What do you get when you mix a bit of Woody Allen’s New York, the shenanigans of an Isaac Bashevis Singer story, and a foreigner’s perspective? That’s pretty much what "Love Comes Lately" is all about. What is remarkable is that this latest English-language film by German director Jan Schütte tackles an aspect of American Jewish life that most filmmakers shy away from — that of an elderly New York Jew. Woody Allen struggled with his "existence" as an aging Jewish writer confronting the various demons from his past in his 1997 "Reconstructing Harry" and provided us with one of his best films. In that film, he finally took a good look at himself not only as a human being but as a Jew, as raconteur, filmmaker, and writer. Schütte takes a similar tack by not only using a Singer-like character as his protagonist but by having him go in and out of his own stories. It’s an unusual technique that Schütte uses successfully.

One aspect of Israeli society that has been neglected on the Israeli screen these past 60 years is any kind of study of Orthodoxy. The first to try to tackle the subject in a feature narrative was Benjamin Hayeem in his raucous 1976 "The Black Banana," followed more than two decades later by Amos Gitai’s "Kadosh." Both films showed a great deal of anger toward traditional Judaism and disdain for religious practice. While Hayeem’s portrait was unsympathetic, Gitai did provide some insight into the intricacies of Jewish practice with his study of a rabbi’s son who is forced to divorce his wife of over a decade because she is unable to bear him a child. Over the last dozen years, there have been more than 100 short features on Jewish and specifically religious issues produced by students in Israel’s myriad film schools, most notably the Maale School in Jerusalem. This, it is hoped, will help bring more films on Jewish issues to the Israeli screen. Joseph Cedar, a traditional Jew, struggled with important issues like the incendiary power of the yeshiva rabbi as well as the difficult position of the widow in the religious community in his films "Time of Favor" (2000) and "Campfire" (2004). Then there was Giddi Dar’s popular "Ushpizin" (2004), written by Shuli Rand, that literally brought us into the homes and sukkot of a religious community in Jerusalem. There have since been a few less notable examples. Now comes David Volach’s "My Father My Lord," which opens today at New York’s Lincoln Plaza and Cinema Village and which won the Best Film prize at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.

As I watched James Carroll on screen, I was mesmerized by a man of great courage simply telling his story. The son of an Air Force general, he wavered between following his father into the Air Force and training for the Catholic priesthood. Ordained as a priest in 1969, he served as Catholic chaplain at Boston University at the height of the Vietnam War. That experience deeply affected him and moved him away from the clergy in 1974 to become a writer. A devout Catholic, he is effusive and articulate, well worthy of a portrait. Carroll’s words provide the anchor and his life’s narrative forms the framework for Oren Jacoby’s documentary, "Constantine’s Sword," opening today at Lincoln Plaza Cinemas and the Quad Cinema in New York City.

A boy encounters his heritage, a country is faced with its past

A little over two years ago, many in Brazil were again talking about the so-called suicide 30 years before of 48-year-old Jewish journalist Vladimir "Vlado" Herzog. João Batista de Andrade‘s film "Trinta Anos Depois (Thirty Years Later)" had just been released about Vlado and the 21 years of military dictatorship were very much on the minds of Brazilians. That one film should call into question a country’s past is not uncommon; we have even seen it here. Although Brazil today is a democracy and once again one of Latin America’s great countries, most Brazilians had been unwilling, at least up to that point, to revisit the horrific years of 1964-1985. At the time of his death, Vlado was the 38th detainee to "hang himself," and by virtue of his high profile as one of Brazil’s leading writers, his death brought a certain kind of attention that previous "suicides" had failed to draw. Brazil was aghast, but little could be done; the dictatorship would last another 10 years. However, 30 years later, what had indeed happened was being debated across the continent. Some would look at Vlado’s death as one of the factors that would eventually bring about the end of military dictatorship. That, together with the ongoing investigations of Augusto Pinochet in nearby Chile, has forced a new generation of Brazilians to take a hard look at their recent history.

Israeli film ‘tunnels deeper and deeper’

Joseph Cedar’s powerful film, "Beaufort," opens in New York today, the third feature narrative by this New York-born Israeli film director. The film opens with "light in the tunnel," a clear dramatic and visual statement that keeps repeating. A soldier seems to be making his way through a dimly lit corridor somewhere underground, a constant visual that director Cedar provides as he searches for truths. Literally trying to dig to the bottom of what it means to be an Israeli, Cedar tunnels deeper and deeper, with few opportunities for air as he struggles with the idea of Israeli gvura (valor) in the post-Lebanon occupation period. Cedar, who spent nine months in Lebanon, lost two of his close friends there. For him and co-screenwriter Ron Leshem, from whose novel this story is drawn, this unearthing of the past is hard yet therapeutic.

Every year I have the pleasure of viewing a myriad of Jewish films as the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Jewish Museum present their annual Jewish Film Festival in New York. The tireless curators screen more than 100 films in order to determine which new films deserve our attention and what movies from the past deserve a retrospective screening. As in years past, the curators have done a wonderful job. Thirty-two narrative features, documentaries, and shorts will be screened. The festival began on Wednesday and will continue through Jan. 24, with showings at both the Walter Reade Theater on West 65th Street and the Jewish Museum. The movies are from such varied places as Argentina, Austria, France, Hungary, Israel, Mexico, and Russia. Several are New York or United States premieres. So get ready for a whirlwind two weeks of movie-going, with some films headed for the theaters and others that you might otherwise never get to see

A look at the production of ‘Crossfire’ and ‘Gentleman’s Agreement’ 60 years ago

Sixty years ago this month, Twentieth Century Fox released "Gentleman’s Agreement," a film that focused on the question of social anti-Semitism in America. Its release was well anticipated, for before 1947 no motion picture had ever dealt with this controversial topic. But, although championed by Darryl F. Zanuck, its crusader producer, most in Hollywood were fearful about its reception by American audiences. Following by just a few months the release of "Crossfire," a mystery about the puzzling murder of a Jewish veteran, there was tension within the film community about why such films were being made. In fact, strong efforts had been made on a number of fronts to keep both motion pictures from being made.

This year we are celebrating Israel’s 60th anniversary, and moviemakers are finally getting around to joining the celebration. "Golda’s Balcony" opened Wednesday at New York’s Quad Cinema, and Elie Chouraqui’s "O Jerusalem" opens today at the Village East Cinema in New York. Thorold Dickinson’s 1955 "Hill 24 Doesn’t Answer" is being screened next month at the JCC on the Palisades.

There have been few films made by Hollywood’s filmmakers about Israel or the birth of the state. Edward Dmytryk explored the plight of a Holocaust survivor in Israel in his powerful 1953 film, written by Michael Blankfort and starring Kirk Douglas. One can hardly forget Otto Preminger’s adaptation of Leon Uris’ "Exodus" in 1960, which starred Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint. "Exodus" provided something, albeit short-lived, that previous subject films on Jews had not — an attractive, strong and bold Jewish presence. Paul Newman’s Ari Ben Canaan is handsome, blue-eyed, and muscular. Then there was Melville Shavelson’s 1966 "Cast A Giant Shadow," which included Kirk Douglas, John Wayne, Yul Brynner, and Frank Sinatra in its cast. It focused on David "Mickey" Marcus, the American officer who was brought to Israel to help systematize the new Israel Defense Forces as war broke out in 1948. Each of the latter two films celebrated the birth of Israel, and although there was sacrifice and death in each, both left one feeling good about the Jewish state and proud to be a Jew.

Israel could be one of the hardest places in the world to be a filmmaker. There is a finite audience for your work. There are only so many people in the world who speak Hebrew. You have to struggle with security issues that become line items in budgets that movie producers in other parts of the world never even consider. Yet for Eytan Fox, it is one of the richest places from which to draw the stories that become his films. Fox, since making his first film, "Song of the Siren" ("Shirat HaSirena") back in 1994, has become one of Israel’s most well respected filmmakers. In his newest film, "The Bubble" ("Ha’Buah"), which opens today in New York City, he weaves a story that asks tough questions about Israel’s very essence.

Struggling with how a country resists and collaborates during wartime has proven to be a troublesome affair for most of Western Europe. In the East, it was not difficult, as Soviet-occupied countries easily put the blame on a previous regime. However, in countries like France and the Netherlands the retelling of the story took a long time, and when it was finally put on the screen, the narrative presented was more myth than truth. When that myth was finally punctured, it often caused excruciating pain and, as was the case in France with Marcel Ophuls’ "The Sorrow and the Pity," the picture was often banned.