50 | FEBRUARY 1 • 2024 J
N

THE GRAMMYS; NEW 
JEWISH FILM WOWS 
CRITICS

The Grammy awards will 
be presented on Sunday, 
Feb. 4 (8 p.m., CBS and 
Paramount+). There are so 
many Grammy categories 
that only the Grammys in 
the most popular categories 
are given to winners during 
the Grammy TV broadcast 
(“popular” is based on music 
sales and concert ticket 
sales). Here are most of the 
TV-worthy Jewish nominees. 
Jack Antonoff, 39, 
and Michael Pollack, 29, are 
the most prominent Jewish 
nominees this year. Both 
are musicians who are also 
record producers and song-
writers.
Pollack is a Record of the 
Year nominee. This award 
is given to the producers 
of the record. The record 
he co-produced, which 
was sung by Miley Cyrus, is 
“Flowers.” This song is also 
a Song of the Year nominee, 
and that award goes to the 
songwriters.
Pollack co-wrote 
“Flowers” with Cyrus. It was 
a monster hit and broke 
the record for most paid-for 
streams in a week.
“Flowers” appeared on 
“Endless Summer Vacation,” 
a Cyrus album nominat-
ed for Album of the Year. 
Pollack is one of the nomi-
nees for this Grammy, too.
Pollack grew up in a 
wealthy, heavily Jewish 
Long Island suburb. Growing 
up, his hero was Billy Joel, 
and Joel gave Pollack a 
“Cinderella moment.” Joel, 
who grew up in a working-
class Long Island suburb, 
appeared at Pollack’s 
college and took questions 

from the audience. Pollack’s 
friend was picked. He told 
Joel his friend was a Joel 
fan and a great pianist.
Joel called Pollack to the 
stage and Pollack played a 
Joel tune. Joel liked what 
he heard and sang along. 
A video of the “duo” went 
viral, and Pollack appeared 
on many TV shows, 
including Today. (Joel will 
perform, this year, at the 
Grammys).
After college, Pollack 
moved to Los Angeles and 
quickly began writing songs 
for a “who’s who” of top 
musical acts.
Antonoff, who went to a 
Jewish elementary school, 
is a New Jersey native. 
To date, he’s won eight 
Grammys. A guitarist, he 
has been the “front man” 
for several bands, and his 
first two Grammys were for 
music he wrote for his band.
This year, he’s nominated 
for five Grammys: 
co-producer of Record 
of the Year (“Anti-Hero,” 
a Taylor Swift record); 
co-producer of the Album 
of the Year (“Midnights,” 
Taylor Swift); and, in the 
same category, “Did You 
Know There’s a Tunnel 
Under Ocean Blvd” (singer 
Lana Del Rey album); and 
co-writer of the Song of 
the Year, “A&W” (with Lana 
Del Rey). Antonoff is also 
up for Producer of the 
Year (non-classical).

Antonoff dated Scarlett 
Johansson in high 
school. He was in a long 
relationship with actress/
writer Lena Dunham 
(Girls). In 2023, he married 
Margaret Qualley, a talented 
actress. The wedding was 
private, and I don’t know if it 
was a Jewish ceremony.
Mark Ronson, 48, 
has won seven Grammy 
awards, and this year 
he is nominated for the 
soundtrack he co-wrote 
for Barbie, the hit film. 
One Barbie song he 
co-wrote (“Dance the 
Night”) is a Song of the 
Year nominee.
Others: Jack Gitelman, 
41, is up for a Record of the 
Year Grammy (co-producer 
of “On My Mama,” sung by 
R&B artist Victoria Monet). 
Gitelman’s family fled the 
former Soviet Union in 
1991; Rami Jaffee, 54, is a 
member of the Foo Fighters, 
a very popular rock band. 
The band is up for Best 
Rock Performance and Best 
Rock Song (“Rescued”); 
and there’s Drake, always 
a Grammy nominee. He’s 
nominated for four awards 
in the rap music categories. 
He’s already won five 
Grammys. Born in 1986, 
Aubrey Drake Graham is the 
son of an African American 
father and a Canadian 
Jewish mother. He strongly 
identifies as Jewish.
I have put aside, for next 

week, some interesting 
items I had ready in favor 
of a film that blew me 
away. Between the Temples, 
a comedy-drama, made 
its worldwide premiere at 
the Sundance Film Festival 
on Jan. 18. Every review 
was a rave, including 
those from the Hollywood 
Reporter, Variety, Deadline 
and Vulture.
This film appears to 
be that elusive thing 
— an independent film 
that is “very Jewish” 
but completely works in 
many, many ways. Jason 
Schwartzman, 41, plays a 
cantor who is devasted by 
his wife’s death. He doesn’t 
lose his faith but is very 
depressed and stops being 
an active cantor. Then he 
meets his former music 
teacher (Carol Kane, 71) and 
tutors her for her late-in-life 
bat mitzvah. He also has an 
intimate relationship with 
her. Somehow this “odd 
couple” works.
Their relationship doesn’t 
please the cantor’s two (gay) 
Jewish mothers. They have 
“a nice Jewish girl” about 
the cantor’s age who they 
want him to date.
Do read the reviews If you 
want to know more about 
the plot and why the critics 
loved this film. I can’t wait 
until it has a general release. 
I’ve never seen reviews 
like this for a “little” Jewish 
movie. 

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/COURTESY JACK ANTONOFF

Jack Antonoff 

MUZIKBOY24/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Michael Pollack

THE COME UP SHOW/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Drake

