Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Castaban (right click and “save as” for download)

It’s time to wave our wands and bid a fond farewell to the most profitable film franchise of all time (and yes that surprised me too!) – in true Casta fashion however, the farewell isn’t necessarily a fond one… We’ve also got reviews of The Tree of Life and Holy Rollers as well as TRAILER POWER!!! (underlined and in bold), inane chatter and the most underwhelming Castamind yet.

Based on a true story Holy Rollers chronicles the story of Sam Gold (Jesse Eisenberg), a young Hasidic Jew who forsakes his father’s tailoring business to pursue a career in the grimy but lucrative business of ecstasy smuggling. Eisenberg is as shufflingly nervous as we’ve come to expect from him and commands his scenes with quiet gravitas, effortlessly convincing in his role as a member of an Orthodox Jewish family. He and Justin Bartha as Sam’s cocksure neighbour Yusef, Sam’s antithesis, lead a strong cast through a muted story of a young man’s rise and fall in a seedy world. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before, the ordinary boy turned drug dealer story has been done before although probably not against a Semitic background. Still seeing Sam’s confidence grow and his amusing encounters with criminal types and their overly affectionate girlfriends has enough to recommend itself.

Holy Rollers isn’t the kind of film I can recommend to everyone, to me the title sounds like it should be a comedy and while there are moments to raise a smile this is no laugh-a-minute gag fest. I’m not sure I’ve ever been to a viewing which so many people left before the end having no doubt expected something more fun or at least cerebral. It’s an interesting but forgettable character study with a short running time that probably does the film a favour. If you’ve a nice, wide interest in films it’s worth a look but don’t expect miracles.

Verdict

A well-acted and thoughtful examination of two worlds not usually associated with each other that won’t stick long in the memory and will surely bore those impatient with slow-paced or quiet movies.

Williamsburg, NYC, is home to one of the largest Hasidic communities outside of Israel. Fascinating, considering that 10 blocks north you can immerse yourself in probably the largest hipster community outside of Hoxton. Holy Rollers might sound like a New Christian rollerskating team, but it is in fact the curious true story of an orthodox Jew from Brooklyn who falls in with the wrong crowd. Young Sam Gold, impatient in working for his Father and waiting to be married off, accepts the task of flying to Europe to transport some questionable ‘medicine’ back to the States. Said medicine turns out to be drugs, and with only a twitch of his moral-compass, Gold begins his descent into a full blown criminal underworld, where unassuming orthodox Jews are paid to enable drug smuggling.

Jesse Eisenberg is enjoyable to watch, but traces of previous characters he has played are becoming less faint. From the social awkwardness of Zuckerberg in The Social Network to the teenage gawkiness of his characters in Zombieland and Roger Dodger; Eisenberg is beginning to look and sound like a copy of a copy. His performance may be good, but it’s hardly breakout, and Eisenberg runs the risk of ‘doing’ a Michael Cera. Newcomer director Kevin Asch makes Brooklyn look cold and concrete,  contrasting nicely with the enticing sexiness of the New York clubs. The heart of the film is found in Gold’s unwavering desire to be, in his sorry way, a ‘good’ Jew. Wearing a beanie cap, he is asked on the street by a man offering teffilin if he is indeed Jewish; ‘of course’, is his snappy answer.

Though it might be filmed in the style of a Williamsburg-dwelling hipster, Holy Rollers is a sombre tale told in a gritty and often comical manner. The film succeeds in subtly demonstrating how deeply a religious disposition can penetrate, if indeed you believe in such a thing. Not even blonde babes, ecstasy or gelt can change that.

Jesse Eisenberg’s first live-action role since The Social Network (2010) is a big departure from his usual fare: in Holy Rollers (2010) he plays Sam Gold, a Hasidic Jew from Brooklyn who gets embroiled in smuggling ecstasy for the local mob.

As an independent production the film had a protracted development and release process with Eisenberg filming his roles in The Social Network and Rio (2011) while Holy Rollers sat waiting for the right moment to come out. Holy Rollers certainly serves as a welcome reintroduction to Eisenberg’s talents after he blew us all away as Mark Zuckerberg, with a story of corrupted innocence not dissimilar to Henry Hill’s journey in Goodfellas (1990), his performance as Sam requires both comic and dramatic notes to evoke the transition away from the orthodox Hasidic lifestyle. In interview, Eisenberg is candid and witty as he cheerfully considers his thoughts on the film, its gestation process and its unique subject matter. Here’s what Eisenberg had to say about his latest project:

Was it difficult to capture the essence of Brooklyn’s Hasidic community?

“I actually had a lot of time to learn about the community, so I spent time with kids who were similar to Sam who lived in these communities, I went to the school with them for many days, they brought me into their lives a bit, so by the time we were shooting I felt like I could throw all that away and not be focused on the rigidity of adhering to a specific lifestyle and instead just focus on the emotional experience of Sam and have all that stuff in the background. That was really important because when you’re acting you don’t want to be thinking of which hand you’re using, you want that to be instinctive.”

What drew you to the character of Sam Gold?

“I loved the innocence of the character – I thought it would be interesting to try and maintain that innocence in this underworld of drug smuggling. In the first part of the story, his innocence is understandable because he’s exposed to very little but when he starts being exposed to the more exciting and dangerous things in the world it’s a bit more difficult to maintain that.”

How did you handle the careful balance of comedy and drama?

“We have a great premise that lends itself to great drama but also engenders chuckles, but because the way we were telling the story is so dramatic, we felt like it could always use more humour – at its heart is a fish out of water story, and there would be some funny scenes, but coming from a real place. What we settled on in the movie was more realistic – the drug deals are clumsy, the characters are not as violent as you’d suspect somebody who’s a drug impresario might be – the characters are all realistic and all the scenes are dealt with authentically.”

Did the film’s hurried shoot present any particular challenges for you?

“You spend two years in meetings, for an 18-day shoot, which was so wonderful, but it’s so quick compared to the amount of time you try to get it made. You have 18 days on these rushed sets – but that’s my favourite part. It’s those moments where it feels real and exciting. It’s a lot easier to shoot a movie in 18 days than it is to shoot a movie in 80 days. You build up a momentum and learn to not question things in the same way – it’s very difficult for me to spend 5 months in the emotional place of a character, whereas Holy Rollers we were shooting every day, 14 hours a day, and to me nothing lends itself to being creative more than efficiency.”

Holy Rollers is out in cinemas now.

Kevin Asch’s Holy Rollers, with its Antonio Macia’s script is the supposed true story about a young Jewish man not being able to cope with rejection and his descent into the world of drugs. Our protagonist is a good Jew, he works for his dad and continues to enjoy life despite his family being poor. Sam (Jesse Eisenberg) is set to learn to become a Rabbi and go ahead with his arranged marriage, but all this falls apart after he agrees to work with Yosef (Justin Bartha) to smuggle `medicine for rich people’ into America. With this poor judgement Sam’s life is changed forever.

After Sam returns from his first trip with Yosef and his younger brother his life gets worse. As he gets deeper into the world of drug dealing he is slowly getting alienated from the only thing he has ever known, the Jewish community. Being alienated like this is akin to losing everything. There are countless films about drugs and traditionally they take one of two directions, they either tell a tale of crime or debauchery. Holy Rollers does neither, it’s about the changing face of relationships.

Now I don’t mean to come across as intolerant. I know, that’s what all the racists say when they are about to impart some sagely racism. Anyway, there was a point where I was struggling with the film and that was during the opening 15 to 20 minutes in which the film is neck-deep in Jewish culture and society. Everyone speaks with a Jewish vernacular or in Hebrew, it’s like watching world cinema without subtitles. I found this to be a great struggle, as will anybody who isn’t savvy with the Jewish faith.

After the first act, the pace picked up as the isolated world of traditional Judaism was left behind and we joined mainstream culture, which made the dialogue easier to understand for a more broad audience. On the other hand, this could be the intention of the film to put you in a world that you don’t understand so when Sam’s world changes from one encircled by religion and community spirit to a world of drugs, crime and loose women you understand why he struggles to adapt.

Not only does the story become much less isolated, the visual style of the director comes to the fore. Now that I wasn’t confused and bamboozled by the films vernacular I could understand the direction of the film. Asch has shot his film with handheld cameras and grainy picture quality giving the film a realistic timber over a fantastical one, making this yet another indie film that uses the visual style similar to that of a documentary.

Take films like Blow, the direction tends to bamboozle by being overtly flashy, not here. The direction in Holy Rollers is subtle which allows the story and the character study to take centre stage. After reading into the film and its actors I found out that Eisenberg and Bartha are close friends. This makes sense as whenever they are on-screen together it doesn’t come across as two people pretending to be friends, these ARE friends. Such inspired casting feeds into the films naturalistic vibe.

As with any character study it’s only as good or successful as the actor’s performances. The supporting cast does everything it needs to not to draw attention away from the main cast. That is except Mark Ivanir as Sam’s dad – Mendel. He is the face of the community’s outrage without his role or the emotion of his performance Sam’s exile from the community would have been informed solely by glaring eyes. The two central players offered up plenty to praise. Eisenberg is better here than in the role he was Oscar nominated for. He expresses his emotions, naïveté and confusion with magnificent results. I will say this though, Eisenberg is a really ugly crier, authentic but ugly. Justin Bartha plays what would normally be a monster as a nice guy who made some wrong decisions; it’s one of the increasingly rare performances that is a joy to watch despite him creating all of Holy Rollers conflict.

The film may have plenty to praise, unfortunately it doesn’t equal a great film. This is because of the pacing which betrays everything positive in Asch’s vision. The opening third lasts 20 minutes, the middle third lasts an hour and the final third lasts about 5 minutes. The narrative was wrapped up incredible pace all but killing any emotional pay off.

Released over a year ago in the US, this true-life drama about naïve young Hasidic Jews unwittingly smuggling Ecstasy into Brooklyn in the late 90s would probably have skipped UK cinemas entirely if not for the presence of Jesse Eisenberg, whose star status has increased considerably following his acclaimed turn in The Social Network. Here he plays Sam, a devout 20-year-old Hasid, beginning to see the cracks in his family’s sheltered religion. When rebellious neighbour Yosef (excellently played by The Hangover’s Justin Bartha) offers him the opportunity to make money importing ‘medicines’, Sam’s eyes are opened to a very different side of the world.

As a drug-smuggling drama, Holy Rollers is conventional, predictable stuff, but Kevin Asche’s film is compelling in its focus on Sam’s relationship to his faith; this element layers some much-needed complexity into the film’s formulaic coming-of-age storyline. It is not a simple case of Sam rejecting his faith and embracing a life of crime; his Judaism continues to define him, and that internal tension of living with inescapable religious conviction while trying to in some way break free is subtly and effectively given flesh in Eisenberg’s understated performance.

Selected release from Friday 8 Jul. This review first published in The List magazine.

“Overall this is a drama that never really gets going, and says a lot of things we already knew”

“for a film about comedy, it just isn’t that funny.”

First screened at the Sundance Film Festival 2010, and released in the US in May 2010 and based on true events, this frank and melancholy piece, set in a Brooklyn Jewish community is a look at the world of international drug trafficking. I do love a factual based movie, as you may have already guessed from previous posts, so I was super excited about getting to watch this nugget.

Synopsis:
Sam Gold, a young Hasidic Jew, is in preparation to become a Rabbi, is pulled into the dark and seedy world of drugs, sex and violence. His hope and dreams to marry a young Jewish girl are shattered and he begins to seek secular excitement from the drudgery of his day to day responsibilities, working for his father and attending to his devotional obligations. He becomes engulfed in this new and tumultuous world; jeopardising his walk to becoming a Rabbi and alienating himself from his devoted family and community.

Cast:
This hard tale is laid on the backs of some very talented actors; notably the lead, Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network) is wonderful as the soft spoken, timid and hesitant Sam; he toggles between the homely Sam and the worldly, neurotic Sam with such ease; it’s brilliant. Jesse’s real life baby sister, Hallie Kate Eisenberg plays younger sister Ruth. The very talented and brilliant chameleon-like TV and movie actor, Mark Ivanir, plays the humble and loving head of the household, Mendal Gold. Justin Bartha (The Hangover I/II, The Rebound, New York, I Love You) is convincing as Sam’s wayward and loose friend Yosef Zimmerman). It’s a strong cast; the characters are respectfully and wonderfully portrayed in fine style.

Buzz:
Unfortunately, since its US release, Holy Rollers has  received mostly negative reviews. Some blamed the acting, calling it “uninspiring” or “dull”; some blamed the “not-so-clear” contrast between Sam’s two very different worlds.  Perhaps the overwhelming sense that this movie lacks something has created a negative buzz, rather than the sort of buzz that usually follows true-stories. 

Thoughts:
It’s a sad day when a film, based on true events, therefore, real-life, is described as somewhat lacking in drama, or intensity or fire. When a movie based on real events, becomes lost in the blockbuster hype and is judged based on its “Hollywood-ised” deficiency, we lose sight of the reason to watch factual movies. Where so many films based on real-life go wrong, is they begin to add pieces to the film that could otherwise do more harm than good; this intrudes on the relationship between the factual story and how it is received. As this happens, we become so used to the “sexed-up “ versions of true-life movies and are not so welcoming to those that remain actually, true.  

This is a great movie. I really enjoyed it and I was engrossed. Regarding the characters: it wasn’t a fictional film, so I did not want the characters to appear so.

If it’s true, don’t butter it up for me; just tell me the story and let me make up my own mind. And that’s exactly what Holy Rollers did. A definite thumbs up!

“…Victor Gold wants his party back. Gold is the former press aide to Barry Goldwater and the former speechwriter and senior advisor for George H. W. Bush. He is incensed that the Neo-Cons and the Evangelical Right have betrayed the ideals of the conservative cause. Now he’s fighting back. A Republican insider for 40 years, Gold is ready to tell all about the war being waged for the GOP’s soul, the elder Bush’s opinion of his son’s presidency, the significance of the Democratic resurgence, and how Goldwater would have reacted to it all. Among Gold’s explosive disclosures is the truth about Cheney’s manipulation of George W., and the chilling, puppet-like role of the President amongst Neo- and Theo-Conservatives. “Entertaining, provocative . . . Mr. Gold is on to something.” -The Washington Times “For those disillusioned with the state of the GOP, this quick, uncompromising polemic provides substantial support, along with a large dose of cold comfort.” -Publishers Weekly “Like his political mentor Barry Goldwater, Gold pulls no verbal punches in telling the story of how the Bush-Cheney White House has made a mockery of the conservative values it claims to uphold.” -Frank Mankiewicz, former press secretary to Robert Kennedy and George McGovern’s campaign manager “Victor Gold unleashes a bitter yet comic blend of ferocity and ridicule at the neo-conservatives and theocrats who have taken over his party.”

 -Jules Witcover

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/invasion-of-the-party-snatchers-victor-gold/1019419946?ean=9781402247903&itm=1&usri=victor%2bgold

Victor Gold Speech pt1

Victor Gold Speech pt2

Victor Gold Speech pt3

Neo-cons: Invasion of the Party Snatchers Part 1

Neo-cons: Invasion of the Party Snatchers Part 2

Related Posts On Pronk Palisades

Neoconservatives–Not New and Not Conservative–American Empire Interventionists

Hellcats vs. Cherrybombs

Roller Derby is an American traditional sport for entertainment more than competition. The goal of the roller derby members is to lap the other team before the end of the match. The all-female sport has grown so much since the 1920s, that it is considered part of the third wave of feminism.

The city of Austin has become a part of roller derby world in 2001 and under the Austin system of Texas Roller Derby Lonestar Rollergirls, are housed five teams; The Holy Rollers, The Cherry Bombs, The Rhinestone Cowgirls, The Hellcats, and The Putas de Fuego.

The derby teams are very much supported by the city of Austin. The Texas Roller Derby Lonestar Rollergirls are sponsored by companies all around the city  including, Austin’s Pizza, Coyote Ugly, Emo’s and Kerbey Lane Café.

Roller Derby events are held at the Palmer Events Center, admission will only run you about $15/person. The next big TXRD show is scheduled for May 14!

Go out an support TXRD, “the most entertaining sport in the world!”

http://www.TXRD.com

It’s hard to be patriotic when you know the officials who say one thing end up doing another.  This is what I call a hidden agenda.  They tell people what they want to hear just to get elected then once they’re in, it’s a whole new game.  The reason I wrote this post (which are several reasons really) is because Government officials in Georgia want to reconstruct Christianity by enforcing the laws of the bible.

These government officials are religious holy rollers who are reconstructing Christianity to suit their beliefs and in the process will take rights away from many.  If this is going on in Georgia, how long do you think it will take other states to pick up on it?  Not very long.

I think personal decisions should be left up to the individual.  Everyone on this earth is one individual with different views, lifestyles, and we all make choices whether they may be right or wrong.  But if we are different, meaning there are no two people alike, then exactly what is right or wrong?  For example, what might be right to me may be wrong to you.  What may be right to you may be wrong to me.   We can’t live by the assumption that there is only “ONE” right and only “ONE” wrong because as individuals we have to make choices every day that best suits our needs.

http://superrecognizer.wordpress.com/2011/02/02/holy-rollers-perform-above-the-law-from-1985/

Kevin Asch 2010, US distribution by First Independent Pictures

Sadly renamed The Jewish Connection for the European market….

Directed by Kevin Asch (2010) Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Bartha, Danny A. Abeckaser, Jason Fuchs

Sam Gold (Eisenberg) is a Hassidic Jew who works at his father’s fabric shop while studying to become a rabbi.  He wants to get married, but his hopes are stymied in the face of his family’s poverty.  When his neighbor Yosef (Bartha) gives him the opportunity to make more money by smuggling medicine in from Europe, he agrees, continuing with the trade even after its revealed that they are smuggling ecstasy.

Sam is contrasted with his friend, and Yosef’s younger brother, Leon (Fuchs), who drops out of the smuggling group when he finds out that they’re bringing back drugs.  Leon is posed as who Sam could be–he’s a better student than Sam and holds no moral qualms when informing their mother what Yosef is doing.  Unfortunately, this hurts the friendship, even more so when Leon gets the blessing to marry the girl who was previously engaged to Sam.  However, come the end of the film, its clear that Leon plays a very important role in Sam’s life, especially when smuggling the ecstasy becomes a crisis of faith.

Switching from a life that is determined in creating a separate, conservative religious community to the fast life of girls, drugs, and clubbing, it’s clear that Sam has been thrown into a difficult situation.  He’s strained between the easy money and fun he gets in the new job, while having to hide the details away from his family.  When he’s discovered, it’s complete shame and he is forced out of the community.  The community of his job– having fun with Yosef, experiencing a one-sided relationship with Rachel (Ari Graynor), and convincing others to join the organization– seems like a better option, at least money-wise.  However, when the crisis becomes too much, the most poignant scene is when Sam meets a Dutch Jew on the streets of Amsterdam and prays.

Holy Rollers has an unusual situation from the get-go as a religious minority, but the stresses of familial expectation and money woes makes Sam’s decision to continue understandable, but his eventual return to conservative faith makes for a fascinating watch.  Jesse Eisenberg gives an impressive performance as he leaves his safety zone of nerdy jerks to a character based off a true story.  He plays it honestly, and its a pleasure to watch.

I think I’ve still got this single somewhere in the house. 45 RPM. This is just too good a piece of music and a clip with too much nostalgia value to be forgotten, don’t you think? Are you old enough to remember the Perth to Fremantle line powered by diesel engines, with orange-coloured passenger cars? I loved the gentle, deep drone of a diesel engine. So many memories…..

One of the guitars in this track makes a lovely warm sound that is about the same tint of brown as the lead singer’s hair colour. The scenery in the background of this clip is just the type of thing that I often involuntarily “see” in my mind’s eye while I’m doing manual chores around the house, in a form of synaesthesia in which fine-motor movements of the hands trigger visual memories of scenes, often scenes from the distant past, of places which I didn’t visit often or didn’t expect to visit again. There’s obviously a lot of connections in my brain between the part of parts of my brain that do fine motor movement, or maybe procedural memory, and the part or parts of my brain that store visual memories of scenes. It is especially interesting that I’ve got synaesthesia involving visual memories of scenes because the part of the brain that does scene recognition (the parahippocampal place area or PPA) “is often considered the complement of the fusiform face area (FFA)” according to the Wikipedia and some people who can’t recognize faces also can’t recognize scenes. As well as being a synaesthete I get perfect scores in face recognition tests, and am thus probably also a super-recognizer.