{"id":36057,"date":"2021-01-15T03:48:21","date_gmt":"2021-01-15T11:48:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=36057"},"modified":"2021-01-13T12:41:54","modified_gmt":"2021-01-13T20:41:54","slug":"more-than-meets-eye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2021\/01\/15\/more-than-meets-eye\/","title":{"rendered":"More than meets eye"},"content":{"rendered":"

Catalina Beraducci plays Noem\u00ed Goldberg in the Topic film Noem\u00ed Gold<\/em>. (photo from Topic)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

For his first feature film, writer and director Dan Rubenstein has done well. Noem\u00ed Gold<\/em>, which is currently streaming exclusively on Topic, is a quietly engaging story that touches upon serious issues, though never delves into them. While the story is somewhat scattered and doesn\u2019t always make sense, the acting is strong and the glimpse into Argentine culture interesting.<\/p>\n

The title role is played by Catalina Beraducci, who is perfect for the part. Noem\u00ed Goldberg, 27, has accidentally become pregnant from a tryst with an egotistical artist of questionable talent and character. She is an unassuming person, recently graduating with her master\u2019s in architecture, though she doesn\u2019t appear to have a job. When she seeks a doctor who can perform an abortion \u2013 which was an illegal procedure in Argentina until just last month \u2013 she has some trouble raising the money she\u2019ll need to go to Uruguay to get one.<\/p>\n

Noem\u00ed has a couple close friends \u2013 eccentric roommate Rosa and party-girl Sol \u2013 both of whom help in small but important ways. Also in Noem\u00ed\u2019s court is her grandmother, though we find out later in the movie that their relationship has had its complications. Lastly, while all this is going on, Noem\u00ed\u2019s cousin, David, comes to visit from Los Angeles, where his family moved when he was 7, for tragic reasons we eventually find out.<\/p>\n

David and Noem\u00ed were once close, but, for most of the movie, their interactions are strained. David works for an energy drink company and his job is, literally, to post photos on Instagram of himself enjoying the drink in various places and while doing various activities. (He is the only one in the film who has a job, it seems.) Social media plays a prominent role in the narrative as a whole \u2013 and, hopefully, younger viewers will take it not only as a representation of themselves in film but as a critique of how much time they dedicate to promoting the fun they are ostensibly having versus actually having fun.<\/p>\n

Women\u2019s rights, religion (via a discussion with and seduction attempt of two young Mormon missionaries), what constitutes art (one amusing scene features an objectively poor dancer filming her own performance using a camera on a selfie stick, while being cheered and applauded by an adoring audience), the importance of forgiveness, the challenges of being a good friend, the imperfection but necessity of family, and many other topics run through Noem\u00ed Gold<\/em>. There are no pronouncements and the laidback pace could fool one into thinking there is not much of substance in the film, but they\u2019d be wrong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Catalina Beraducci plays Noem\u00ed Goldberg in the Topic film Noem\u00ed Gold. (photo from Topic) For his first feature film, writer and director Dan Rubenstein has done well. Noem\u00ed Gold, which is currently streaming exclusively on Topic, is a quietly engaging story that touches upon serious issues, though never delves into them. While the story is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36058,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[787],"tags":[20194,3352,20193,6002,3021],"class_list":["post-36057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv-film","tag-abortion-rights","tag-argentina","tag-dan-rubenstein","tag-social-media","tag-women"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}