San Francisco Jewish Film Festival 2019

[Chris Knipp]

ECHO הד’ /HED (Amikam Kovner, Assaf Snir 2018)

ECHO הד’ /HED (Amikam Kovner, Assaf Snir 2018) Israeli husband taps cheating wife's phone. A polished, classy production but without quite the edge of the noir material it dips into.

SFJFF showtimes:
Friday July 19, 2019 3:40 at the Castro
Mon. July 33 8:30 at CineArts
Sat. July 27 8:50 at Albany Twin

[Chris Knipp]

SAFE SPACES (Daniel Schechter 2019)

Justin Long plays a man child in a New York Jewish family whose grandmother is in her last days. Domestic drama takes up a lot of the jokey, violent action while a contemporary subplot features his trouble with injudicious behavior in a writing class he teaches involving a sexual incident on a date he persuades a girl student to describe in front of the whole class. While a lot of the line readings are flailing and improvisational, it's a pleasure to see Richard Schiff, of "The West Wing," deliver his dialogue decisively.

SFJFF Showtimes;
Saturday July 20, 2019 8:50 at the Castro
Sun., July 21 6:10 at CineArts; Wed. July 31 8:30 pm Albany
Sunday August 4, 6:30 p.m. San Rafael.

[Chris Knipp]

IT MUST SCHWING! THE BLUE NOTE STORY (Eric Friedler 2018)

A second, even better, documentary about this key jazz record label created and run by two German Jews who fled from Nazi Germany. Narrated by a who's who of living jazz legends and several jazz historians, and enlivened by handsome animations and graphics. A must-see for jazz fans.

Showing tomorrow and two other days at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.
SFJFF showtimes:
Saturday July 20 1:15 Castro Theater
Tues., July 23 12:30 CineArts
Sat. July 28 1 pm Albany twin

[Chris Knipp]

ABE (Fernando Grostein Andrade 2019)

If you're not too demanding this movie may charm you, but this boy fusion chef drama is too conflictual for kids and too simplistic for adults. Featuring the then 15-year-old Noah Schnapp in the lead as a Brooklyn boy with advanced culinary aspirations (like Flynn McGarry et al.) who's Palestinian Muslim on his father's side and Israeli Jew on his mother's.

Showing in the Bay Area in the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival starting tomorrow.
SFJFF showtimes:
Saturday July 20, 2019 11:15 am Castro
Sun., July 28 11 am Albany Twin

[Chris Knipp]

LEONA (Isaac Cherem 2018)

CAPSUE REVIEW. A Jewish girl falls for a goy and it is not tolerated. A bit of a shocker, because it shows the unmodern exclusiveness of the upper class Mexico City Jewish community it depicts in realistic and in some ways glowing detail. The director knows whereof he speaks, his star and cowriter Naian González Norvind is disarmingly open, and apparently the community in question was not pleased at this film.

SFJFF showtimes:
Sunday, July 21 8:45 pm CineArts
Wed. July 24 4:15 pm Castro
Sat. Aug 3, 6:35 pm Piedmont Theater
Sun., Aug 4 8:45 pm Smith Rafael

[Chris Knipp]

THE TABACCONIST/DER TRAFIKANT (Nicolaus Leytner 2018)

Adaptation of Robert Seethaler's fanciful German bestseller about a boy from the country who becomes an apprentice in a tobacco shop in Vienna as the Nazis rise and Jewish persecution dominates. A friendly bond develops between the young Frantz (Simon Morzé) and their most famous customer, Professor Freud (the late Bruno Ganz in one of his last roles), and Freud helps him with his love-obsession. All this is a little unconvincing, but it's touching, and the detailed recreation of last-Thirties Austria is a delight. CAPSULE REVIEW.

Presented in the SFJFF.
SFJFF showtimes:
Tuesday July 23, 2019 8:10 p.m. CineArts
Thursday July 25, 2019 8:55 p.m. Castro Theatre
Saturday August 3, 2019 1:35 p.m. Smith Rafael
Sunday August 4, 2019 6:15 p.m. Piedmont Theatre

[Chris Knipp]

BLACK HAT (Sarah Smith 2018)

A 14-minute short film shown with the feature City of Joel, this depicts a young ultra-Orthodox Jew who leads a secret life exploring his forbidden gay sexuality. The way his secret is saved from exposure this time shows that he is not alone.

SFJFF showtimes for City of Joel:
Monday July 22, 2019 1:15 p.m. CineArts
Thursday July 25, 2019 3:45 p.m. Castro Theatre
Tuesday July 30, 2019 1:00 p.m. Albany Twin