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something, what it rakes to do good
work and to make something authen-
tically happen, which is something
you can only experience, yOu can't
really describe or learn in an intellec-
tual way. You have to understand what
the creative impulse is; then you can
immediately connect and communi-
cate with other creative people.

JN: The filmmakers of your grandfa-
ther's generation were very concerned
about not being too Jewish in the
movies that they made, yet in your
first film as a director, you focus on
characters and a place that are so
matter of-facdy Jewish and that's not
even the main plot point.
TG: Well, the times they are a
changin'. That is an interesting coin-
cidence and maybe it has deeper psy-
chological meaning that I'm not
aware of. I read the script and
thought it was so beautiful and I had
to do it. So I didn't set out to do
something Jewish-themed, it wasn't
something that I had a keen desire to
explore. It was a happy coincidence
that it ended up being profoundly
connected to my cultural roots. But
I only realized that late in the game;
as I was really getting into it, I felt
this tremendous identification with
that world and with the immigrant
experience. I felt [the Kantrowitzes]
were sort of a branch of the family

the Catskills every weekend.
His mother, Bubbie Lilian, is
played with quiet understatement by
veteran Broadway actress Tovah.
Feldshuh. It is Lilian's curse to be able
to see the future. But when she fore-
sees what is happening to her family,
we don't know whether it is too late to
do any good.
Bubbie's tolerance for her daughter-
in-law's indiscretions stretches credulity
— no mother, Jewish or otherwise,
would be this restrained — but at least
her character plays against stereotype
of the overbearing Jewish grandmother.
Another real source of energy in the
film comes from Anna Paquin (The
Piano), who plays the 15-year-old
daughter Alison. Relations between
teenagers and parents are always bound
to be rocky. Add in the tumult of the
late '60s — along with a mother caught
committing adultery — and you have a
prescription for emotional disaster.
The film starts an interesting plot

that went a different path than mine
did. My grandfather kind of skipped
all of that. He came here alone as a
Jewish immigrant and renounced all
of that and wanted to be mainstream
American. That was his dream and
that's what he did.

JN: Do you find that you get put
under a lot more scrutiny because of
the Goldwyn name?
TG: Very much so. It was very tough
at first. I felt that it worked very
much against me when I was starting
out because people tend to be dis-
missive and assume that it's just
nepotism. This is a business where
nepotism doesn't really pay. The first
couple of years were very tough
because anybody that knew my fami-
ly — and since I got to Hollywood,
it was everybody — would not take
you seriously, so you have to fight to
doubly prove yourself. Once I got
established, it was less of an issue for
me, because then your work speaks
for itself. Either you're good or
you're not, and once you have
enough work out there that people
can decide whether you have ability,
then it's fine. ❑

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thread in Alison's relationship with a
young Orthodox girl, but much of
this must have ended up on the edit-
ing room floor, because it is never pur-
sued on screen. The same is true of
Alison's aborted fling with teenager
Ross Epstein (Joseph Perrino).
The script's premise is very clever
and allows for the collision of the first
moon walk with the wild abandon of
Woodstock together with the coming
of age of a teenager and the liberation
of her mother.
Yet, while the film ends by tying up
all the loose ends, it does so in ways
that are not satisfying or believable.
Rated R. **

— Reviewed by Morrie Warshawski

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**

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Poor
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Detroit Jewish News

4/2
1999

87