The Toronto Jewish Film Festival is back June 1-11, 2023 digitally and online! The Festival will feature more in-person screenings (from downtown Toronto to North York) with guests, after navigating the Pandemic. This 31st edition of the Festival boasts 77 films/series (including 28 Canadian premieres) from across the globe covering a variety of topics, including The Man in the Basement, which will open the Festival on June 1st, 2023 at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema with Director Philippe Le Guay in attendance.
Among the other events and screenings you won’t want to miss are An Afternoon with Saul Rubinek, Nina and Friends (Nina Keogh is one of the Puppeteers behind Canadian classics Today’s Special and Mr. Dressup) and highly-acclaimed film Karaoke.
Our George Kozera (@PartyG) has had the pleasure of previewing a few selections from this year’s Festival. He shares his thoughts below with us.
The Toronto Jewish Film Festival opening night movie, THE MAN IN THE BASEMENT, is a gripping and provocative exploration of anti-Semitism coupled with the crumbling of what once was an idyllic familial dynamic. Parisian condo owners, Simon and Helene Sandberg (Jeremie Renier and Berenice Bejo, respectively) are in the process of selling their storage basement unit to a former history teacher Jacques Fonzic (Francois Cluzet) who wants to use it to store his recently deceased mother’s belongings. Whereas the deed to the property had not yet been executed, the all-too-trusting Simon signs a promissory note, cashes the cheque and hands over the key. Then, it begins. First, a neighbour advises Simon that Fonzic is not using the unit for storage, but actually lives in it. Then Fonzic starts to question the Sandberg’s daughter Justine (Victoria Eber) about her religion and ends with him calling the owner of a nearby bistro “A dirty Arab”. Along with the family, the audience learns that Fonzic is not only a conspiracy theorist but a Holocaust denier. We watch in horror and dread as the Sandbergs’ life crumbles in trying to legally evict this reprehensible person.
I wasn’t mesmerized with THE MAN IN THE BASEMENT, as my feelings went deeper than that. This Movie had me hypnotized as the plot advances with terrifying circumstances alongside its twists and turns. This is also due to the exceptional performances by the three leading Actors. Francois Cluzet, best known to North American audiences for starring in “The Intouchables”, is superb with a level of intensity and twisted logic that is genuinely frightening. Berenice Bejo (Oscar-nominated for “The Artist”) is equally impressive as Helene becomes more obsessed with the anti-Semitism she never realized existed, which includes comments made by her father. Jeremie Renier, whose career I have followed for years, excels in a role where he must carry innumerable emotions with finesse. From being sweet natured to ultimately being called a “self-hating Jew” by his older brother, then becoming borderline psychotic, prone to violence, this is Renier’s best screen performance to date.
The vicious ideologies espoused and the almost unknowing racist comments made by secondary characters are hard to wrap your brain around, but taking into account what is happening with our neighbours to the south, THE MAN IN THE BASEMENT is essential viewing.
Tickets and showtimes here.
We first meet Viv (Shaina Silver-Baird) in a bar, breaking every Yom Kippur tradition. She is drunker than a barrel full of monkeys, snorting copious lines of coke in the washroom and is scarfing down bacon with a passion of someone finding water in a desert. Welcome to the hyper-comedic world of LESS THAN KOSHER, a movie so great that will make you salivate with anticipation as to what unique situation you will see next. The following morning, the still living at home with her parents and younger sister, Viv is “encouraged” to go with the family to the synagogue to observe the holiday. While there, she is overwhelmed by a song performed by the cantor and begins to sing along in a voice so powerful, it stuns the congregation. After the service, she is approached by the handsome and witty Ash (David Reale) and there is an immediate attraction which is somewhat ruined when Viv learns that he is the Rabbi’s (David Eisner) son who coerces her to being his cantor for a number of upcoming events.
There are innumerable delicious scenes and circumstances that I am loathe to reveal as the pure joy of watching this set in Toronto movie is discovering what will happen next. That said, you haven’t lived until you’ve heard a Disney classic sung to a Judeo-Pop beat (kudos to composer Ari Posner whose work can also now be heard on the TV Shows “Sullivan’s Crossing” and “Ride”) or attend a Tiki-themed Shiva. Furthermore, in the current cinematic landscape where filmmakers feel the need to tell their story in over three hours, Director Daniel Am Rosenberg brilliantly tackles many storylines with finesse in a scant running time of 65 minutes. Bravo!
Don’t let the title LESS THAN KOSHER mislead you…this Movie IS perfect.
Tickets and showtimes here.
Inspired by Director Asaf Saban’s personal history of travelling from Israel to Poland as a teenager to learn about the Jewish suffering there during World War II, THE DELEGATION brings a unique youthful perspective of not only the tragedies that occurred in the concentration camps of Majdanek and Auschwitz and how it affects the teenagers of this high-school mandated trip as they struggle with their own hormonal and growing pains as well.
Frisch, Nitzan and Ido (Yoav Bavly, Neomi Harari and Leib Lev Levin respectively) are the centerpiece of this Movie as a part of the group exploring the forests and graveyards scattered throughout the country, oftentimes wearing oversized white hoodies with the Star of David emblazed in the back and carrying the flag of Israel. Afterwards they are encouraged to talk about what they were feeling by the adult supervisors on the trip as well as listen to Frisch’s grandfather’s (Ezra Dagan) first-hand accounts of how he became a survivor. Left to their own devices after their excursions, these teenagers are rambunctious and looking to party the night away.
Saban nicely maneuvres what could have been overly melodramatic plot lines with dexterity. I was particularly moved by Frisch’s storyline where he eschews going to Auschwitz with the delegation, is picked up by a Polish truckdriver while hitchhiking who, first takes him to his home and have his wife feed the young man and then is taken to the destroyed remnants of an ancient synagogue where he asked, by the many people there, to recite a Jewish prayer. The Director beautifully intersects the effects these youngsters have after seeing the historical atrocities with their own romantic turmoils.
I highly recommend THE DELEGATION for its nuanced and original approach.
Tickets and showtimes here.
Based on true events, first-time Director and Co-Writer Marvin Samel brings the audience an unapologetic love story tribute to his family with iMORDECAI. It also reunites two stars from the classic TV show “Taxi”, both Oscar nominees, Judd Hirsch and Carol Kane where their combined talents elevate this movie above the schmaltz it could have been. Mordecai (Hirsch) is a retired plumber, pushing 80, when his son Marvin (Sean Astin) finds his dad with a jackhammer in the washroom, wanting to give his wife Fela (Kane) a walk-in shower. Marvin also notices that his dad’s flip phone is held together with electrical tape and takes him to a local (not Apple) store to buy a new iPhone being sold by (not Apple Geniuses) but very friendly and knowledgeable “Einsteins”. Confused that there are no numbers visible on the phone, Mordecai gets lessons on how the iPhone works from Nina (Azia Dinea Hale) and the two develop a strong bond and budding friendship. With this new technology, Mordecai can access a whole new world.
In the interest of full disclosure, had I been reviewing this Movie with my Critic’s hat on, I would have gone on about how there are just one too many coincidences to advance the plot that made my head spin. The Yiddish accents are exaggerated to an embarrassing hilt. Sean Astin and Broadway Superstar Stephanie J. Block are sadly underutilized. But you know what, Bubeleh? I liked it. A lot. Sue me!
I enjoyed that Mordecai’s history during WWII is presented in animation. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen Miami with all its colourful and vibrant exterior shots and I was swept away in all its pastel glories. The movie is very amusing but it also delves into some serious issues (Treblinka, Dementia) with genuine pathos. Lastly, I encourage all to the bask in the astonishing performances from Hirsch and Kane as they are truly a masterclass.
I may not be the most unbiased person to write about THE ACCUSATION as I’ve always been obsessed with French Cinema, as they tend to weave emotionally complex subject matters without fear and with finesse. Furthermore, I am a Courtroom Drama junkie, whether they are movies or television shows as they incline to be riveting and gripping. Director Yvan Attal brings to life a part legal procedure and part portrait of complex characters of all kinds from the social and economic stratosphere.
We first meet Alex Farel (played by Ben Attal, the real-life son of the Director and his Co-Star Charlotte Gainsbourg and grandson to Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg) arriving in Paris from the States, where he studies engineering at Stanford, to attend his father, acclaimed TV Journalist, Jean’s (Pierre Arditi) Legion of Honour induction ceremony. Finding only the housekeeper in his father’s opulent apartment, Alex goes to visit his mother Claire (Gainsbourg), who we quickly learn has separated from Jean and is living with her new boyfriend Adam (Mathieu Kassovitz, best known for his role in “Amelie“). Alex also meets Mila (Suzanne Jouannet), Adam’s 17-year-old daughter, and is encouraged to take her to a party he was attending to reunite with his old, well-to-do high school friends. The following morning Alex is awakened by the police and charged with rape.
THE ACCUSATION is broken into four chapters. The first two concentrate on Alex’s and Mila’s version of what happened, the third brings us into the courtroom, 30 months after the incident and concludes with their respective lawyers’ closing arguments and the jury’s verdict. The fourth chapter also brings us flashbacks on what happened and may have happened that faithful night.
THE ACCUSATION had me spellbound. There are no heroes nor villains but genuinely flawed, contrite, arrogant, and confused individuals. I also appreciated how Yvan Attal manipulates the viewing audience to feel like a member of the jury as we also struggle to ascertain what is truthful or misleading. The performances are exceptional throughout but special attention must be given to Suzanne Jouannet for reasons best kept undisclosed. The 138 minute running time may seem unyielding to some, but I found myself thinking afterwards that a savvy Producer should buy the rights and make a mini-series and flesh-out many supporting characters that have minimal, but truly effective screen time. THE ACCUSATION is an astonishing, adult-themed movie that must be seen.
Tickets and showtimes here.
Real life husband and wife, Lee Biran and Eliana Tidhar bring charm and complexity to Director Yaron Arazi’s Musical Rom-Com OUR STORY. In it, Biran plays Tal, a successful, high-powered Music Agent working for his mother’s agency. Forced into damage control due to inappropriate behaviour from his popular Artist Shaked (Eden Meiri), it is decided to return to a boarding school situated in a desert miles away from Tel Aviv that the singer attended as a youth for a photo op and positive press clippings.
Thinking he was an intruder, Tal is bonked on the head with a cast iron pan at the office by the school’s music teacher Ori (Tidhar). Ori is an encouraging teacher, insisting her students strive towards greatness despite never performing her own songs in public. Following well established Romantic Comedy conventions, the Movie leads us down a path of very familiar circumstances.
That said, I enjoyed the sweet natured OUR STORY and admit to laughing out loud whenever the school’s Administrator Maayan appeared on-screen. Adi Havshush’s impeccable comedic timing and expressive facial features rock! Whether expounding on her fantasy relationship with Shaked or hoping her culinary originality, which includes spinach and vanilla cupcakes, will land her a spot on a cooking competition show, she is a wonderful comic foil. The desert scenes are filmed sumptuously, the music is pure finger-snapping Pop and the chemistry between the two leads is addictive.
Tickets and showtimes here.
For more on tickets and scheduling at TJFF ’23, click here.
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