The American movie business has always been closely tied with the Jewish community. Many of the most talented Jews on Vaudeville stages, like the Marx Brothers and George Burns, transitioned to the big screen where they offered up the wit and humor their audiences loved to viewers all over the world. It wouldn't be until much later that films started to overtly depict Jews, especially in candid portrayals of Jewish family life. The following three films are funny, touching and honest windows into American Jewish homes at different times in history.
Brighton Beach Memoirs (1986)
Neil Simon's 1983 stage comedy Brighton Beach Memoirs is the first of three semi-autobiographical plays he wrote about life as a Jew in America in the 20th century. It was adapted for the screen three years later. Brighton Beach Memoirs tells the story of the Jerome family, Polish Jews living in New York in the late 1930's. The main character, Eugene, is a gawky teen who acts as an observer of his family in a troubled time. It's a very funny, human comedy with the specter of World War II and the echoes of the Great Depression in the background. It depicts a tight-knit Jewish family becoming a part of the American cultural tapestry, holding onto tradition but joining in the rush of innovation.
Liberty Heights (1999)
Barry Levinson wrote and directed this 1950's period piece about a Jewish family living in Baltimore, Maryland amid the turmoil of the Civil Rights Movement. It chronicles the last year the Kurtzman family spends together as their patriarch, a racketeer in the last vestiges of the Jewish mafia, struggles to maintain control of his territory while keeping his children safe. Ben Foster and Adrien Brody star as brothers Ben and Van, both experiencing antisemitism, integration and the rollercoaster of pending adulthood as cultures and generations clash.
Slums of Beverly Hills (1998)
The story of the Abromowitz family is as influenced by biblical epics as it is by the realities of life for Jews in America in the 1970's. Tamara Jenkins tells their story as a sometimes comical, sometimes tragic tale of nomadism, struggle, upheaval and family unity. Natasha Lyonne stars as teen middle child Vivian, a sharp, curious girl who finds herself surrounded by many flawed role models and new responsibilities. The family's religion isn't the central aspect of the story but their sensibilities and mannerisms would be familiar to anyone who grew up in a Jewish household, however mobile it may have been.