Holy Rollers

Since I was a kid I always had a fascination with Hasidim, now I live in a city and area that serves as a mecca for many hasidic families from around the world. The garb, the germanic sounds of yiddish, the sea of sukkahs perched out from apartment buildings around Williamsburg have me wondering what is happening on the inside of this community. Its very rare that you can catch any sort of glimpse as to what is going on behind closed doors, to my knowledge there is only one documentary, "A Life Apart" which is actually pretty great but very outdated. Throughout the years there's been few well known controversies that have come out of the hasidic community but one of the biggest has to do with the introduction of ecstasy to the United States.

"Holy Rollers" is based on a true story, taking place during the nineties, hasidic jews from Brooklyn were recruited as drug mules to smuggle in ecstasy tablets from Amsterdam. Each person was paid roughly $1,500 and given a free trip to Europe in order to do this job, what young sheltered individual that will soon be providing for a family would want to pass that up? Especially when you are told you are merely transporting medicine or diamonds. The film follows Sam Gold a young hasidic man who is not content with his current life and profession. He is approached by his neighbor who claims to work in pharmaceuticals and offers him the chance to join him in traveling and making money. Even after he finds out what is really going on he goes further down the rabbit hole in a quest for happiness and independence. One of my favorite scenes seen above was did not use extras, instead they shot down a street in a hasidic neighborhood in Brooklyn capturing the true reactions of people walking by which gives a true sense of what it is like to be ostracized amongst this community.

I really enjoyed "Holy Rollers", Jesse Eisenberg sort of plays the same character we know him to be, shy, timid, quiet. But also exhibits desperation and characteristics of being a lost individual. Actress Ari Graynor really won me over as well, I have seen her here and there in a couple of things but she has a charm and realness to her that should be appreciated, but she was also able to give us a glimpse of what it is like to be one of those people who seem to be in control but really are just as lost and looking for something like the rest of us. Joseph Zimmerman does a good job of playing Sam's self absorbed neighbor and douche bag who is quickly spiraling out of control as well. Im a sucker for a movie based on true intense events and this was very satisfying. Click here for more info on the Hasidic Ecstasy Ring

Holy Rollers
Released 2010
Directed By Kevin Asch

"The internets not written in pencil Mark, it's written in ink" - The Social Network

Do you remember when your school got added to "The Facebook"? Remember when it was called "The Facebook"? I do, as will most people my age. The Social Network blew my mind. I was bummed to see it end and going on Facebook after just felt odd to say the least. Some people have expressed to me that they have absolutely no interest in seeing this movie and that they actually hate Facebook (yet still have accounts?). But in my opinion, I dont care if you hate Facebook, you have to admit that its creation is one of the defining moments of our generation and modern times and it cant hurt to go see an extremely good movie about the building of this empire.


The Social Network is the story of Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) a Harvard student struggling to find his place in a school full of over achievers, heirs to excessive amounts of wealth and an overwhelming desire to be "somebody". After a drunken blog rant he creates a site, "Face Smash" (a site allowing you to decide who is hottest between two girls images), in a matter of hours the traffic brings down the schools server landing Mark in hot water with the school board. Hes soon approached by the Winklevoss twins (Both Cameron and Tyler are played by Armie Hammer), identical twin rowing powerhouses who are everything Mark desires to be; good looking, rich, powerful and popular. The twins and their friend Divya Narendra (Max Minghella) proposition Zuckerberg to help them code a site for social networking and dating that is exclusive to Harvard. Zuckerberg takes the boys for a ride for a little while without ever doing any actual work for them and eventually pulls out, at the same time he unveils The Facebook with the help of his only real friend Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield).

The story is told through scenes of two separate lawsuits that were later filed by the Winklevoss twins/Divya and Eduardo Saverin, the rest of the film is in real time as the events are described by the boys involved. I couldnt imagine The Social Network being any other way, in terms of cast, writing, cinematography, everything fit the film. Eisenbergs performance as Zuckerberg was completely different than any other character he has played in a film before, for once he plays an asshole. As most know the real Zuckerberg declined to take part in the films production (however Natalie Portman has been linked to helping some due to the fact that she dating someone involved in an exclusive final club within Harvard that Eduardo was apart of) so who knows how he really is but its not the best portrayal of him as a person. Hammer as both Winklevoss twins was also brilliant, stitching his face on the second twin was done seamlessly and it was awesome to be able to see the differences in both characters. Since seeing the film I have gotten into numerous discussions over who created Facebook and was Zuckerberg at fault for being sued. I think that he created Facebook and was sued out of jealousy to an extent and like he says in the film, "If they could have created Facebook, they would have". Case and point.

As for the visual aspect of the film, there really was not a thing I wanted to complain about. I felt the saturation and dark color palette was appropriate and fit the tone. One of the most talked about scenes being the rowing competition the Winklevoss twins take part in which is one of the first times the "tilt shift" technique has been used in a film. I will say anytime I see this technique I am immediately taken back to my days of sophomore year in college where as a photography major one is required to take view camera and learn the ways of tilting and swinging. In photographs this has been overdone a bit at this point, mainly because you can easily apply this look in photoshop, however seeing it on film in a major motion picture is very new and done nicely in this scene.



The Social Network
Released 2010
Directed by David Fincher

"You almost knocked over your alcohol with your knife"-Zombieland

Zombieland was in one word, AWESOME. It had everything, action, a decent love story, comedy, great cinematography. The reviews had been really good, basically saying that it was a sleeper from this year and I agree, I think people should really give it a chance even if it isnt their "typical type" of movie they would be into.

The story takes place in a post apocalyptic sort of world where the zombie virus is running rampant (a mad cow mutation of some kind) and causing humans to be outnumbered. We dont learn character names, they are only referred to by their city they are traveling to in order to find any surviving friends or family. Columbus is your typical uptight, nerdy, Michael Cera sort of character who is forced to man up to protect himself in his new found violent world. No longer hiding himself from living life by playing video games in the comfort of his dorm, he sets out to find his family in Ohio. He has a list of rules which he follows to keep himself alive; for example Rule #2 The Double Tap, which is genius because I think at some point we have all watched a horror movie where we wonder why the hell did the character not shoot the "villain" more than once to make sure theyre dead?!

Eventually he meets self proclaimed badass Tallahassee who has lost a loved one and merely searching for a new place to call home and kicking zombie ass and taking names along the way. He also teams up with Wichita and her sister Little Rock who are headed to an amusement park in California that is rumored to be zombie free. Along the way they grow closer, get into danger, find joys in the little things left of human life and blow a ton of zombies apart the whole way.