96 | MAY 20 • 2021
T
he 20th annual Ann
Arbor Jewish Film
Festival (AAJFF)
begins this month with 22
films, including two short
film programs.
The festival starts May 22
and runs through Aug. 24.
Noemi Herzig, director
of Jewish Cultural Arts and
Adult Education for the
Ann Arbor JCC, believes the
spread-out schedule allows
time for moviegoers to take
the movies in.
“It’s such an eclectic festi-
val this year, we have a little
bit for everybody,” she said.
“The committee worked very
hard to come up with a var-
ied selection.”
The festival takes place
under the Ann Arbor JCC
banner and partners with the
Michigan Theater, with all
film screenings and events
taking place via Michigan
Theater’s online platform,
AgileLink.
Selections include films
portraying people of color,
family films, Holocaust mov-
ies, Israeli movies, an LGBT
film, two films involving
food, a movie about art and
more.
The two short film pro-
grams include a documen-
tary short program and a
narrative short program.
Audience members will rate
each documentary short and
narrative short and deter-
mine which one will receive
their respective festival
awards.
Pierluigi Erbaggio, the
organizing committee chair
of Metro Detroit’s Italian
Film Festival USA, played
a major role in curating the
short film programs. Thea
Glickman, a new member of
the AAJFF committee, made
the connection between the
two parties.
A Film Festival Pass allows
access to all online film
screenings and programs and
costs $180.
You can also rent individu-
al movies for $12 each, while
Michigan Theater members
can rent for $10 per film.
Sponsorship opportuni-
ties are also available, with
wide-ranging benefits avail-
able for the different levels
including specific sponsor
listing, dinners and sponsor
events.
Sponsors and festival pass
holders will have access
to the Michigan Theater’s
premium streaming service
once they have created an
account and signed up on the
Michigan Theater’s website.
This will allow access to all
festival films without any
additional payment.
To purchase festival passes, rent specific
movies, become a sponsor or to learn
more, visit film.jccannarbor.org.
KUNIS, CRYSTAL &
HADDISH
Two movies, starring three
major Jewish stars, opened
recently in theaters: Four
Good Days (April 30) and
Here Today (May 7). I didn’t
write about them in advance
because I had a feeling
reviews would be mixed at
best.
As I expected, Four Good
Days, starring Mila Kunis,
37, got the same so-so
reviews as when it played
the Sundance Film Festival
early in 2020. Kunis stars as
a long-term heroin addict
determined to stay clean for
four days to qualify for a hos-
pital rehab slot. She recruits
her mother (Glenn Close) to
help her. This is Kunis’ first
edgy dramatic performance
and she’s good. This alone
makes it worth viewing. Some
scenes are flat, but, as one
reviewer said, by the end, the
movie does make you care
about the mother and daugh-
ter. (Starts streaming May 21).
Billy Crystal, 73, plays a
top comedy writer starting
to struggle with dementia
in Here Today. He chances
to meet an unknown singer
(Tiffany Haddish, 41) and
they hit it off. As I expected,
Today fits into the pattern of
films Crystal writes — review-
ers say there are many good
moments — but the jokes
and plot aren’t consistent.
Crystal has written six films,
including Today, and not one,
including Today, has got bet-
ter than mixed reviews.
But you really must watch
the profile of Crystal and
Haddish that aired on CBS
Sunday Morning on May 2.
Titled Billy Crystal and Tiffany
Haddish on comedy, friend-
ship and a bat mitzvah, it’s
posted on YouTube. It’s just,
well, heart-warming to hear
how these Jews of different
colors and generations hit it
off and became great per-
sonal friends. Its moving to
see Haddish embrace her
Jewish ancestry at her 2019
bat mitzvah (a clip is shown)
— it’s equally moving to hear
Crystal talk about the honor
he felt when Haddish asked
him to make an aliyah at her
bar mitzvah. (Streaming date
not-yet-set).
On May 17, Netflix began
streaming The Last Days,
a documentary about the
Holocaust in Hungary.
Produced by Steven
Spielberg, it won the Oscar
(1996) for best documentary.
Hungary was the last country
in Middle Europe to feel the
full fury of the Holocaust.
Most members of the pre-war
Hungarian Jewish community
(about 800,000) were still liv-
ing when the Nazis occupied
Hungary in March 1944. By
war’s end (April 1945), only
265,000 were still alive.
NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST
COLLIDERVIDEO VIA WIKIPEDIA
Mila Kunis
Billy
Crystal
GAGE SKIDMORE
ARTS&LIFE
CELEBRITY NEWS
A Summer of Film
Ann Arbor Jewish Film Festival
goes from May 22-Aug. 24.
DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER
ARTS&LIFE
FILM