Reviews

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Maestro ★★★★

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Maestro ★★★★

Much of the film Maestro is shot in black and white, but it opens in full colour. “I miss her terribly,” the older Leonard Bernstein says, of his late wife Felicia. At the piano he plays 'Postlude' (adeptly performed by Bradley Cooper), from his opera A Quiet Place, where the son mourns the loss…

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UKJFF 2023: Vishniac ★★★★★

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UKJFF 2023: Vishniac ★★★★★

In Berlin in 1933, seven-year-old Mara stands outside a shop once owned by a Jew. Now it sells instruments to gauge the shape of a skull, issuing certificates of 'Aryanism' if deemed appropriate. The photographer recording this moment was also a Jew; if apprehended by Nazi forces…

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UKJFF 2023: Less Than Kosher ★★★

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UKJFF 2023: Less Than Kosher ★★★

Daniel AM Rosenberg’s musical comedy Less Than Kosher follows self-proclaimed “bad Jew” Viv, a washed-up singer at 30. She finds herself deliriously hungover after Yom Kippur, but after a trip to her family’s synagogue manages to fall “ass-first” into a job as a substitute cantor. What…

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UKJFF 2023: Queen of the Deuce ★★★★

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UKJFF 2023: Queen of the Deuce ★★★★

When someone speaks of the American Dream, the image is usually of a well-to-do white-collared individual returning to their picket-fenced home where a doting spouse tends to two pristine children. Not, heaven forbid, a chain-smoking elderly Greek Jewish immigrant holding court with…

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Bess: The Other Houdini ★★★★

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Bess: The Other Houdini ★★★★

Escapologist Harry Houdini was a legend in his own lifetime. His headline-grabbing stunts, involving mystifying, often lurid escapes from chains, padlocks, water tanks and suspension from skyscrapers, ensured that his reputation would live on long after his death. He boasted that he…

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Antisemitism: a (((musical))) ★★★★

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Antisemitism: a (((musical))) ★★★★

In light of the current tension in the Middle East and an increase in antisemitic activity around the world, it would seem there's little to laugh about right now. Cue the musical with idiosyncratic punctuation in its title, a UK debut from Israeli playwright and composer Uri Agnon that's not…

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Code Name Kingfisher ★★★★★

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Code Name Kingfisher ★★★★★

Liv is a year-eight student in present-day UK. She's shy and uncertain and currently navigating between wanting to fit in and wanting to be herself. She's been tasked with creating a family tree, which leads to all sorts of problems when she realises her only port of call is her stern Bubbe…