Below Chris and Morgen revisit a few more films from SJFF that deserved a little discussion. Check out other reviews and festival posts here.
Soros (2020 | USA | 85 minutes | Jesse Dylan)
A documentary about the famous financier and uber-political donor George Soros comes off as mostly hagiography, though it’s also a course-correction to some of the anti-Semitic conspiracy theories attached to his name. They’re particularly vile because Soros was a Holocaust survivor. Director Jesse Dylan is not unbiased (he previously worked for Soros’ Open Society Foundations) and there are some issues of importance that don’t get the attention I thought they deserved (like how Soros did make billions of dollars from currencies failing or devaluing; it’s mostly framed triumphantly making a billion dollars a day on the collapse of the Bank of England). I rarely say this about documentaries, but I think whatever anyone thinks of this movie will dovetail with whatever your feelings are of the subject pretty succinctly. The more you like George Soros, the more you’ll like this doc about him. (CB)
Golden Voices (2019 | Argentina | 88 minutes | Evgeny Ruman)
As the iron curtain falls in Russia, Jews are finally able to leave a country that no longer wants them. Many take this as a sign to move back to Israel and so begins the story of Golden Voices. Victor and Raya are voice-over artists with a long and illustrious career of dubbing American movies in Russian behind them. In their sixties, moving to an unfamiliar country, Victor simply wants to find work to gain some semblance of his old life. Raya, on the other hand, sees it as an opportunity to begin again. I find Raya incredibly brave; considering their age and the difficulties of their lives up to this point, daring to be something different and do something different can be overwhelming.
Despite Victor’s insistence, Raya secretly begins a new career as a phone sex operator. Taking advantage of years in the voice industry, she creates new characters and really begins to enjoy what she’s doing and the people she entices. Tired of being ignored, she decides she’s had enough and her perspective shifts when a customer shows more than a passing interest.
An enchanting and slightly absurdist view of life and love after 60, but it goes beyond that simple storyline by adding in their immigration and disillusion of the industry they loved (and that loved them) for so many years.
Kiss Me Kosher (2021 | Isreal/Germany | 101 minutes | Shirel Peleg)
A German (Maria played by Luise Wolfram) and an Israeli Jew (Shira performed by Moran Rosenblatt) fall in love and quickly move into “forever” territory despite objections from those closest to them. A secret love affair, an accidental proposal, a car accident and a stubborn, hypocritical grandmother all mix to create what should have been an interesting and joyful story about two women in love. The landscape of Israel and the conflict between Palestinians and Jews serve as a distant backdrop to set the scene, both of which could have enriched the story if they’d been even slightly more in focus. The narrative took us to places emotionally and mentally that made it too serious for a comedy and not serious enough for an effective dark comedy. I would have loved it if they’d really dug into the historical conflict between their two countries and not just in the disapproval of Shira’s grandmother.
Don’t get me wrong, the concept could have created something beautiful and powerful with pain and joy mixed into a perfect concoction of storytelling… something impactful. Unfortunately the end result was 95% comedy with just enough conflict to feel a bit frustrated by the end. The leads did a great job and most of the supporting cast were fantastic as well (though John Carroll Lynch did not give his best performance as the disgruntled and unaccepting American patriarch); it just didn’t quite hit the mark for me.