OCTOBER 17 • 2024 | 55
J
N

TWO NEW MOVIES; TRACKER 
STUFF; BLOOM NETFLIX 
SPECIAL; CRAZY LADY 

We Live in Time is a romantic 
drama that opens wide on Oct. 
18. It covers decades in the life 
of Tobias (Andrew Garfield, 
41) and Almut (Florence 
Pugh), Tobias’ romantic and 
life partner. The couple 
sort of “meet cute” — he’s 
preoccupied by divorce papers 
that were just served on him 
— and he wanders into a road. 
Almut hits him with her car and, 
a bit later, she visits him in the 
hospital. She tells him that she’s 
a top restaurant chef, and he’s 
invited to have a meal on her. 
Tobias is almost immediately 
smitten by her and quickly asks 
her to marry him and have a 
family. She rebuffs him, but he 
persists, and she falls in love 
with him, too. However, she has 
ovarian cancer, and that cancer 
“follows” them for the rest 
of the film (treatment, having 
children, etc.). 
Garfield, who grew up in the 
U.K., is the son of an American 
Jewish father and a non-
Jewish British mother. He isn’t 
really religious, but he says he 
identifies “most” as Jewish. 
Overall, the We Live reviews 
were positive. However, 
respected critics were split: 
the Hollywood Reporter, 
Vanity Fair, and The Guardian 
were very positive. NY 
Magazine and Variety were not 
complimentary.
Brothers opened in a few 
theaters on Oct. 10 and begins 
streaming on Amazon Prime on 
Oct. 17. The film centers on two 
criminal siblings (Josh Brolin 
and Peter Dinklage) who agree 
to team up for one final heist. 
The heist is followed by a very 

bumpy road trip. 
Like a lot of movies, this film 
began with a “story,” and it 
was turned into a screenplay. 
Etan Cohen, 50, wrote the 
story. (He’s often confused 
with filmmaker Ethan Coen). 
Cohen was born in Israel and 
was raised in Massachusetts. 
A 2015 profile says that he and 
his family are observant Jews 
(keep kosher, don’t work on 
Shabbos). Coen has co-written 
several hits, including Tropic 
Thunder.
Brothers was directed by Max 
Barbakov, 31. This film is his 
second feature film. His first, 
Palm Springs (2020), was a 
surprise big hit. Max co-wrote it 
and directed it, too. This clever 
sci-fi, fantasy, and romantic 
film was smart, and everyone 
loved it. Andy Samberg starred 
in Palm Springs, and it was his 
best thing since Saturday Night 
Live. 
Barbakow’s father is Jeffrey 
Barbakow, 70ish. He’s a very 
rich, retired health company 
CEO. I found out he’s Jewish. 
I don’t have complete info on 
Max’s mother. 
I really liked Tracker, a CBS 
series that began its second 
season on Oct. 13 (New 
episodes Sundays, at 8 p.m. 
Episodes without ads stream 
on Paramount+ on the following 
Monday. All first season 
episodes now streaming on 
Hulu). 
The lead character is a cool, 
good-looking ethical guy who 
finds missing persons but only 
takes a fee after he’s found 
the person. In the first season, 
two women, who are married 
to each other, are his agents 
— they find clients for “The 
Tracker.” One agent was played 
by Robin Weigert, 55. For 
reasons I don’t know, she left 
the show after season one. 

Here are two more Jewish 
connections to Tracker: the 
series was created by Ben H. 
Winters, 48. He’s a successful 
novelist who often does stuff 
for TV series. He adapted 
Tracker from a novel by Jeffery 
Deaver. The main producer of 
Tracker is Ken Olin, 70. He also 
directs many Tracker episodes. 
Olin is best known for playing 
Michael Stedman, a Jewish 
character, on Thirtysomething 
(1987-91). 
Rachel Bloom, 37, the star of 
My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (2015-
19), has a comedic special on 
Netflix that began streaming 
on Oct. 15. Its titled, Death, Let 
Me Do My Special. The special 
was, first, a hit one-woman, 
off-Broadway play. Here’s 
the “semi-official” special 
description: “Bloom muses 
on birth, death and cosmic 
uncertainty in this whimsical 
and reflective musical comedy 
special.” 
Anatomy of Lies is a Peacock 
original, three-part documentary 
that began streaming on Oct. 
15 (two more episodes on 
following Sundays). The main 
real-life subject of the series is 
Elisabeth Finch, 44. 
Finch grew up in a middle-
class Jewish family in New 
Jersey. She had a bat mitzvah 
and went to Jewish summer 
camp. Around 2010, she started 
writing for TV shows. Pretty 
quickly, she became a fount 
of lies that involved everyone 
around her. Her biggest fib was 
that she had cancer and other 
serious medical conditions. 
Several times she used her 
Jewish background to get paid 
work leave. One such lie got 
her leave to travel from L.A. 
to Pittsburgh. She falsely said 
she had a friend who was killed 
in the Tree of Life synagogue 
shooting (2018). OY! 

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/DRLOVELL

Andrew Garfield

Rachel Bloom

RED CARPET REPORT ON MINGLE MEDIA TV

Etan Cohen

IMDB

