A New Spielberg Film and an Olive Oil Festival: Weekend Picks
Television
Tina Fey Presents: First-World Problems. "The Four Seasons," Tina Fey’s hit series, returned to Netflix for a second season and quickly climbed back to the top of the viewing charts. The series was originally based on Alan Alda’s 1981 film, in which three longtime couples meet each season for a shared vacation. The new season calls to mind another fine film from those years, "The Big Chill" from 1983, in which a group of friends gathers around the death of one of their own. Here too, the group reunites after the death of Nick (Steve Carell), who is killed in an accident. It opens in spring, as they look for a place to scatter his ashes. Nick’s death is a twist by Fey and her co-creators, Lang Fisher and Tracey Wigfield, and does not appear in the original film. The second season frees the creators from the source material. Only the framework remains, the seasonal gatherings, along with Vivaldi’s familiar music that accompanies them all. This is an engrossing, charming, light series, truly featherweight, with wistful touches about people of a certain age, their 50s, and a certain class, well-off enough to go on vacation in Italy this year. Their troubles feel scripted. It is hard to identify with them, not only because our troubles here are bigger, but also because it seems the creators wrote characters, not human beings. Ruta Kupfer
Film
The aliens have landed, and Spielberg takes off with the ultimate summer movie. Steven Spielberg returns for the fourth time in his career to the subject of aliens in his new film, "The Discovery." Even though he will turn 80 in six months, the film is directed with the energy of an enthusiastic teenager in love with cinema, and there is not a shot or scene without a cinematic flourish. It is an action-adventure film, inspired by Hitchcock films such as "The Man Who Knew Too Much" and "North by Northwest." For nearly two hours, an intense chase unfolds as Emily Blunt and Josh O'Connor flee government agents led by Colin Firth, who tries to prevent them from leaking the information the U.S. government is most determined to suppress, that aliens do in fact exist and have indeed landed on Earth. A topic that has recently become relevant. "The Discovery" is above all a spectacular and exhilarating summer movie in which Spielberg returns to work with his regular cinematographer, Janusz Kamiński, and composer John Williams, in their 30th collaboration, but as always, Spielberg uses aliens to say meaningful things about human beings and for them. It is worth listening to him. Yair Raveh
Food
Torn between an olive oil festival and the best producers from the north. Today, "Golden Trail," dedicated to olive oil and this time also to tomatoes, is taking place again at Tel Aviv Market in Haifa. The market restaurants are serving dishes accordingly: at the natural wine bar Zoru Zoru, they are making almond milk gazpacho with tomatoes, plums and Fattoura olive oil, and at the Japanese restaurant Koji, they are serving peeled cherry tomatoes in marinade with fish sashimi and olive oil. At the same time, there are meetings with plant researchers and guided olive oil tastings. At Sarona Market, the "Northern Grain" fair is taking place today and tomorrow, with the best producers from the north: Hanoked Dairy, Tana Bread, Assaf Wineries, Julia and Recanati, Orly Sitbon Patisserie from Nahariya, Olegar Distillery, and others. Hilik Gorfinkel
Theater
Look at them and you will see us. The play "Simple Actions," running at Habima, ends on October 6, just hours before all our lives turned upside down. It offers a glimpse into three Friday-night dinners at the home of an Israeli family in a kibbutz in the Gaza envelope, ritual blessings, games, recipe exchanges, jokes and a constant effort to preserve domestic peace. The strength of the play lies in the fact that the characters do not know what will happen a few hours later, while the audience knows very well. "The characters' naivete meets my naivete," playwright Yotam Gotel told me in an interview six months ago. The play exposes the cracks that opened beneath the surface and the family members’ sincere attempt to preserve the values that matter to them. It is a work full of humor and pain, free of clichés and very Israeli, touching on urgent issues. Gotel does not choose sides and does not try to deliver an unambiguous political message. There are no screams or thunderous drama on stage, in part thanks to Ariel Wolf’s precise and sensitive direction, and the credible acting of the excellent ensemble, including Lillian Brat, Tomer Sharon, Osnat Fishman, Dov Reiser, Hagar Tishman and Miki Peleg Rothstein. Maya Nahum Shachal
Shopping
Dressing right for summer events. Summer is approaching, dreams of a vacation are taking shape, wedding and event season is also already here, and there is nothing more versatile than the new summer collection by designer El Sasson. Airy cotton pieces such as the Sofia dress and Daniel pants, lightweight silk or unique lace and embroidery, relaxed-cut trousers and sheer dresses and skirts, such as the Isla skirt or Eve pants. Sasson, the daughter of "the King of Jeans" Maurice Sasson, has also created cashmere knits in beautiful pastel shades that are a wonderful addition to the wardrobe. The nonchalant pieces can be worn day and night, at the beach and in the city, at home or on vacation. "Fashion should be free, it should flow," she says. Anyone looking for quality fabrics, beautiful lace and crochet pieces made of cotton thread, unique cuts, attention to detail, and a boho chic 1970s spirit will have trouble choosing just one item. To buy, click here. Elite Minmar
Book
A moving new memoir for Yaara Shachori. Yaara Shachori’s new book, "Portrait of My Mother" (Keter), is a lyrical and beautiful memoir, a personal journey into the depths of her mother’s life. The book is divided into three parts, and the first is devoted to the story of the mother’s life, a tumultuous woman, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, who lost her father at age 11 and grew up in the shadow of a mentally ill mother. With a gentle yet piercing gaze, Shachori examines her mother’s character, her memories and her own, puts herself on trial and rereads things anew, and the result is a complete and moving work. Shachori, one of the most prominent and respected voices in contemporary Israeli literature, is also the editor of original Hebrew titles at Keter, and often writes about women and femininity and about adolescence and growing up. Shiri Lev-Ari