34 | NOVEMBER 12 • 2020
NOW STREAMING: A
SCANDAL, CHESS & WAR
A Teacher is a nine-epi-
sode mini-series that began
streaming on Hulu on Nov.
10. Basic plot: Claire (Kate
Mara), a popular high school
teacher, enters into an affair
with a handsome senior, and
their lives “explode” when
the affair becomes known.
Ashley Zukerman, 36, an
Australian Jew, plays Claire’s
supportive, loving husband.
The series was written and
directed by Hannah Fidell,
34. Her mother is Linda
Greenhouse, 73, the NY
Times’ Pulitzer-winning legal
correspondent.
Now streaming on Netflix
is The Queen’s Gambit, a
new seven-part mini-series.
based on the acclaimed
novel of the same name.
Many tried to turn Gambit
into a film but gave up. It’s
hard to turn a novel about
tournament chess into an
exciting drama. However,
critics agree that Scott
Frank, 60, who co-wrote
the series and directed it,
has succeeded. Frank has a
long track record of turning
novels and comic books into
hit films (Get Shorty, Minority
Report, The Wolverine and
Logan). He broke into direct-
ing with Godless, a 2017
original Netflix series that
he also wrote. It is a feminist
Western with great action
scenes. Critics loved it and
so did audiences. I loved
the fact that Frank worked
in a poem by Hebrew poet
Judah Halevi (1075-1171) into
the last scene.
Gambit follows the life of
Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor-
Joy). Her mother dies when
she is 8 and she is put in an
orphanage. Chess becomes
her psychic refuge and
she quickly shows she’s a
prodigy. The series follows
her from the orphanage to
the highest ranks of inter-
national tournament chess.
Marielle Heller, 41, has a
large supporting role as Mrs.
Wheatley, a woman who
adopts Beth when she is 16.
Heller is best known as a
director (Diary of a Teenage
Girl and A Beautiful Day in
the Neighborhood).
The Israeli series Valley
of Tears premiered on Israel
TV in mid-October. HBO Max
saw it then, bought it and
“super-fast tracked” it (good
new material is hard to find
during the pandemic). On
Nov. 2, it was announced
that the first two of the
series’ 10 episodes would
stream on HBO Max on Nov.
12. Each following week,
two more episodes will be
shown. Valley is the most
expensive Israeli series ever
made.
“Valley of Tears” was the
name given to the Yom
Kippur War battles in the
Golan Heights, where 173
Israeli tanks stopped 1,200
Syrian tanks from reaching
the Jordan River. The series
was filmed just before the
pandemic. It was co-written
by Ron Leshem, 41. He also
co-created Euphoria, an
Israeli TV series that became,
in its American version, a hit
for HBO. Leshem served in
Israeli military intelligence
and for three years reported
on events in the Golan and
the West Bank for a leading
Israeli paper.
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