Saul and Ruby’s Holocaust Survivor Band HHHH DIRECTOR: Tod Lending PLAYERS: Saul Dreier, Ruby Sosnowicz DOCUMENTARY NOT RATED
Someone, Somewhere HHHH
DIRECTOR: Cédric Klapisch PLAYERS: François Civil, Ana Girardot FOREIGN FILM/COMEDY NOT RATED
Need a boost in these difficult times? Look no further than Saul and Ruby’s Holocaust Survivor Band. Tod Lending’s loving, humorous and frequently moving documentary chronicles the friendship between 91-year-old drummer Saul Dreier and 87-years-young keyboardist/accordionist Ruby Sosnowicz, as well as the adventures of their titular ensemble, composed of fellow victors over the Nazi regime’s atrocities. Now enjoying the good life in Florida, the two men — yes, Ruby is a dude — perform music regularly and, rather than just stay in their community, offer Lending the compelling narrative of the group’s efforts to raise funds to perform in Poland, specifically in Auschwitz and Warsaw. The quest of reconciliation and defiance is important to the guys and Ruby’s daughter Chana, who sings in the band and helps (the understatement of the year) with logistics and organization. Copious humor arises through their rehearsals and Saul’s drum “lessons,” including plentiful bickering and other behind-the-scenes shenanigans that may inspire viewers to revisit This Is Spinal Tap. But considerable drama also stems from both fellows’ wives’ health issues, and, as one might expect with a film called Saul and Ruby’s Holocaust Survivor Band, there’s significant power in the rarity of their musical offerings, which also resonates with the people who come hear them play. Those emotions become amplified once the guys return to their homeland, both with sympathetic and empathetic concert attendees, and as the gents return to scenes of great pain from their storied pasts, which reveal some surprising connections with a certain Spielberg film. Lending captures it all with a steady hand and he edits with a sharp sense for entertainment and human interest, limiting the film’s run time to a fitting 81 minutes. As a result, the band’s core messages are heard even clearer: Remember the past and stop the current rise of anti-Semitism. Available April 22-24 via fineartstheatre.com
The new French film Someone, Somewhere was originally titled Deux Moi, which means, more or less, Two of Me. But if the U.S. distributors had really wanted a good American title, they could have dubbed it Sleepless in Paris, since it’s about two lonely people who might be the cure for one another’s melancholy — if only they would meet. Rémy (François Civil, Frank) works for an Amazon-like distribution center that’s busy replacing humans with robots. He seems impervious to stress but isn’t happy and can’t sleep. Mélanie (Ana Girardot, Escobar: Paradise Lost) is worried that she sleeps too much. She’s a graduate student and researcher nervously preparing for her first major presentation. The movie follows each of them through their lives in a series of smart, funny vignettes: Rémy spectacularly failing a job interview; Mélanie having a series of bad dates from online match sites; and so on. They live, of course, on the same floor in adjacent buildings and (almost) cross paths in their local pharmacy or in the Middle Eastern market where they shop — and Rémy even smells the smoke from Mélanie’s cigarette when they’re both on their oh-so-close balconies. They even consecutively adopt the same adorable white kitten who’s therapeutic for each of them. But they don’t meet until — let’s just say “later.” It’s not overreaching to state that Someone, Somewhere is less about Rémy and Mélanie than it is about modern alienation and isolation. But that’s not likely to repel viewers, because the theme is so well grounded in narrative, in familiar behaviors and situations and feelings we all recognize. Most importantly, the lead actors, Civil and Girardot, are completely believable and sympathetic, which gives the movie emotional weight despite its episodic plotting. The final third of Someone, Somewhere may be a bit longer than it needs to be, especially once viewers can see where it’s going, but the ending is still satisfying — hopeful yet not saccharine. It’s a happy jolt of espresso, hold the sugar.
REVIEWED BY EDWIN ARNAUDIN EARNAUDIN@MOUNTAINX.COM
REVIEWED BY BRUCE STEELE BCSTEELE@GMAIL.COM
“Why are they publishing this Crier rubbish?” you may be asking. We certainly are. The rest of this edition of Mountain Xpress can’t help but show the tough times WNC is facing. Here’s one little spot in the paper where we offer a bit of levity, to possibly brighten someone’s day, poking a bit of fun at the outrageousness of it all.
COURTSHIP ACTIVITIES RETURN TO ROOTS The lonely in love are, well, lonelier right now. It’s easy to match online, but then what? Meeting for coffee is a no-go, much less dinner and a movie. But dating apps are offering courting advice that hearkens back to earlier times — now with a CDC-approved twist. For a first date, the tEnder app recommends scheduling your weekly grocery run at the same Ingles, where you could lock eyes and share a wink above a masked mouth from opposite sides of the produce department. Two gloved hands may even grab for the same banana. If sparks fly while hunting and gathering, enjoy a picnic by the park, each of you ordering takeout and dining on adjacent benches, beneath the ambiance of an LED street lamp. Be sure to disinfect the bench before and afterward as a Mr. Manners-approved courtesy. Discuss the shared experience over video chat from just a few yards apart. “Parking,” the retro rendezvous accompanied by “heavy petting,” is possible in separate cars, offers PlayWithMatches.com. Dates can caravan to a scenic overlook and paw themselves while staring longingly through two panes of glass at their courting partner. MediocreEros.com even has ideas for getting physical. Revive the Colonial American practice of “bundling” for an exciting blast from the past. After donning masks, gloves and face shields, family members can encase the lovebirds in individual plastic wrap cocoons and place them next to one another in bed for a night of chaste, protected bodily intimacy. Local health department nurse Healy Wells was skeptical of these and other suggestions from dating services, commenting, “Good luck with all that: We couldn’t even get people to wear condoms while hooking up with random strangers before all this pandemic business.”
DUMPS LIKE A TRUCK (TRUCK, TRUCK) The Laborers’ International Union of North America may have dismissed noted Leicester-based conspiracy theorist Wanda Offthemap‘s claim that COVID-19 is a giant ruse for construction crews to catch up on projects as “total bunkum, pun most definitely intended,” but local industry workers aren’t denying the benefits of a largely empty Asheville. “We’re adopting the reverse Field of Dreams approach: If no one comes, we can build it,” says project chief George Foreman. “Could we do any of this alongside bachelorette parties and Stu Helm’s food tours? Or tourists driving between art studios and not buying anything? I think not.” In addition to the “subterranean gutting” of Haywood, Walnut and College streets, during which his crew claimed to see “multiple Ninja Turtles,” Foreman is spearheading the new roundabout project by the entrance to Wedge Brewing Co.’s parking lot. Touted as a tribute to European motorists, the traffic pattern replacing the five-point intersection is actually primarily intended “to [mess] with Southerners who weren’t taught how to maneuver them in Driver’s Ed.” Though Foreman referred to the existing “right of way nightmare” as “the greatest opportunity for Asheville drivers to show their asses, outside of crosswalks and highway on-ramps,” he’s confident in the potential entertainment value of three roundabouts within a half-mile of each other. “Rooftop viewing decks in this stretch of the RAD are going to be the new microbreweries. And if you have a brewery with a rooftop spot? Look out!” he says. “I’m going to call my broker now.” MOUNTAINX.COM
APRIL 22-28, 2020
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