38 | DECEMBER 26 • 2019

AT THE MOVIES
The epic war film 1917 follows
two young British soldiers at the
height of WWI. They are given a
seemingly impossible mission: to
quickly cross German-occupied
territory and tell a British 1,600-
man battalion that the Germans
are planning to ambush them.
(Opens Jan. 10.)

1917 has received great
advance reviews. The film is
nominated for a 2020 Golden
Globe award for best dramatic
film, and the film’
s director
and co-writer, Sam Mendes,
54, is nominated for a Golden
Globe for best film direc-
tor (Look for Jewish Globe
nominees Jan. 2.) Mendes is
British. His father, a UK cit-
izen of Portuguese descent,
isn’
t Jewish. His mother is
an English Jew. His par-
ents divorced when he was
young, and he was raised by
his mother. Success came
early to Mendes, acclaimed
while still in his 20s as a
great theater director. He got
Oscar-nominated for his first
feature film (American Beauty,
1999) and has had many hits
since, including the Bond films
Skyfall and Spectre. My sense
is that Mendes has always
been secular.
Likewise, the new remake of
Little Women got great reviews
following its Dec. 7 special
one-theater opening. However,
unlike 1917, it didn’
t get many
Golden Globe nominations. Of
course, the film is based on
the famous Louisa May Alcott
19th-century novel about four
young adult sisters. Timothee
Chalamet, 23, plays Theodore
“Laurie” Laurence, the only major
male part in the film or novel.
(Opened Dec. 25)


FRIED DONUTS AND MORE
On Dec. 21, the Food Network
premiered The Ultimate
Hanukkah Challenge. Four chefs
competed to see who could
make the best crispy potato
pancakes, succulent brisket and
fried jelly donuts. The host is
Molly Yeh, 31. The judges were
Duff Goldman, 44, a famous
pastry chef, and Sharone
Hakman, 38, a well-known Los
Angeles chef. There was only
one live showing. However,
catch it online and via on-de-
mand.
Last week, the Hallmark
Channel pulled an ad featuring
a lesbian wedding and, after a
firestorm of protests, reversed
itself and apologized. There
wasn’
t a firestorm about two
new Hallmark Channel original
Chanukah movies that pre-
miered this month: Holiday
Dates and Double Holiday.
However, the films were so
bad the New York Times and
the Washington Post published
long, scathing reviews. The Post
called them “Christmas movies
with Jewish characters” and
said they “relied on anti-Semitic
tropes.” The NYT was only a
little kinder. Both thought Holiday
Date was particularly egregious.
The premise is that a woman
hires a Jewish actor to play her
boyfriend and join her at her
family’
s house for Christmas.
The NYT says it’
s absurd that he
knows nothing about Christmas.
They said his “sneaky” role fits
anti-Semitic stereotypes.

Arts&Life

celebrity jews


NATE BLOOM
COLUMNIST

A scene from 1917, a film co-written
and directed by Sam Mendes

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