Seraphic Secret

Robert J. Avrech: Emmy Award winning screenwriter. Religious Zionist. Republican. Movie fanatic. Gun owner. Helplessly and hopelessly in love with my wife since age nine.

British Cinema

Three Essential Streaming Movies

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Dana Ivgy as Zohar, Zero Motivation, 2014
Nelly Tagar as Zohar, Zero Motivation, 2014

Zero Motivation, (2014) Israel. Zohar (Dana Ivgy) and Daffi (Nelly Tagar) are two young Israeli soldiers serving on a remote army base. Stuck in the Human Resources Division, the girls are bored pencil-pushers who spend their days playing video games, singing pop songs, flirting with handsome male soldiers, and dreaming of escape to Tel Aviv. An Israeli version of MASH (1970), or Stripes (1981), it was a huge hit in Israel. Simultaneously hilarious and touching, Zero Motivation is, ultimately, a military coming-of-age movie that offers a unique glimpse into Israeli society. Netflix.

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British Star Jessie Matthews Does Weddings and Bar Mitzvahs

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Jesse Matthews
Jesse Matthews

Jessie Matthews (1907-1981) was Britain’s first and greatest international movie star.

Known as the Dancing Divinity, Matthew’s tragic and scandal-ridden life was more akin to hell on earth.

Born above a butcher shop in London’s Soho district, the seventh of eleven children, George, Jessie’s father was illiterate, a harsh and distant drunk. In contrast, Jessie’s mother, Jane, was warm and loving, but Jenny lived under the thumb of her tyrannical husband and so her unconditional love for Jessie was severely blunted by her husband’s drunken rages and frequent physical abuse.

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