TORONTO — The Toronto Jewish Film Festival wraps up its Chai Tea & a Movie program with two more movies in the next few weeks, one in Toronto and the other in its new Richmond Hill location.
Bernie Reubens (Gregg Sulkin) with his mother Esther played by Helena Bonham Carter.
(with video)
Set in England in 1966, Sixty Six, starring Helena Bonham Carter, is an enjoyable movie for the whole family.
Bernie Reubens hates everything about his life. His father eats dinner in his underwear and refuses to drive over 25 miles an hour. Bernie’s older brother bullies him both at school and at home. One day at the beach, his parents forget all about him and leave him behind.
The only thing he is looking forward to is starting a new life as a man on his bar mitzvah day, nine months away.
The way he sees it, his bar mitzvah is going to be huge – “the Jesus Christ of bar mitzvahs.” It’s going to be a legend. It will be held at the best hotel, there will be 350 present-bearing guests, and even crooner Frankie Vaughan will be there. More importantly, he himself will be the centre of attention.
But there are a few snags along the way. His dad’s grocery store is losing customers to the big supermarket that just opened up the street. Money is tight and they just can’t afford the lavish event Bernie’s older brother got.
And to make it worse, his bar mitzvah is planned for July 30. This is the day of the World Cup final, which England is hosting that year. If England, always an underdog, makes it to the final, no one will come to his bar mitzvah.
Bernie’s only hope is that England doesn’t make it past the first round. “Don’t worry,” his blind rabbi tells him. “England never gets to the final.”
Bernie takes to chanting voodoo curses at the English team, and sending letters to the team’s manager threatening him if he picks certain good players. At synagogue, he prays to God for the English players to get a bout of diarrhea during the games.
Does England make the final? If you don’t know, I won’t tell you, except to say English soccer fans today still talk about 1966 the way Toronto Maple Leaf fans talk about 1967.
Sixty Six is a fun, light-hearted coming-of-age film. It is being screened on Feb. 15 at the Sheppard Grande Theatre, 4861 Yonge St.
Watch the trailer here:
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Two Ladies (Dans La Vie) is a French movie about tolerance. It was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2007.
The film is set in a city in the south of France during the Second Lebanon War. Esther, an elderly Jewish lady, is confined to a wheelchair. Her son, a neurologist, hires Selima, a young, well-assimilated Muslim woman, to be her nurse. Esther, he tells her, is temperamental and might be hard to deal with. In fact, shortly afterward, she fires her housekeeper/companion for being too boring for her.
In a bind, the son accepts Selima’s offer to have her mother, Halima, take care of Esther during the day.
Halima appears to be prejudiced and anti-Israeli. Watching the news of the Lebanon war that is taking place, she flips the bird at the Israeli troops on her screen. But she accepts Selima’s job offer. She needs the money to be able to make the pilgrimage to Mecca once before she dies, as is every Muslim’s duty.
Seems like a recipe for disaster: a bitter, angry Jewish woman and an anti-Israeli Muslim woman.
But, as this sentimental movie shows, rivals can get along. The two ladies find out they’re both originally from Algeria and have much in common. Soon, they become best friends.
But it’s not easy for Halima. She becomes the shame of her neighbourhood. Her neighbours criticize her and complain that she is going to Mecca with Jewish sin money.Even her other children want her to give up the job. In despair, she asks her imam for help. He tells her that on the contrary, even Mohammed made deals with Jews.
Two Ladies is a warm-hearted movie about tolerance and open-mindedness. It screens at the Silver City in Richmond Hill, 8725 Yonge St. on March 1.
For both movies, tea is at 1 p.m., movie at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15 each. For Sixty Six only, one ticket also allows admission for two children under 12. Tickets can be bought at the door, by calling 416-967-1528 or online at www.tjff.com