Last week, I gave you five reviews of films that will play at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. Here’s another four. That way you know what you should see (if your taste in movies is like mine). The festival runs from July 20 to August 6.
[[I made a mistake when I posted this article. I forgot to give you the URL for Part 1. Here it is.]]
I’ve listed them from best to worst.
A March ’68 (2022), Piedmont, Sunday, 7:00pm
The joy and excitement of young love slams into the reality of Communism. It’s Poland, 1968, and the government controls pretty much everything. After the young lovers attend a demonstration against censorship, the police start following them. Even their well-to-do parents become treated like criminals and lose their jobs. And how does the government make the average Pole forget about police cracking heads? Anti-Semitism, of course! That’s easy, especially since the girl is part Jewish.
A Remember Marrakech (2023), Piedmont, Tuesday August 1
Here are five fine short documentaries presented as a feature. There are few Jews in Marrakech now, and most of the films’ sections are about the friendly interactions of Jews and Muslims. In one scene, an elementary school teacher asks her pupils to draw a Jew. The response is not what you’d expect. The drawn “Jew” just looks like any other person…except that this Jew is wearing a cross. In the other four shorts, we learn about a run-down mansion, trying to get a full minyan, a young boy who wants to learn Jewish handicrafts, and the Jewish cemetery.
B+ Gaza Weekend (2022), Piedmont, Saturday, August 5, 8:150m
Here’s a lively comic thriller. Israel is hit by a pandemic, and people are desperately trying to get out of the country. A relatively wealthy, British couple get what seems to be a good idea: go where no one wants to go: Gaza! From there, they can go to Egypt (no one seems to realize that germs go across borders). I should mention that half of the British couple is Jewish. A funny and suspenseful romp.
C+ The Catskills (2023)
֍ Castro, Saturday, July 22, 8:50pm
֍ Piedmont, Sunday August 6, 4:35pm
This mediocre documentary is best for people who feel nostalgic for the good old days when New York summers didn’t have air conditioning. In the middle of the last century, Jews weren’t allowed into fine resorts. So, Jews created their own resorts in upstate New York’s Catskill mountains. The film is thick with wistfulness and thin on real history. One thing I discovered: Many a Jewish doctor got into college working as bellboys in these resorts. If you want to read more about the Catskill experience, read my ten-year-old review, Did You Hear the One About the Documentary? When Comedy Went to School.
Bayflicks 