(no subject)
Dec. 5th, 2021 11:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seekingferretEight Gifts of Hanukkah
For the past several years, the Hallmark Channel has aired one Chanukah movie a year along with its slate of, like, a Christmas movie premiere every day for all of November and December. So you can see, Much Jewish Representation. What is more, these movies have typically featured romances between one Jewish character and one Christian character. Whatever the merits of such relationships, the consequence is that even these so-called Chanukah movies have also had the character of Christmas movies, often much more than they had any Chanukah narrative. Furthermore, some of these movies trafficked in Unfortunate Jewish Tropes: Holiday Date required the Jewish male lead to be a sneak who was constantly lying about his identity in order to woo a Christian woman; Love, Lights, Hannukah made a meal out of Jewish blood being the dominant determinant of Jewish identity.In Mistletoe and Menorahs the Jewish lead literally had horns.
So I was not exactly expecting much of Eight Gifts of Hanukkah, and... it's not per se a good movie? But it's quite good for a Hallmark movie, and it was responsive to all of our complaints about previous Hallmark Chanukah movies, so, Good Job Hallmark! It's an actual Chanukah movie where nobody thinks about Christmas. It portrays a range of Jewish observances from the half-Jew for whom Jewishness matters but isn't a central concern to the romantic lead who prioritizes observance of Jewish holiday rituals because it connects her to family and tradition. And it's funny! The jokes actually land, they made me laugh out loud several times both with verbal humor and physical comedy. And the romantic chemistry between the leads is real, and the female romantic lead has chemistry with her other suitors too so that the conflict in the plot feels real, and JEWS DANCE. Like, a lot. Jews dancing not because we are good at it but because it's fun and finding ways to celebrate is important to us is actually the driver of one of the movie's key scenes. The male lead tries to teach the female lead how to dance and instead she settles for just swaying with him because the act itself is more important than doing it "right".
Inbar Lavi was great in Impostors and she is perfectly charming here. So yeah, if you want to watch a Hallmark Chanukah movie, a dubious if, I recommend this one.
PEN15 S2 Part 2 Episode 1 "Bat Mitzvah"
I do not find PEN15 funny, but they've been hyping the Bat Mitzvah episode for a while and it kept getting its airdate pushed back because of pandemic, so I was kind of delighted that it aired the same day as Eight Gifts of Hanukkah. JEWS DANCE IN THIS EPISODE.
For the past several years, the Hallmark Channel has aired one Chanukah movie a year along with its slate of, like, a Christmas movie premiere every day for all of November and December. So you can see, Much Jewish Representation. What is more, these movies have typically featured romances between one Jewish character and one Christian character. Whatever the merits of such relationships, the consequence is that even these so-called Chanukah movies have also had the character of Christmas movies, often much more than they had any Chanukah narrative. Furthermore, some of these movies trafficked in Unfortunate Jewish Tropes: Holiday Date required the Jewish male lead to be a sneak who was constantly lying about his identity in order to woo a Christian woman; Love, Lights, Hannukah made a meal out of Jewish blood being the dominant determinant of Jewish identity.
So I was not exactly expecting much of Eight Gifts of Hanukkah, and... it's not per se a good movie? But it's quite good for a Hallmark movie, and it was responsive to all of our complaints about previous Hallmark Chanukah movies, so, Good Job Hallmark! It's an actual Chanukah movie where nobody thinks about Christmas. It portrays a range of Jewish observances from the half-Jew for whom Jewishness matters but isn't a central concern to the romantic lead who prioritizes observance of Jewish holiday rituals because it connects her to family and tradition. And it's funny! The jokes actually land, they made me laugh out loud several times both with verbal humor and physical comedy. And the romantic chemistry between the leads is real, and the female romantic lead has chemistry with her other suitors too so that the conflict in the plot feels real, and JEWS DANCE. Like, a lot. Jews dancing not because we are good at it but because it's fun and finding ways to celebrate is important to us is actually the driver of one of the movie's key scenes. The male lead tries to teach the female lead how to dance and instead she settles for just swaying with him because the act itself is more important than doing it "right".
Inbar Lavi was great in Impostors and she is perfectly charming here. So yeah, if you want to watch a Hallmark Chanukah movie, a dubious if, I recommend this one.
PEN15 S2 Part 2 Episode 1 "Bat Mitzvah"
I do not find PEN15 funny, but they've been hyping the Bat Mitzvah episode for a while and it kept getting its airdate pushed back because of pandemic, so I was kind of delighted that it aired the same day as Eight Gifts of Hanukkah. JEWS DANCE IN THIS EPISODE.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-05 05:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-05 07:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-06 12:50 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-06 03:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-07 03:47 am (UTC)people like me who will watch any movie as long as Jews dance. They've been gradually year by year adding more and more Jewish flavor to the movies while still trying desperately to avoid offending their core audience. Last year's movie actually wasn't too terrible, either, honestly, I just didn't love the DNA test part of it.(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-07 05:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-06 08:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2024-12-16 07:06 am (UTC)I have no opinion on how good of a Hannukah film it is, but it is an abysmal failure as a Seattle film. From the first shot, with a foot of snow on the ground, and yet, somehow, crowds of people not panicking and acting like everything was normal -- AND the sidewalks and roadways efficiently and effectively cleared! AND no one talking about this SNOW, omg the SNOW, the historic SNOW!!! -- right through the final scenes over a week later when there was STILL snow on the ground... *shakes my head sadly*
But it was nonetheless a charming film, and adequately entertaining as long as one doesn't have to watch commercials during it. Which is the advantage of library DVDs!
(no subject)
Date: 2024-12-16 01:57 pm (UTC)I'm glad you liked it, it's no Round and Round but it's still one of my favorite Hallmark Hanukkah films!
(no subject)
Date: 2024-12-16 02:34 pm (UTC)Eh, there wasn't much commitment to the Seattle setting: a few establishing shots of the Space Needle and the word "Seattle" was said at least once, maybe even twice. If Seattle hadn't been a city I have an emotional connection to, I doubt I would have noticed or cared.
Round and Round sounds like a fun plot! The library doesn't have it, but I'll see if I can lay hands on it by other channels.
(no subject)
Date: 2024-12-22 05:35 pm (UTC)Thank you for the rec!
(no subject)
Date: 2024-12-22 05:39 pm (UTC)