The ordinary and the extraordinary converge seamlessly in Guillermo Del Toro’s artful fantasy, The Shape of Water. The British actress Sally Hawkins stars as a mute night cleaner who falls in love with a mythical amphibian thing who was dragged out of the muck of the Amazon rainforest. Hawkins’ character, Eliza Esposito, works in a top-secret […]
This year’s edition of National Commemorations, a French publication which pays tribute to notable figures and noteworthy events, mentioned the 150th anniversary of the birth of Charles Maurras (1868-1952), a notorious antisemite. To no one’s surprise, his inclusion in the newsletter caused indignation and consternation. As Frederic Potier, the head of a French government panel […]
The complexities of a non-traditional romantic relationship are laid bare in Sebastian Lelio’s sensitive Spanish-language drama, A Fantastic Woman, which opens in Canada on February 9. Chilean actor Daniela Vega plays Marina Vidal, a trans-woman who’s been thrown into grief and mourning following the sudden death of her boyfriend, Orlando Onetto (Francisco Reyes). Orlando, 57, […]
Tel Aviv, a cosmopolitan, fun-loving Mediterranean city, has discovered something new but old — cycling. In the past decade, cycling has become all the rage among Tel Avivians. The increasing popularity of cycling here coincides with the introduction of a bike rental program launched by the municipality in 2011. Cycling is now regarded as chic, […]
Last May, following talks with Palestine Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House, U.S. President Donald Trump pledged to resurrect peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians to achieve what he boldly described as the “ultimate deal.” In a sweeping observation, Trump boasted, “It’s something, frankly, maybe not as difficult as people have thought over […]
Three weathered billboards line a lonely stretch of road near an unremarkable town in middle America. They’re grist for Martin McDonagh’s mill in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, a meditative, gloomy and utterly unconventional film about the nature of grief, vengeance and violence. Having driven past these signs countless times, Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand), a […]
To his credit, Polish President Andrej Duda has promised to review an ill-conceived bill that would essentially rewrite history, pander to Holocaust denial and stifle academic research. The legislation, passed by the lower house of Poland’s Parliament on January 26, cast a pall on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which was observed 24 hours later. There are two […]
German Jews found a “spiritual home” in German culture, philosophy, literature and music after their emancipation in 1871. During this period, when Germany was on the ascendancy as a great power, Germans generally related to Jews with a mixture of hospitality and hostility. In plain language, the tentative acceptance of Jews into German society was […]
Phil Rosenthal, the creator of the phenomenally successful TV sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, indulges his passion for travel and food in a new six-part Netflix series, Somebody Feed Phil. A voracious gourmand rather than an astute gourmet, he eats his way through six cities — Bangkok, Saigon, Tel Aviv, Lisbon, Mexico City and New Orleans. […]
Greta Gerwig’s quirky coming-of-age drama, Lady Bird, showcases the manifold talents of Saoirse Rowan, an Irish American actress who turned in an impressive performance in her last movie, Brooklyn, in which she played a winsome Irish immigrant adjusting to a new milieu in the United States. In Lady Bird — which is set in Sacramento, California, […]