Nate Bloom blogs on this week's Jews in the news.

 

Two New Movies; Tracker Stuff; Bloom Netflix Special; Crazy Lady

 

“We Live in Time” is a romantic drama that opens “wide” on Oct. 18. It covers decades in the life of Tobias (ANDREW GARFIELD, 41) and Almut (Florence Pugh), Tobias’s romantic and life partner. The couple sort of “meet cute”—he’s pre-occupied by divorce papers that were just served on him—and he wanders into a road. Almut hits him with her car and, a bit later, she visits him in the hospital. She tells him that she’s a top restaurant chef and he’s invited to have a meal on her.

 

Tobias is almost immediately smitten by her and quickly asks her to marry him and have a family with him. She rebuffs him, but he persists and she falls in love with him, too. However, she has ovarian cancer and that cancer “follows” them for the rest of the film (treatment, having children, etc.).

 

Garfield, who grew up in the U.K., is the son of an American Jewish father and a non-Jewish British mother. He isn’t really religious, but he says he identifies “most” as Jewish.

 

Overall, the “We Live” reviews were positive. However, respected critics were split: the Hollywood Reporter, Vanity Fair, and The Guardian were very positive. NY Magazine and Variety were not complimentary.

 

“Brothers” opened in a few theaters on Oct. 10 and begins streaming on Amazon Prime on the 17th. The film centers on two criminal siblings (Josh Brolin and Peter Dinklage) who agree to team up for one final heist. The heist is followed by a very bumpy road trip.

 

Like a lot of movies, this film began with a “story” and it was turned into a screenplay. ETAN COHEN, 50, wrote the story. (He’s often confused with filmmaker ETHAN COEN ). Cohen was born in Israel and raised in Massachusetts. A 2015 profile says that he and his family are observant Jews (keep kosher, don’t work on Shabbos). Coen has co-written several hits, including "Tropic Thunder".

 

“Brothers” was directed by MAX BARBAKOW, 31. This film is his second feature film. His first, “Palm Springs” (2020), was a surprise big hit. Max co-wrote it and directed it, too. This sci-fi, fantasy, and romantic film was really clever and “everyone” loved it. ANDY SAMBERG starred in "Palm Springs” and it was his best “thing” since Saturday Night Live.

 

Barbakow’s father is Jeffrey Barbakow, 70ish. He’s a very rich, retired health company CEO. I found out he’s Jewish. I don’t have complete info on Max's mother.

 

I really liked “Tracker”, a CBS series that began its second season on Oct.13 (New episodes Sundays, at 8PM. Episodes without ads stream on Paramount+ on the following Monday. All first season episodes now streaming on Hulu).

 

The lead character is a “cool, good-looking ethical guy” who finds missing persons, but only takes a fee after he’s found the person. In the first season, two women. who are married to each other, are his agents—they find clients for “The Tracker”. One agent was played by ROBIN WEIGERT, 55. For reasons I don’t know, she left the show after season one.

 

Here's two more Jewish connections to “Tracker”: the series was created by BEN H. WINTERS, 48. He’s a successful novelist who often does “stuff” for TV series. He adapted “Tracker” from a novel by Jeffery Deaver. The main producer of “Tracker” is KEN OLIN, 70. He also directs many “Tracker” episodes. Olin is best known for playing Michael Stedman, a Jewish character, on “Thirty something” (1987-91).

 

RACHEL BLOOM, 37, the star of “My Crazy Girlfriend” (2015-19), has a comedic special on Netflix that began streaming n on Oct. 15. Its entitled, “Death, Let Me Do My Special”. The special was, first, a hit, “one-woman”, off-Broadway play. Here’s the “semi-official” special description: “Bloom muses on birth, death, and cosmic uncertainty, in this whimsical and reflective musical comedy special”.

 

“Anatomy of Lies” is a Peacock original, three-part documentary that began streaming on Oct. 15 (2 more episodes on following Sundays). The main “real life” subject of the series is ELISABETH FINCH, 44.

 

Finch grew up in a middle-class Jewish family in New Jersey. She was bat mitzvah’ed and went to Jewish summer camp. Around 2010, she started writing for TV shows. Pretty quickly, she became a fount of lies that involved everyone around her. Her biggest fib was that she had cancer and other serious medical conditions. Several times she used her Jewish background to get paid work leave. One such lie got her leave to travel from L.A. to Pittsburgh. She falsely said she had a friend who was killed in the Tree of Life synagogue shooting (2018)!