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