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Jewish Journal

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Picture of Robert David Jaffee

Robert David Jaffee

Crime Scribes Do First ‘Inside’ Job

March 23, 2006

In his first decade as a filmmaker, Spike Lee wrote or co-wrote all of his films, which typically examined race in New York and featured African American protagonists. He began to diverge a bit in \”Clockers\” (1995), which he scripted with novelist Richard Price. Although \”Clockers\” was told more from the point of view of the teenage African American drug dealer than the half-Jewish, half-Italian cop played by Harvey Keitel, it led to other pictures like \”Summer of Sam\” (1999), with its ensemble cast of white characters from a Bronx Italian neighborhood, and the more recent \”25th Hour\” (2002), a film in which Lee does not have a screenwriting credit and which stars Edward Norton as a convict on his way to jail.

New Valley Festival Accentuates ‘Festive’

March 23, 2006

At the heart of Los Angeles\’ Jewish community lies a paradox. As the community grows and spreads into different areas in the Southland, can it still be a community? It is this very question that Hilary Helstein, executive director of the latest incarnation of the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival, has had to confront.

Director Pays Price in Making ‘Capote’

February 23, 2006

Caroline Baron, the film\’s producer who worked with Hoffman on \”Flawless\” and has known screenwriter Dan Futterman and Miller for a number of years, said that all films present challenges, but that from the outset, she had \”100 percent confidence in Bennett as a director and Phil as an actor.\”

Sondheim Knows How to Book ‘Em

February 16, 2006

Harry Sondheim, a retired criminal prosecutor for the L.A. County D.A.\’s office, was traveling in Holland when he simply noticed an artifact that appealed to him. \”They had a museum, Der Weg, which means the Weighing House. They had an artist named Bicart. I bought some postcards with depictions of Jewish ceremonies on them. You can\’t buy those postcards any longer.\”

Monologuist Pulls Plug on Ben Franklin

February 16, 2006

Josh Kornbluth grew up in a secular, communist household in New York City. He says that he\’s not trying to be flippant when he notes that his parents had an almost \”Talmudic reverence for Marxism.\”

Wandering Jew – A Relief to Laugh

February 9, 2006

Inside this cavernous barn with Persian rugs draped like curtains over the back walls of the elevated stage, there are no mobsters or secret cells from what we can tell. There are just ordinary citizens, but that doesn\’t stop the host, Jordan Elgrably, a svelte man in a black shirt, from saying, \”All those who are working here for Homeland Security, please raise your hand.\”

Kate Braverman — Alive, Well, ‘Frantic’

February 2, 2006

\”Frantic Transmissions to and From Los Angeles: An Accidental Memoir,\” by Kate Braverman (Graywolf, $15).

\”Did I say that my work has been translated into Turkish? Apparently, it will be read in Istanbul, but not in Los Angeles.\”

Yes, Kate Braverman did say that in a telephone conversation from her new home in San Francisco. On more than one occasion, in fact, she mentioned this, digressing, ranting, in as polite a rant as possible, that she is merely \”referenced\” in Los Angeles, where she grew up and lived much of her adult life. The references have even taken on a funereal character.

Despite apparently being characterized by the Los Angeles Times a year or so ago as \”the late, legendary Kate Braverman,\” despite coincidentally bearing the same last name as the deceased character in Sidney Lumet\’s film, \”Bye Bye, Braverman,\” Kate Braverman, 55, author of the underground classic, \”Lithium for Medea,\” three other novels, countless anthologized short stories and now a new \”accidental memoir\” titled, \”Frantic Transmissions to and from Los Angeles,\” is anything but dead. \”Frantic Transmissions\” has just been published by Graywolf Press, a small, literary press in Minnesota, which awarded her its first-ever nonfiction prize for this latest effort.

Spectator – Two Worlds, Two Girls, One Dream

January 26, 2006

\”This isn\’t the kind of musical where it\’s \’OK, we\’re going to have a production number now,\’\” said Herb Isaacs, artistic director of the West Coast Jewish Theatre, about the upcoming world premiere of \”American Klezmer.\” \”Every song is integrated into the plot.\”

Art Exhibit Links Trojans, Bruins

January 19, 2006

\”Makor/Source\” marks the first time that the Hillels of the two universities have collaborated on an exhibition. Roughly 20 local artists submitted works to the show, including collages, paintings and photographs.

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