TV & Film

America’s pastime in Africa

photo - Ruth Hoffman with baseball player Arthur Lusala, left, who today studies developmental economics at university, and coach George Mukhobe

Ruth Hoffman with baseball player Arthur Lusala, left, who today studies developmental economics at university, and coach George Mukhobe. (photo from Ruth Hoffman) Vancouver baseball teens and their parents piled into the Rothstein Theatre on Sunday, April 19, for Opposite…

Hard-earned wisdom

photo - Seymour Bernstein, left, and Ethan Hawke

Seymour Bernstein, left, and Ethan Hawke. (photo from Ramsey Fendall/Risk Love LLC) Two kinds of people will fall under the spell of Seymour: An Introduction, Ethan Hawke’s respectful and affectionate study of virtuoso pianist, composer and teacher Seymour Bernstein. Fans…

Family’s little white lie

Lacey Schwartz celebrates her bat mitzvah with her parents, Peggy and Robert

Lacey Schwartz celebrates her bat mitzvah with her parents, Peggy and Robert. (photo from littlewhiteliethefilm.com) From Hollywood films like Next Stop Greenwich Village and Reversal of Fortune to documentaries like The Times of Harvey Milk, hyper-verbal Jews are practically a…

The three trials of Gett

photo - Viviane (Ronit Elkabetz) and Carmel (Menashe Noy) in Gett

Viviane (Ronit Elkabetz) and Carmel (Menashe Noy) in Gett. (photo from Music Box Films) The marvelously claustrophobic and deeply damning Israeli courtroom drama Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem – which opens March 13 at Vancity Theatre – actually consists…

Screenings educate, inspire

Forty years ago, Ian Merkel was involved in clandestine film screenings. The films were nothing Canadians would consider illicit, but in apartheid South Africa, color barriers meant it was illegal to show films featuring blacks and whites together, and the…

Mixing mercy and medicine

At the close of what Western countries call Valentine’s Day, a tenuous ceasefire went into effect in war-torn eastern Ukraine. Unfortunately, the days prior to the truce were not what you would call all “hearts and flowers.” Up to the…

Mixed welcome at Downton

In Downton Abbey, Rose (Lily James) is smitten with Atticus Aldridge (Matt Barber)

In Downton Abbey, Rose (Lily James) is smitten with Atticus Aldridge (Matt Barber). (photo from pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece) Jewish characters have finally joined the impeccably attired throng at Downton Abbey, and it’s not an altogether happy day. While Lord and Lady Grantham…

Exodus reinvents Moses saga

photo - Moses (Christian Bale) and Nun (Ben Kingsley) star in Exodus

Moses (Christian Bale) and Nun (Ben Kingsley) star in Exodus. (photo from exodusgodsandkings.com/#) Moses, as best I recall from Hebrew school and The Ten Commandments, was a reluctant prophet with a speech impediment who was ultimately persuaded by the unspeakable,…

Enjoy an afternoon movie

photo - The Outrageous Sophie Tucker poster

Would you like to go to the movies? Yes? That is exactly what about 80 people did on Nov. 25 at the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture, thanks to the wonderful combined effort of Jewish Seniors Alliance and Vancouver…

Herstory on the screen

image - The Red Tent TV special poster.

A corrective of sorts to the Old Testament’s predominantly patriarchal view of seismic events and everyday tribal life, Lifetime’s emotion-tapping adaptation of The Red Tent fulfils one’s modest expectations for a primetime soap opera in period garb. Anita Diamant’s best-selling…