60 | APRIL 11 • 2024
J
N
BEING A JEW; ANOTHER
“NASTY” HIP CLOTHIER;
SUPERMAN PREVIEW?
MORE
This week, I am catching-
up with two HBO programs
that recently began
streaming: Alex Edelman:
Just for Us (April 6) and
“Brandy Hellville & The
Cult of Fast Fashion (April
9).
Edelman, a stand-up
comedian, was born
and raised in a Modern
Orthodox home in the
Boston area. After high
school, he spent a year in
a Jerusalem yeshivah and,
while there, he co-founded
the city’s first comedy club.
After college, be toured his
stand-up act in the states,
in Australia and in the U.K.
(Brit audiences really love
him!)
In 2022, his one-man
play, Just for Us, opened
off-Broadway. It moved
to a Broadway house in
2023. In both venues, he
got good reviews. After the
New York run, he toured
the show in many cities. He
got plaudits from big-name
comedians, including Steve
Martin, Mel Brooks and
Jerry Seinfeld.
Just For Us (the play and
the HBO special) focuses
on the true story of how
Edelman attended a white
nationalist meeting in
New York City, but without
revealing that he was
Jewish.
In a panel interview of
comedians last October,
Edelman said: “Rabbi
Jonathan Sacks said, ‘the
only cure for antisemitism
is to communicate to
people the experience of
being Jewish.’ And so [I
wrote Just for Us], I really
wanted to try and do this
specific type of outreach
and let people know what
it’s like to a Jew. But, yeah,
there’s the hook of the
Nazi thing.”
Brandy is a documentary
about Brandy Melville (BM),
an Italian retail clothing
company (130 stores; 40 in
the U.S.). BM was founded
by Silvio Marsan, an
Italian, and it’s now run by
Stephen Marsan, his son.
BM has “modeled”
itself to have a “Malibu”
hip feeling, and it caters
to young women and
teen girls who are slim,
pretty and white. BM
doesn’t have traditional
advertisements — they use
social media postings, and
they pay celebs to wear
their clothes.
Most BM clothes only
come in one size (small or
smallish medium). Credible
reports say that BM limits
sizes because they don’t
want overweight shoppers
in their stores. They also
don’t put out the welcome
mat for Black customers.
BM, I guess, doesn’t care
if good-looking, white,
young Jews shop in their
stores. However, last year
The Daily Beast reported
that the top execs of BM
(including Stephen Marsan)
have “group joke times”
and the big favorites are
jokes about Adolf Hitler
and the Holocaust.
HBO says this about
the Brandy documentary:
“Through a calculated
social media presence
and an unattainable
aesthetic, Brandy Melville
has become the must-
have clothing brand
for teens. Behind the
scenes, however, a toxic
work environment and
discriminatory recruiting
methods have flourished.”
The film was directed
by Eve Orner, 50. She
now lives in Los Angeles,
but was born and raised
in Australia. She went to
a Jewish school for her
pre-college education
and she’s a graduate
of Monash University, a
prestigious Australian
school named after a
Jewish WWI general.
Orner won (2008) an
Oscar as the producer of
Taxi to the Dark Side, a
“doc” about Afghanistan.
Her other films include
Chasing Asylum, a highly
lauded documentary about
Australia’s treatment of
refugees. She directed
Chasing.
On Friday, April 12, Hulu
premieres The Greatest
Hits, an original film. I
read reviews of the film,
and I am still confused
about parts of the movie’s
plot. Suffice it to say that
a woman named Harriett
can magically go back into
her past when she hears a
song from that past time.
She may or may not be
able to change the past
and bring her deceased
boyfriend (magically alive)
to the present.
Watch it for one reason:
David Corenswet, 30,
plays the boyfriend. Now
filming is a big-budget
movie entitled Superman
(opens next year).
Corenswet was picked out
of relative obscurity to play
Superman. If he is good as
a love interest in Greatest
Hits, he’ll likely be a hit as
Superman.
Louis Gossett Jr., an
Oscar-winning African
American actor, died
on March 28, age 87. In
2009, his many ties to the
Jewish community were
detailed in an interview
with the Jewish Journal of
Los Angeles. Those ties
began during his youth in
the Coney Island area of
Brooklyn and continued, in
many forms, throughout his
life. Do read this very good
article. Google: “Louis
Gossett Jr. to Give Shul
Inaugural Ball Toast.”
CELEBRITY NEWS
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ARTS&LIFE
BY FESTIVAL INTERNACIONAL DE CINE EN GUADALAJARA
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Louis Gossett Jr.
Alex Edelman
David Corenswet