Adina Bernstein

Mothers want the best for their children. But what the parent wants is not always what the child wants.
Written and directed by Maryam Keshavarz, The Persian Version follows the mother-daughter duo of Shireen (Niousha Noor) and Leila (Layla Mohammadi). Their communication over the years has been stilted at best. As a young wife and mother, Shireen emigrated to the US from Iran with her husband and her eldest sons.
After her husband has a severe medical episode, Shireen is forced to become the...

The mother-son relationship is a complicated one, especially during one’s teen years. It can feel like you are screaming at a brick wall and the person on the other side is behind a soundproof barrier. But, with a little luck and work, the bridge to communication will eventually open.
In the new movie, Flora and Son, Flora (Eve Hewson) gave birth to her son, Max (Orén Kinlan) when she was seventeen. He has grown into a surly young man who disagrees with his mother on everything and runs to hi...

Life goes by in a blink of an eye. One second, we are young with (hopefully) years ahead of us. The next thing we know, we are middle-aged and dealing with work, family, and other daily struggles.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 is the final film in the My Big Fat Greek Wedding series. Taking place less than a year after My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, Toula (Nia Vardalos who is the star, writer, and director) is now middle-aged. She and her husband Ian (John Corbett) are as madly in love as the day t...

When facing war, a political leader knows that there will be hard choices to make. They also know that lives will be lost. The new biopic, Golda, follows the late Golda Meir (Helen Mirren) during the Yom Kippur War. She literally and figuratively bears the weight and the future of Israel on her shoulders. If Golda succeeds, the nation will have one more victory to its name. If she fails, the country will very likely cease to exist.
Jewface?
One of the big issues coming out of Hollywood these ...

Every culture has its own coming-of-age ritual. It represents the bridge between childhood and the slow growth to adulthood.
In the new Netflix movie, You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, Stacy Friedman (Sunny Sandler) is preparing for her bat mitzvah. Her parents, Danny (Sunny’s IRL father, Adam Sandler) and Bree (Idina Menzel), are eager to see their younger daughter become a young woman. Adding sarcastic commentary is their older daughter, Ronnie (Sadie Sandler, Sandler’s other real-l...

Human history is cyclical. The new Netflix documentary, Eldorado: Everything the Nazis Hate, is both a reflection of the past and a warning about the future. In the 1920s and 1930s in Berlin, the Eldorado was one of the most prominent LGBTQ clubs in the city. A haven for the queer community, it allowed for a generation to be themselves away from the more conservative pockets of society.
Doing double duty, the film shines a light on some of the more well-known patrons of the club while not shy...

It has been said that a woman’s intuition is usually correct. What matters is if others listen to her or ignore what has been said because it comes out of the mouth of a female.
The new film, The Lost King, is based on a true story. After seeing a production of Richard III in 2012, Philippa Langley (Sally Hawkins) is convinced that the King’s historical reputation is basically a lie. While balancing work, illness, and motherhood, she is determined to exonerate him and give him his due as a fo...

Warning: This article contains spoilers about the first season of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Photo by TOMMY VAN KESSEL on Unsplash
Since Star Wars premiered in 1977, the film franchise has become more than an iconic series of movies. It has opened the door to much-needed cultural change. Among this change is the place of women. Starting with Princess Leia Organa (the late Carrie Fisher), female characters are as important to the narrative and are as complex as their male counterparts.
In the recent seri...

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These days, interracial and interreligious marriage is (mostly) accepted. That does not mean, however, that the families of the engaged couples are welcoming of their child’s future spouse.
The new Netflix romantic comedy, You People, is a cinematic love child of Meet the Parents and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. Ezra (Jonah Hill) and Amira (Lauren London) are in love and engaged. Ezra comes from an Ashkenazi Jewish family and Amira comes from a Black Muslim family. A clash between thes...

Photo by Natalya Letunova on Unsplash
Burger/Fast Food Restaurants
Schnipper’s
With two locations in Manhattan ( Times Square and Midtown East), this restaurant does not disappoint. Though it is fast food, it does not leave you with the feeling of eating cheap and empty calories. The menu is much more than burgers and fries, allowing almost anyone to find something to eat.
Roll n Roaster
Located in the South Brooklyn neighborhood of Sheepshead Bay, Roll n Roaster has been around for fifty yea...

There’s something fascinating about learning who a respected artist was as a child. Seeing who they were and who they grew up to speaks volumes about who they are as human beings and a creator. Recently, two new films delved into the childhoods of two revered filmmakers: Steven Spielberg and James Gray.
Over the last few months, both filmmakers released films (both of which were based on their childhood): Spielberg’s The Fabelmans and Gray’s Armageddon Time. Within each narrative, hate and pr...

Abortion is one of those topics that are guaranteed to generate strong opinions, regardless of where one stands on the political and religious scale. At the end of the day, it is just another medical procedure. But over time, it has become a stand-in for other cultural touchstones that may never be resolved.
The new movie, Call Jane, is set in Chicago in 1968 and based on a true story. Joy (Elizabeth Banks) is a traditional housewife. Happily married to Will (Chris Messina), she has a teenage...

After two and a half years, I would love to say that Covid-19 is firmly in the rearview mirror. But it is not. Approximately 400 Americans still die every day from the virus.
The Jewish High Holidays (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur) were two weeks ago and last week, respectively. They are three of the most important days on the calendar. Traditionally, Jews take off from work and school, ask for forgiveness, and hope/pray for another year of life.
Though the synagogue that I go to did not have ...

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Adapting a beloved novel for the screen or the stage is not as easy as it appears to be. Though the characters and narrative are already set, it is up to the writers to transport the soul of the text and the voice of the original author. Without them, the adaptation rings hollow and empty.
Recently, two different small screen rewrites of Jane Austen’s novels were released. Hulu released Fire Island. It is Pride and Prejudice set among a group of five queer friends who are going on their...