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Entertainment

Film Year In Review

From Venice to Munich, a far-flung year in movies.

Michael Fox
Special to the Jewish News

S

teven Spielberg had to know he

Nvas walking into a hornet's nest

A scene from
the Israeli
film Ushpizin

Fred Friendly (George Clooney) in Good •
Night, and Good Luck and the manic pro-
tagonists of The Producers were just some
of the urban Jews featured in central roles.
Kevin Bacon played a Jerry Lewis-
inspired comic named Lanny Morris in
Where the Truth Lies, which featured a key
scene triggered by the word "kike." Bob
Hoskins winningly portrayed theater pro-
ducer Vivian Van Damm in Mrs.
Henderson Presents, and Allan Corduner
played a refugee tailor in 1930s Shanghai
in the
Merchant-Ivory misfire The White
Countess.

when he embarked on Munich.
Still, he couldn't have imagined that he'd be
this year's Mel Gibson.
Gibson, of course, galvanized the Jewish
community in 2004 with The Passion of the
Christ, which breathed new life into the
canard that the Jews killed Jesus.
It was hard to say which was more dis- .
turbing, the movie's thesis or its . phenome-
nal commercial success.
George Clooney, left,
As 2005 -began, the likeliest subjects of
is Jewish - at least
Power Players
controversy — though hardly on the same
he is as Fred Friendly
Behind the camera, Sidney Lumet, the
scale — figured to be The Merchant pf
in Good Night, and
deft director of The Pawnbroker and
Venice and Oliver Twist. The two literary
Good Luck
numerous other New York stories, received
adaptations were high risk and high profile,
an honorary Oscar. In the executive suite,
with Al Pacino and Ben Kingsley interpret :
Michael Eisner was finally pushed out of
ing the problematic Jewish characters
Disney, and Harvey Weinstein left Miramax
Shylock and Fagin.
to form a new production and distribution
But both films met with unenthusiastic
entity dubbed the Weinstein Company.
reviews and indifferent public response —
Another Jewishipower player, the late
and vanished from theaters almost imme-
Lew Wasserman, Nvas the subject of The
diately. A few New York columnists assailed
Sarah Silverman
Last Mogul, a documentary coming to DVD
Merchant when it was released in January,
brought her comedy
following its brief festival and theatrical
but by and large neither film made the
to the big screen in
run.
slightest dent in Jewish consciousness.
The, Aristocrats and
It was an unexceptional year for Jewish
(Nonetheless, both are worth checking out
Sarah Silverman:
documentaries, all in all, with the prosaic
on DVD.)
Jesus Is Magic
Paper Clips, The Ritchie Boys, Watermarks,
The most provocative Jewish-themed
Protocols of Zion and 39 Pounds of Love
films of 2005, it turned out, came from the
making the festival rounds.
Middle East. Leading the way was the
The Aristocrats featured a slew of Jewish
quirky spy drama Walk on Water, which grossed $2.7 mil-
A couple of bestsellers were transposed to the screen
comics from Shelley Berman to Howie Mandel to Jon
lion to place fifth among all foreign-language films, and the with mixed results. Liev Schreiber'S deeply felt adaptation
Stewart, while a lone sometimes over-the-edge comedienne
ultra-religious fable Ushpizin ($1.2 million and counting). . of Everything Is Illuminated was intriguing if not fully sat- commandeered the spotlight in Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is
Those hits, plus the favorable response to Nina's Tragedies,
isfying. David Siegel and Scott McGehee's oddly detached
Magic.
Campfire and Or My Treasure, guarantee that the wave of
Bee Season suffered from, among other things, the mis-
A relatively quiet year in movies, in other words, until
Israeli movies receiving U.S. distribution will continue (the casting of big stars..
•
Munich arrived this month. Spielberg's film kindled the
latter three movies have yet to find a distributor in Detroit).
Slipping in under the radar was King of the Corner, a
politely worded wrath of the Jewish establishment by sug-
Generating the most discussion, though, was the critical- poignant midlife comedy directed by and starring Peter
'gesting, among other things, that Israel paid a moral price
ly acclaimed Palestinian drama Paradise Now.
Riegert that's worth seeking out on DVD, and Paul
for retaliating for the Palestinian attack on its athletes at
With ticket sales approaching $1 million and the strong
Reiser's saccharine The Thing About My Folks.
the 1972 Olympics.
possibility of an Academy Award nomination, the portrait
The quintessential American Jewish independent,
Although reviews are mixed and other films seem
of two suicide bombers is widely regarded as one of the
Woody Allen, released two films overrated by critics eager primed for glory come Oscar time, Munich will continue to
year's most important films. -
to trumpet his comeback. Quality aside, neither Melinda
provoke discussion on op-ed pages and within the Jewish
and Melinda nor Match Point (scheduled to open in
community. That's hardly an insignificant achievement for
Family Matters
Detroit on Jan. 20) contained Jewish characters, but one
a movie, especially a flawed one. For all the criticism that
On the home front, Jewish families rather than politics
can hope that Allen hasn't finished mining his ethnic
will be aimed at him, however, there's no chance of
provided the focus for a surprising number of American
identity.
Spielberg becoming a pariah.
independent films.
Hollywood more than made up for Allen's shortfall,
Speaking of Mel Gibson, he is reportedly producing a TV
Noah Baumbach's The Squid and the Whale stood out
though. The Jewish sisters of In Her Shoes, the boyfriend
miniseries about the Holocaust that could air as soon as
from the pack, thanks largely to Jeff Daniels' performance and his therapist mom (played by Meryl Streep) in Prime, next fall. If you're handicapping 2006 controversies, that's a
against type as a selfish novelist and father.
lovelorn filmmaker Mark Cohen in Rent, TV producer
good bet. LI

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December 29 - 200c.