labin, Angela Brower, Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian, Sarah Aristidou and Ken Sugiyama, is impeccable, while the Les Musiciens du Louvre under conductor Marc Minkowski provide solid support. There’s first-rate hi-def video and audio.

DVD Release of the Week

Sisterhood

(Distrib Films US)

Although the French title, HLM Pussy, gets right to the point—if too rudely for some, obviously— Nora El Hourch’s trenchant character study dramatizes how a close-knit group of teenage female friends becomes partially estranged when one calls out her brother’s best friend for sexual harassment.

Bringing “MeToo” into a different arena, El Hourch finds space for sympathy and understanding as well as justified rage, and she has assembled a perfect cast of mostly unknown performers—I only recognized the elegant Berenice Bejo, who plays the mom of one of the teens—for a clear-eyed, truthful study that’s all the more remarkable for being El Hourch’s debut feature.

CD Release of the Week

Ruth Gipps—Orchestral Works, Vol. 3

(Chandos)

Englishwoman Ruth Gipps (1921-99), like many women composers of the 20th century, was automatically considered second class, despite having gotten a doctorate and showing the facility to write sophisticated works. Now, decades after her death, her works are have been justly resurrected, as this third volume in a series by conductor Rumon Gamba and the BBC Philharmonic of her orchestral works rewardingly shows.

There are three shorter pieces: Coronation Procession is a sparkling opener, followed by the wistful Ambarvalia and the passionate pastoral Cringlemire Garden, whose lovely string writing is reminiscent of Gipps’ teacher Vaughan Williams. The two major works are Gipps at her most original: the Horn Concerto has a lyricism that soloist Martin Owen brings to the fore, while Gamba and the orchestra give the superb first symphony a vigorous workout in its first-ever recording.

The Brandenburg Concertos Presented by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Wednesday, 15 January 2025 15:11; Written by Jack Angstreich

Photo by Cherylynn Tsushima

At the superior Alice Tully Hall, on the night of Friday, December 13th, I was unusually fortunate in attending a wonderful concert—presented by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center—devoted to the magnificent Brandenburg Concertos of Johann Sebastian Bach.

In useful notes for this program, Ellen Exner provides some background on these works:

In 1721, Bach compiled this set of highly individual, and in many ways unusual, chamber pieces for all different combinations of instruments and sent them in score format, with a humble letter of dedication, to Christian Ludwig, the Margrave of Brandenburg (1667–1734). It is thought that Bach must have played for the Margrave in 1719, on a trip to Berlin to pick up a new double-harpsichord. Bach's dedication states that the concertos were sent at the Margrave's request, based on his delight in Bach's talents.

The event started strongly with the Concerto No. 6 in B-flat major, BWV 1051, featuring violists Paul Neubauer and Milena Pájaro-van de Stadt, cellists Jonathan Swensen, Inbal Segev and Dmitri Atapine, and with double-bassist Blake Hinson and harpsichordist Kenneth Weiss, both of whom performed on all the works in the program. An ebullient, initial Allegro is followed by a slow movement marked Adagio ma non tanto that is graceful and serious but not grave, while the Allegro finale is delightful and even livelier than the first movement.

The Concerto No. 1 in F major, BWV 1046, was played by Aaron Boyd on the violino piccolo—“a violin tuned a third higher than usual,” according to the annotator—violinists Daniel Phillips and James Thompson, Pájaro-van de Stadt and Segev again, oboists James Austin Smith, Randall Ellis and Stephen Taylor, bassoonist Marc Goldberg, and on the hunting horns (corni da caccia), Julia Pilant and Stewart Rose. The opening Allegro is enchanting and ingenious, preceding a solemn, song-like Adagio and another, exuberant Allegro. The finale begins with a charming minuet with a modest Trio and a more urgent Polonaise; a second Trio is more energetic.

The Concerto No. 5 in D Major (BWV 1050) was performed by Phillips, flautist Tara Helen O’Connor, violinist Chad Hoopes, Neubauer and Atapine. The Allegro first movement is vivacious and brilliant, featuring an unusual, extended, and virtuosic keyboard solo. A sensitive and emotional slow movement marked Affetuoso precedes a dance-like, Allegro finale with an intricate, even dazzling, fugue.

The Concerto No. 4 in G Major (BWV 1049) was executed by Hoopes, flautist Sooyun Kim, O’Connor, Boyd, Thompson, Pájaro-van de Stadt, and Swensen. It starts with a bravura, sparkling Allegro, while the ensuing Andante has an almost elegiac quality, and the also effervescent Presto finale is an incredibly complex and awesome fugue.

The Concerto No. 3 in G Major, BWV 1048, featured Boyd, Thompson, Hoopes, Pájaro-van de Stadt, Philips, Neubauer, Atapine, Segev and Swensen. The beginning Allegro is energetic and engrossing and, after an exceedingly brief Adagio, the Allegro finale is dynamic and propulsive.

And at last, the Concerto No. 2 in F major, BWV 1047, was played by Thompson, Kim, Smith, trumpeter David Washburn, Phillips, Hoopes, Neubauer, Atapine, and Goldberg. The opening Allegro is winning and sprightly, succeeded by an exquisite, reflective Andante anda jubilant, irresistible Allegro assai finale.

The artists deservedly received an enthusiastic ovation.

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Present Bach

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Wednesday, 15 January 2025 14:47; Written by Jack Angstreich

Photo by Cherylynn Tsushima.

At the marvelous Alice Tully Hall, on the night of Friday, December 6th, I had the exceptional pleasure to attend a superb concert—presented by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center—devoted to extraordinary concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach.

The event began promisingly with the popular Italian Concerto in F major for Keyboard, BWV 971, admirably performed on the piano by Shai Wosner. A lively, Allegro first movement precedes a serious Andante and an exuberant, Presto finale.

Even better was a sterling account of the justly celebrated Concerto in A minor for Violin, Strings, and Continuo, BWV 1041, which featured violinists Bella Hristova, Ani Kavafian, and Danbi Um, violist Paul Neubauer, cellist Timothy Eddy, and bassist Anthony Manzo, with Wosner accompanying on harpsichord which he played for all the remaining works on the program. (Manzo and Eddy performed for all the rest of them as well.) The piece starts with a spirited Allegro and a song-like Andante, concluding with a jubilant Allegro assai.

The first half of the evening closed with the Concerto in C minor for Oboe, Violin, Strings, and Continuo, BWV 1060R, with oboist Juri Vallentin, violinists Cho-Liang Lin, Kavafian again and Julian Rhee, and violist James Thompson, who appeared in all the rest of the works. The opening Allegro is charming and vivacious and the celebrated, exquisite Adagio—it memorably appears in a key sequence in Bille August’s underrated film, Twist and Shout from 1984–is lyrical, while the Allegro finale is lively and propulsive.

In the balance of the program, exceptionally rewarding was the Concerto in F minor for Keyboard, Strings, and Continuo, BWV 1056, with Rhee, Hristova, Lin, and Neubauer, along with violinist Ida Kavafian. It has a sparkling, dance-like Allegro, a celestial Largo with a solemn undercurrent, and a rhythmic, even exultant, Presto finale.

Another highlight of the program was the less familiar Concerto in F major for Oboe, Strings, and Continuo, BWV 1053R, with Vallentin, Um, and Ani Kavafian also. The opening Allegro is enchanting and virtuosic, followed by a meditative Siciliano—which is a Baroque dance—that possesses gravity, with a sprightly and dynamic, Allegro finale.

The concert concluded splendidly with the popular Concerto in D minor for Two Violins, Strings, and Continuo, BWV 1043, with all the musicians except Vallentin. An exciting Vivace leads to a slow movement marked Largo ma non tanto that is somber yet an epitome of grace, finishing with an enthralling Allegro.

The artists deservedly received an enthusiastic ovation.

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