40 | JULY 18 • 2024 
J
N

PORTMAN IS 
STREAMING; (NOT 
LUKE) SKYWALKERS; 
FORBIDDEN LOVE

Lady in the Lake is a sev-
en-episode limited series 
that premieres on Apple 
TV+ on July 19. The first 
two episodes stream on 
the 19th; the remaining five 
stream weekly.
Here’s the very con-
densed premise: In the 
1960s, Maddie Schwartz, 
a bored Jewish house-
wife (Natalie Portman, 42), 
leaves her comfortable 
suburban home — and her 
husband (Brett Gelman, 
47).
She moves to down-
town Baltimore. An odd 
sequence of events leads 
to her writing for a newspa-
per, and she “morphs” into 
an investigative reporter 
trying to unravel the mys-
tery behind two murders: 
Cleo, a Black bartender, 
and a young Jewish girl.
Mikey Madison, 25, has 
a big supporting role as 
Judith Weinstein, a new 
friend of Maddie’s, who 
helps her look for the girl.
The series, based on 
an acclaimed, bestselling 
novel of the same name, 
was directed by Alma 
Har’el, 45, an Israeli-
American. Har’el also wrote 
the series scripts.
Jeff Zimbalist, 44, has 
had a stellar career as 
a documentary maker, 
but for some reason I’ve 
never written about him 
before. I looked him up 
when I saw his newest 
film, Skywalkers: A Love 
Story. It begins steaming 
on Netflix on July 19. The 
film, I read, played the 
Sundance Film Festival and 

got great reviews. I learned 
that these rave reviews are 
on par with the reviews for 
just about every film he’s 
directed (14).
He’s won five Emmys 
and a Peabody award. Just 
Google Zimbalist and you’ll 
find out his choice of sub-
jects is very eclectic, but 
always interesting.
I knew that “Zimbalist” is 
a Jewish name, and when I 
saw his middle names (Leib 
and Nettler), I figured he 
had to be Jewish. I found 
out his mother is artist Lois 
Kaan Nettler, 74, and she 
appears on a “Geni” family 
ancestral profile. This pro-
file confirmed that Jeff’s 
parents are Jewish.
Skywalkers is a term for 
“daredevils” who illegally 
perform acrobatic acts on 
high-rise buildings with-
out protective equipment. 
The film focuses on two 
Russian skywalkers, Angela 
Nikolau and Ivan “Beerkus” 
Kuznetsov. They initially 
didn’t like each other. But, 
yes, they fall in love.
The COVID pandemic 
and the Russian inva-
sion of Ukraine made it 
almost impossible for the 
pair to “do their thing” 
in Europe (they make 
money by selling photos 
they took and videos they 
made while climbing). In 
2022, they went to Asia 
and climbed a 118-story 

Malaysian building before it 
opened (no security 
cameras, yet). I won’t dis-
close the most dangerous 
acrobatic act they did on 
that building — I’ll just say 
Angela really had to trust 
Ivan.
The documentary 
series Forbidden Love is 
about four couples in 
love who must come to 
terms with their religious 
differences. One member 
of the couple is either 
converting to their 
partner’s faith or has 
decided to relinquish their 
family-of-origin and culture 
entirely. Of course, this is 
a lot of pressure. Will their 
love falter?
The backgrounds of the 
four couples: Jewish man, 
Catholic woman; Amish 
man, not Amish woman; a 
Muslim man and a Catholic 
woman who have already 
married, but he wants her 
to become a Muslim; and 
a Muslim woman and a 
Pentecostal man. He wants 
her to convert to his faith, 
and she wants him to con-
vert to her faith.
People magazine laid-
out the Jewish/Catholic 
situation. Eli, 32, is an 
Orthodox Jew and Laurie, 
36, was raised Catholic. 
However, she abandoned 
her religion after the 
untimely death of her 
father. People says, “When 

they met, Eli was already 
devout, so Laurie decided 
to convert to solidify their 
future together. But con-
verting is no small feat. 
She finds herself giving up 
her clothes, changing her 
hair, taking classes, study-
ing for tests and preparing 
to completely change her 
lifestyle, all the while ques-
tioning if she can do it and 
if she’s giving up too much 
to be with the love of her 
life.”
Forbidden Love begins 
on July 21 on the TLC 
channel (10 p.m.). Madden-
ingly, the number of epi-
sodes is not in any source, 
but I assume it is four. Also, 
I know that the episodes 
will also stream on HBO/
Max. My guess is that epi-
sodes will stream the day 
after the TLC premiere.
The Commandant’s 
Shadow begins stream-
ing on HBO/Max on 
July 18. This documen-
tary follows Jurgen, the 
87-year-old son of Rudolf 
Hoss, the Auschwitz 
commandant; Jurgen’s 
son, Kai, a Christian min-
ister; and Anita Lasker-
Wallfisch, 98, an Auschwitz 
survivor. Jurgen and Kai 
discuss Auschwitz and, 
later, all three people 
talk. The JTA had a long, 
informative review (May 
28) when it very briefly 
appeared in theaters. 

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

BY ARIELAORTIZB

ALMA HAR’EL

WIKIPEDIA

Mikey Madison
Alma Har’el
Jeff Zimbalist

