arts & entertainment
Discordant Notes
In A Late Quartet, musicians face upheaval
in both their professional and personal lives.
I
Suzanne Chessler
ships of quartet members — with other
roles assumed by Philip Seymour Hoffman,
Catherine Keener and Mark Ivanir — spark
ilmmaker Yaron Zilberman has
the plot as the future of the group is argued.
moved artistically from reality to
"The music turned out to say what I
fiction.
wanted to say:' says Zilberman, 46, who was
His first film, Watermarks, documents a
raised in Israel. "Music, art and beauty tran-
reunion of championship swimmers who
scend hardship in life.
escaped the Nazis in Austria. It probes the
"The importance of culture, collaboration
dramatic experiences, past and
and getting together to create
present, confronted by the ath-
something that is better than
letes.
each can make individually
His second film, A Late
becomes the message on a psy-
Quartet, which he directed and
chological lever
co-wrote, soon will debut locally
The music is dubbed by the
as it depicts the struggles of an
Brentano String Quartet, whose
illustrious New York City-based
members appeared in a local
string quartet questioning its
concert sponsored last year by
future. As its 25th anniversary
the Chamber Music Society of
together approaches, its mem-
Detroit.
Filmmaker Yaron
bers agonize about staying
"I wanted to make a movie
Zilberman
together as a group after learn-
about a dynamic within a fam-
ing about the illness of one of
ily:' says Zilberman, whose co-
them.
writer was Seth Grossman. "I love chamber
Zilberman, trained as a physicist before
music, and I thought merging the two in a
establishing cinematic priorities, gladly
movie would make a string quartet a meta-
shares his professional enthusiasm during
phor for family. I thought it would be an
a phone conversation anticipating his film's
interesting way to look at it all.
upcoming openings — on Friday, Nov.
"I have a close friend who is a violinist in
16, at the Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak,
a string quartet, and I got to know the his-
and Wednesday, Nov. 21, at the Michigan
tory of string quartets, reading about them
Theater in Ann Arbor.
and eventually befriending many players
"Making a documentary was a particular
as the basis for my knowledge and further
challenge, but I thought I wanted to experi-
research. Once I started to do that, the story
ence a new challenge within filmmaking:'
and the characters came about:'
Zilberman reveals about changing from one
Although it is never expressed specifi-
type of movie to another. "I decided I would
cally, one of the characters comes across
go directly to my mind to look for material."
as Jewish. Ivanir, portraying first violinist
In the fictional work, structured around
Daniel Lerner, is understood as an Israeli
Beethoven's 1826 late quartet String
who moved to New York for studies at
Quartet No. 14 in C sharp minor, op. 131,
Juilliard; the quartet was formed during
Christopher Walken, playing against type,
this period, and Lerner's Israeli accent is
portrays a cellist diagnosed with Parkinson's
retained.
disease and facing his last concert.
"I think that people arguing in a construc-
The professional and personal relation-
tive way over subject matter is fundamen-
Contributing Writer
F
-
Nate Bloom
Special to the Jewish News
Politically Correct
Kudos to these 2012 political journal-
ists: Nate Silver, 34; David Korn, 53;
and Chuck Todd, 40.
Silver, who writes the
"FiveThirtyEight" blog
(named for the number
of Electoral College
votes) for the New York
Times, used mathemati-
Silver
cal modeling and evalu-
ation of presidential
state/national polls to correctly predict
ji
68
November 15 • 2012
the winner of 49 out of 50 states in
the 2008 election and the winner of
all 50 states in 2012. Born and raised
in East Lansing, Silver's Jewish father,
Brian D. Silver, is a Michigan State
University political science professor;
his mother, Sally, is not Jewish. Silver
refers to himself as "half-Jewish."
Korn, chief of the Washington bureau
of Mother Jones magazine, became
famous when he released the now-
famous Mitt Romney "47 percent"
video. James Earl Carter IV, President
Jimmy Carter's grandson, located the
maker of the video and put that person
in touch with Korn, who got it released
tally Jewish.
It's almost a
talmudic con-
cept of thought:' Mark Ivanir, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher Walken and
says Zilberman, Catherine Keener star in A Late Quartet.
who moved
to the United
takes note of differences between capturing
States after serving in the Israeli army. He
reality and fantasy.
then earned his bachelor's and master's
"When I worked with the documentary, it
degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of
was real people portraying themselves, and I
Technology. Moving from physics to opera-
didn't know what they were going to say:' he
tions research, he later came to think of both explains. "The filmmaker needs to capture
fields as a strong foundation for filmmaking. that
"My biography had many stops before I
"With fiction, the challenge is to elevate a
realized I wanted to do filmmaking for the
created world so that it seems real, points to
rest of my life," he says. "While studying
truths about humanity and becomes a [focal
at MIT, I learned how to learn, to research
point] for where we've been and where we're
and to channel curiosity about creative
going:'
approaches, and that was motivation for
As Zilberman looks back on his personal
wide interests.
experiences aside from film, he recalls
"I was recruited by a Wall Street company
many phone calls to Michigan. His brother,
as a mathematician to do modeling work for Guy, studied economics at the University of
the financial markets. From that, I learned
Michigan, and the two talked often.
the economic aspects of business and how to
Zilberman's personal life, somewhat par-
work with a group.
allel to the dynamics of his characters, has
"A friend of mine introduced me to a film
come to combine elements of his profession-
project and asked if I could help. I fell in
al life. His wife, Tamar Sela, is a producer of
love with it and started to do research on the the film.
documentary. That was 10 years ago:'
The couple's two children, both pre-
Watermarks, co-produced by HBO and
schoolers, attend activities at the Jewish
ARTE, follows the champion swimmers of
Community Center in Manhattan.
Hakoah Vienna, a Jewish sports club, as they
"We enjoy celebrating the Jewish holidays
reunite in their 80s to swim together one
together:' he says. "Being with our children
more time in the city they had to escape.
is the most fun thing we do:'
"That story is about a group of individuals
who were unique, and the club saved their
lives by arranging visas for them to go to
A Late Quartet opens Friday, Nov.16,
Palestine," Zilberman says.
at the Main Art Theatre, 118 N. Main,
"I think that theme has a connection to
in Royal Oak; (248) 263-2111 or www.
the new film because it also is about indi-
landmarktheatres.com . It will begin
viduals who have to find what unites them
showings Wednesday, Nov. 21, at the
as a group and saves them on a psychologi-
Michigan Theater, 603 E. Liberty St.,
cal level.
in Ann Arbor; (734) 668-8463 or
"That's something I noticed later on:'
www.michigantheater.org .
Comparing the two films, Zilberman
❑
in full to Mother Jones. No doubt, it
influenced the election's outcome.
Todd, the NBC News political director
and White House correspondent, dis-
tinguished himself with
his informative "down-
the-middle" analysis of
the race. He also worked
to make sure that NBC's
polls were well done
Todd
– and they turned out
to be among the most
accurate. Todd, the son of a Jewish
mother/non-Jewish father, was raised
Jewish.
Honest Abe
Lincoln, opening Friday, Nov.16, direct-
ed by Steven Spielberg, 65, and writ-
ten by Tony Kushner, 56, covers the
last eight months of the president's life
as he worked to end the Civil War and
abolish slavery forever via a constitu-
tional amendment. Daniel Day-Lewis,
55, plays the title role (yes, the actor's
late mother was Jewish, but he was
baptized at birth). Joseph Gordon-
Levitt, 31, co-stars as Robert Todd
Lincoln, the president's son.
❑
Contact Nate Bloom at
middleoftheroadl@aol.com .