“A Real Pain,” “Wicked,” and more …

Stars of David

By Nate Bloom, Stars of David Contributing Columnist

Editor’s Note: Persons in bold are deemed by Nate Bloom to be Jewish for the purpose of this column. Persons identified as Jewish have at least one Jewish parent and were not raised in, or identify with, a faith other than Judaism. Converts to Judaism, of course, are also identified as Jewish.

“A Real Pain”

“A Real Pain,” a “very Jewish” film, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last January and almost all reviews were stellar. It opens “wide” in theaters on Nov. 1.

Owen Gliberman, 65, Variety’s top critic, loved the film; you can easily find and read the review online for free. The headline of the Variety review almost says it all: “Jesse Eisenberg becomes a major filmmaker and Kieran Culkin a movie star — in a funny, knife-sharp odyssey.”

Eisenberg, 41, wrote and directed the film. He has written several other plays and directed one other film, but “A Real Pain” is clearly a great career milestone for Eisenberg. It’s almost certain he will be Oscar-nominated.

Here’s the premise boiled down: David (Eisenberg) and Benji (Culkin) are first cousins who haven’t seen each other lately. They reunite on a group “Holocaust tour” of Poland. David is a “very normal” guy, while Benji, in Variety’s words, is the combination of a “hipster slacker and corporate dick” who is also the “life of the party.” People are alternately annoyed at him and drawn to him. Because David and Benji are on a “Holocaust tour,” there’s lot of “Jewish stuff” in the mix.

Gliberman praises how brilliantly the main characters have been written and how well Culkin and Eisenberg play their characters. He also compliments Eisenberg’s direction.

Jennifer Grey, 64, Daniel Oreskes, 65, and Liza Sadovy, 65-ish, play other American Jews on the “Holocaust tour.” Also, on the tour is an African (played by British actor Kurt Egyiawan) who survived the Rwanda genocide and converted to Judaism.

Banner Eisenberg, 7, has a small part. He’s the son of Jesse Eisenberg and his wife, Anna Strout, 40.

The following movies are also opening in theaters on Nov. 1: “Here;” “Lost on a Mountain in Maine;” and “Absolution.”

“Here”

Another “big movie” directed by Oscarwinner Robert Zemeckis (“Forrest Gump”) and loaded with big-name actors (Tom Hanks and Robin Wright), “Here” has a storyline that covers the events of a single spot of land and its inhabitants, spanning from the past to well into the future.

The film’s screenplay was cowritten by Zemeckis and Eric Roth, 79. Roth won a screenwriting Oscar for “Forrest Gump,” and he’s been nominated five other times for his adapted screenplays.

“Lost on a Mountain in Maine”

Based on a book of the same name, “Lost on a Mountain in Maine” tells the inspiring, true story of a 12-year-old boy, who, separated from his family by a fastmoving storm, fights to stay alive during his nine-day ordeal. Ethan Slater, 32, has a major supporting role playing the character, Henry.

“Absolution”

Liam Neeson is the star of “Absolution.” The premise is that of an aging gangster (Neeson) who attempts to reconnect with his children and rectify the mistakes in his past, but the criminal underworld won’t loosen its grip willingly. Ron Pearlman, 74, has a costarring role as Neeson’s crime boss.

“Wicked”

“Wicked,” the huge musical stage hit, has finally been made into a film, and it will open in theaters on Nov. 27. The stage musical premiered in 2003 and was loosely based on the 1995 novel of the same name. Its premise drew from the original (early 20th C.) “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” novels but had a different spin pertaining to the origins and lives of the good witch and the wicked witch.

Top Broadway composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz, now 76, “stumbled” (1996) on this novel and thought it would be a good play and/or musical. After

much trouble, Schwartz got the rights to use the novel as a basis for a Broadway musical. Schwartz rewrote or reworked a lot of the material in the novel. He wrote all the songs, too.

Winnie Holzman, now 70, wrote original scenes and dialogue for the musical. She is credited as the musical’s “book writer” for the stage and movie versions.

The original Broadway musical costarred Idina Menzel, now 53, as the Wicked Witch and Joel Grey, now 92, as the Wizard of Oz. Black British actress Cynthia Erivo plays the Wicked Witch in the movie. Jeff Goldblum, 71, plays the Wizard of Oz.

“Freedom”

An original Prime Video movie, “Freedom” will begin streaming on Nov.1. It is inspired by Bruno Sulak, a real-life 1970s outlaw in France. He masterminded daring heists without firing a single shot. Sulak was pursued by George Moreas, a dogged police commissioner.

Yvan Attal, 59, a prominent French actor and filmmaker, plays Moreas. Attal was born in Tel Aviv; his parents were Algerian Jews.

French actress and director Melanie Laurent, 41, directed “Freedom” and was also a cowriter. She’s best known in America as a star of the 2009 film “Inglorious Bastards.”