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Arts & Entertainment
Romance And Drama
In Brighton Beach
Joaquin Phoenix
(Leonard) and
Vanissa Shaw
(Sandra) as a
Jewish couple
with similar
backgrounds in
Two Lovers.
Director/co-writer James Gray plumbs
the murky depths of need and obsession
in his new film, Two Lovers.
Michael Fox
Special to the Jewish News
T
he artfully etched and deeply dis-
comfiting romantic drama Two
Lovers begins with the disturbed
main character slipping fully clothed over
the railing of a Brighton Beach pier and
far below the surface of the rippling water.
We know this suicide attempt won't
succeed, thanks to the properties of both
physics and the movies. (Name a picture
where the star is killed off in the first reel.)
But we watch the entire film in a state of
dread, waiting for another horrible fall.
Two Lovers centers on a peculiar kind
of American Jew — the neurotic urbanite
with a painful double life. He's intelligent
and charming, with sufficient social skills
to function in the world for long stretches.
But there's something askew in his wiring
that, sooner or later, will cause a melt-
down.
Thanks in large measure to a creative
and nimble performance by Joaquin
Phoenix, Two Lovers delicately avoids the
cliches and stereotypes of both mental ill-
ness and protective Jewish families. It still
feels like watching a car accident unfold in
slow motion, too far away for our warning
shouts to be heard yet we can't look away.
(Phoenix, who is Jewish by virtue of his
Jewish mother, says this is his last acting
performance; the Oscar-nominated star,
fresh off a strange appearance on The Late
Show with David Letterman that garnered
headlines, asserts he will now pursue a
hip-hop music career full time.)
The 30-something Leonard works in
his father's dry-cleaning business and,
we infer, is back home after a brief stay
in an institution. His parents (played by
Israeli actor Moni Moshonov and Isabella
Rosselini) walk the line between keep-
ing an eye on him without hovering and
allowing him complete freedom while
hoping he doesn't spin out of control.
The Jewish businessman who's nego-
tiating to buy Pop's shop has a pretty,
soft-spoken daughter, and Leonard's
parents gently nudge Leonard and Sandra
(Vinessa Shaw, whose real-life father is
Jewish; the original family name was
Schwartz) together. Leonard, an obedient
son with good manners and a healthy sex
drive, doesn't mind too much.
That is, until he meets Michelle
(Gwyneth Paltrow, daughter of the late
Jewish director Bruce Paltrow), a non-
Jewish neighbor with a bit more drama in
her life than she can adequately manage.
Leonard gloms onto her, not out of love or
Leonard (Joaquin Phoenix) with Michelle (Gwyneth Paltrow), a needy non-Jewish
woman to whom he is equally attracted
attraction but by the desperate need to be
needed.
Someone is going to get hurt, badly,
when all the ships toss up on shore,
although it's hard to call anyone a victim
and impossible to point out a villain.
One may wonder why neither Sandra nor
Michelle is particularly adept at reading
the danger signs that Leonard can't help
but put out, but the truth is we tend to
Jews
Nate Bloom
Special to the Jewish News
On The Road
Fanboys was released to a limited
number of theaters this month, after
sitting in the can for more than two
years while the studio argued about
plot changes. Set in 1998, it follows
four young guys and one tomboy
(Huntington Woods
native Kristen
Bell) who grew
up obsessed with
Star Wars. One of
the young men
has terminal can-
cer. His buddies
Jay Baruchel
decide to drive as a
B10
February 26 • 2009
iN
group from Ohio to
California and break
into George Lucas'
studio and steal
a prerelease copy
of The Phantom
Menace so their ill
friend can see it
before he dies.
They have adventures along the
way that include meeting William
Shatner and Carrie Fisher. Jay
Baruchel (Tropic Thunder), 26, and
Dan Fogler (Good Luck, Chuck), 32,
play two of the road trippers.
Supermodels
Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli,
23, made the cover of the annual
swimsuit issue of
Sports Illustrated.
Also appearing in
the issue is Israeli
model Esti Ginzburg,
18. Both have huge
spreads on the
Sports Illustrated
Bar Refaeli
Web site, including
photos and video interviews.
Refaeli was the subject of a big
controversy in 2007 when she
admitted that she entered into a
brief, sham marriage with a friend to
avoid her obligatory military service.
An Israeli paper quoted her as say-
ing that military service would have
hampered her career and "it is bet-
ter to live in New York City than die
for your country."
She claimed she
was misquoted and
worked to stem the
furor by agreeing
to visit injured IDF
soldiers. Ginzburg,
meanwhile, made
Esti Ginzburg
a deal to fulfill her
service by giving talks to IDF soldiers
while getting release time to model
overseas.
Last week, the New York Daily
News reported that Refaeli's
father told boxing promoter Aaron
Braunstein that he wouldn't agree to
a marriage between his daughter and
her steady, actor Leonardo DiCaprio,
unless DiCaprio converts to Judaism.