Currently Browsing: December 2012
Tzivi reviews The Guilt Trip Welcome to New Jersey! When “Andy Brewster” (Seth Rogen) arrives at Newark Airport, his mother “Joyce” (Barbra Streisand) is there to greet him. But although Joyce wears a mile-wide smile, every inch of her tremulous body signals that visits from Andy are few and far between. And thus begins a […]
Tzivi reviews Wagner & Me In his autobiography The Fry Chronicles, British actor Stephen Fry tells us about the first time he experienced Richard Wagner’s four-part Der Ring des Nibelungen. He was a Cambridge University undergraduate, and a friend took him to a Royal Opera House production in London. “Monday Das Rheingold, Tuesday Die Walküre, […]
Tzivi reviews Simon and the Oaks Lisa Ohlin’s new film Simon and the Oaks is about the choices we sometimes make when we are young, choices that we make without realizing they are choices, choices that turn out to determine the future. In this case the fateful choice is made by a boy named “Simon” […]
From Tzivi’s Cinema Spotlight for October 2012 Last night I saw a screening of Julia Loktev’s new film The Loneliest Planet at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens. (Turns out I can just hop on the Q Train in Brooklyn and I’m there in under an hour!) I wrote a rave review […]
Tzivi’s Guide to the 2012 Chicago Festival of Israeli Cinema In 2006, a group of local film lovers decided to organize an annual program focused on Israeli cinema. Their timing was prescient. After decades of near invisibility, Israeli films were suddenly winning accolades at festivals all around the world, and last year, an Israeli film […]
From Tzivi’s Guide to the 2012 Chicago Festival of Israeli Cinema TOP PERFORMANCES: My Best Actor pick for 2012 is Yehezkel Lazarov who plays “Dov Markovsky” in Dina Zvi-Riklis’ Yishuv drama The Fifth Heaven. Markovsky is a Russian-born physician who runs a small orphanage. As 1945 begins, the Jews of Palestine have ceased to fear […]
10/30/12 Update: Huge thanks to the CFIC Committee for honoring me last night for my work in support of Israeli Women Filmmakers (see certificate posted below) 🙂 From Tzivi’s Guide to the 2012 Chicago Festival of Israeli Cinema TOP PICKS: Documentaries Of the new documentaries showing in Chicago for the very first time, my top […]
From Tzivi’s Guide to the 2012 Chicago Festival of Israeli Cinema TOP PERFORMANCES: At the opposite end of the cinematic spectrum [from The Fifth Heaven] is Salsa Tel Aviv staring Angelica Vale as “Vicky,” a Mexican woman who sneaks into Israel in search of a ne’er do well boyfriend. Vale is a very well-known singer/actress with […]
From Tzivi’s Guide to the 2012 Chicago Festival of Israeli Cinema About Yossi*… Yossi is a sequel to Eytan Fox’s enormously successful film Yossi & Jagger. If you’ve seen Yossi & Jagger, then you will certainly want to see Yossi, but sorry to say, it doesn’t really stand alone. Tzivi’s Sneak Peek: In 2002, director […]