San Francisco Jewish Film Festival 2019

[Chris Knipp]

MY POLISH HONEYMOON/LUNE DE MIEL ( Élise Otzenberger 2018)

Capsule only.

A Parisian couple of Polish Jewish origins take a trip to Poland, visiting Holocaust sites, as a kind of belated honeymoon. There is an attempt to mix the serious material with a jocular tone and weave in comic characters, which doesn't work so well. The French critics were not so happy given the overall press rating of 3.0 on alloCiné. This reminded me of what made Benigni's celebrated Life Is Beautiful hard to swallow. Some may differ.

SFJFF showtimes:
Saturday July 20, 2019 6:10 p.m. CineArts
Tuesday July 23, 2019 8:55 p.m. Castro Theatre
Tuesday July 30, 2019 6:25 p.m. Albany Twin
Sunday August 4, 2019 11:45 a.m. Smith Rafael

[Chris Knipp]

ADVOCATE (Rachel Leah Jones, Phillipe Bellaiche 2019)

A doc about Lea Tsemel, the indestructible Israeli lawyer who for decades has defended Palestinians. She nearly always loses but never gives up. Remarkable. Multiple prizes, including at the Tel Aviv festival Docaviv. CAPSULE.

[Chris Knipp]

LINKS TO REVIEWS:

Abe (Fernando Grostein Andrade 2019)
Advocate (Rachel Leah Jones, Phillipe Bellaiche 2019) CAPSULE
Beyond the Bolex (Alyssa Bolsey 2018) CAPSULE
Black Hat (Sarah Smith 2019) [short]
Carl Laemmle (James Freedman 2018)
Curtiz (Tamás Yvan Topolánszky 2018)
ECHO הד’ /HED (Amikam Kovner, Assar Snir 2018)
Henri Dauman: Looking Up (Peter Jones 2018)
It Must Schwing! - The Blue Note Story (Eric Friedler 2018)
Jerusalem_in_Between (Pietro Pinto 2018) [short]
Leona (Isaac Cherem 2018) CAPSULE
Love, Antosha (Garret Price 2019) CAPSULE
My Polish Honeymoon/Lune de miel (Élise Otzenberger 2018)
Safe Spaces (Daniel Schechter 2019)
Standing Up, Facing Down (Matt Ratner 2019)
Tel Aviv on Fire (Sameh Zoabi 2018)
Tobacconist, The/Der Trafikant (Nikolaus Leytner 2018) CAPSULE
What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael (Rob Garver 2019)

[Chris Knipp]

TEL AVIV ON FIRE (sameh Zoabi 2018)

Now showing at Quad Cinema, Landmark at 57 and the Beekman Theater in NYC.
Coming to SF Bay Area: Aug. 9 following at Landmark’s Clay San Francisco and Shattuck Berkeley.

[Chris Knipp]

Tel Aviv on Fire تل أبيب على النار (Sameh Zoabi 2018) CAPSULE

Now playing both in New York and California, Landmarks's Clay (SF) and Shattuck (Berkeley) and Laemmle Royal and Town in Los Angeles. In NYC at the Quad, Landmark 57 and Beekman. Also in other parts of the country.

This is the only Palestinian film in the SFJFF that I saw. It's a FRench co-production.