Jews on Film: Exploring Jewish Stories & Themes in Cinema

This week on Jews on Film, hosts Harry and Daniel sit down with director and producer Simon Mendes (The Darkest Light, Dick Johnson Is Dead, Sabbath Queen) to talk about the Coen Brothers’ 2013 film Inside Llewyn Davis. Simon’s new documentary on Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, winner of the Best First Feature award at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, takes on his musical legacy and the allegations of abuse that followed it. That makes him a natural guest for a film about a folk singer in 1961 Greenwich Village. They discuss art vs. commerce, whether we can separate the art from the artist, and how Carlebach’s music lives on in synagogues today. Then they head into the Jewish stretches, from the Gorfeins to the seven-day shiva structure to the wandering Jew, and the cat. As always, they close out the episode by selecting their most Jewish scenes, debating if the movie is “good for the Jews,” and ranking the film’s “Jewishness” in terms of its cast & crew, content, and themes. Simon Mendes: The Darkest Light (SFJFF film page) - https://jfi.org/sfjff-2026/film-guide/the-darkest-light Simone Mendes on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/simongmendes/ Connect with Jews on Film online: Jews on Film Merch - https://jews-on-film.printify.me/products Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jewsonfilm/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/jewsonfilmpod YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@jewsonfilm TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@jewsonfilmpod

Harry and Daniel welcome cartoonist and author Amy Kurzweil to talk about Spike Jonze’s Her (2013). Amy’s graphic memoir Artificial: A Love Story follows her father’s attempt to build a chatbot from her late grandfather’s writings, so she’s well placed to ask the big question: can a relationship with an operating system be real? They dig into why the film’s utopia feels a little dystopian, why the OSs leave, and what Samantha has to do with the Golem. As always, they close out the episode by selecting their most Jewish scenes, “stretches of the pod,” debating if the movie is “good for the Jews,” and ranking the film’s “Jewishness” in terms of its cast & crew, content, and themes. Amy Kurzweil Links: Website - https://www.amykurzweil.com Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/amykurzweil Artificial: A Love Story - https://bookshop.org/p/books/artificial-a-love-story-amy-kurzweil/ca42b0e11c088bdf Flying Couch: A Graphic Memoir - https://shop.yiddishbookcenter.org/products/flying-couch-a-graphic-memoir Connect with Jews on Film online: Jews on Film Merch - https://jews-on-film.printify.me/products Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jewsonfilm/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/jewsonfilmpod YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@jewsonfilm TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@jewsonfilmpod

Daniel and Harry are joined by novelist Melanie Anagnos to discuss Vittorio De Sica's 1970 Oscar winner The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, about an aristocratic Jewish family in Ferrara sealing themselves off from the world — and from Italy's 1938 racial laws — behind the walls of their estate. The trio digs into the film's tennis-club-turned-exile opening, the garden as an Edenic stand-in for both sanctuary and denial, and the bigger question the film keeps circling: who gets to decide whether you're an Italian Jew or a Jewish Italian. They also debate whether the family's insulated, aristocratic remove from the war closing in around them reads as denial or something closer to grace. As always, they close out with some stretch-of-the-pod theories — walls, gates, and Garden of Eden symbolism included — before rating the film's Jewishness on their 1 to 5 scale. Melanie's Links Check out Melanie's work Cherchez La Femma - Melanie's Substack Buy the "Nightswimming" Audiobook Connect with Jews on Film online: Jews on Film Merch - https://jews-on-film.printify.me/products Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jewsonfilm/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/jewsonfilmpod YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@jewsonfilm TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@jewsonfilmpod

Daniel and Harry are joined by Gila Pfeffer, author of Nearly Departed, to discuss Zach Braff's 2004 indie darling Garden State, directed by and starring Braff alongside Natalie Portman and Peter Sarsgaard. The trio debates whether the film is "actually" Jewish or just Jewish-coded, digging into Ian Holm's distant Jewish father, the humorous Doctor Cohn, and how two decades of over-prescribed lithium leave Andrew frozen in grief. They talk through the funeral and Shiva scenes as the real emotional catalyst of the film, Portman's Sam as a defining "manic pixie dream girl," and Gila's own perspective on Jewish mourning rituals as an Orthodox writer. As always, they close out with some stretch-of-the-pod theories — mikvah bathtubs and Holocaust reparations included — before rating the film's Jewishness on their 1 to 5 scale. Gila's Links Buy Gila's Book Nearly Departed Follow Gila on Instagram Subscribe to Gila's Substack Connect with Jews on Film online: Jews on Film Merch - https://jews-on-film.printify.me/products Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jewsonfilm/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/jewsonfilmpod YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@jewsonfilm TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@jewsonfilmpod

Daniel and Harry are stuck in detention with Rachel Israel, director of The Floaters, so they figured they might as well record a podcast about the 1985 film The Breakfast Club, written and directed by John Hughes. Together, they revisit the iconic coming-of-age classic and its five high-school stereotypes—the brain, the athlete, the basket case, the princess, and the criminal—and ask whether those labels really tell us anything about who we are. They discuss the film's surprisingly earnest exploration of identity, friendship, family and parental pressure, why its 95-minute running time feels almost radical today, and how The Breakfast Club paved the way for generations of teen movies to come. They dig into the film's unexpected Jewish connections—from synchronized dancing and Jewish joy to the idea of detention as a kind of Shabbat or synagogue experience. They also discuss Rachel's own film The Floaters, Jewish summer camp, and the influence The Breakfast Club had on her filmmaking. Plus, it's our favorite question: How Jewish is The Breakfast Club? The answer may involve a little creative stretching—but that's never stopped us before. Rachel's Links Check out The Floaters in a city near you Connect with Jews on Film online: Jews on Film Merch - https://jews-on-film.printify.me/products Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jewsonfilm/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/jewsonfilmpod YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@jewsonfilm TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@jewsonfilmpod