Today is Sunday, December 22, 2024. As I wrote yesterday, I didn’t file an entry here yesterday since I was with my Central Islip friend “Jake” for close to 12 hours. He left a little after 1 a.m. instead of at 12:30 which we agreed on the last time he spent his time with me. The reason for this is that I put on a heartwarming holiday film from 1947 that was aired on TCM called It Happened on 5th Avenue starring a cast of recognizable names from that period, names like Don DeFore, Gale Storm, Charlie Ruggles, Victor Moore, and Ann Harding.

It’s an uplifting paean to the bounty of friendship and what is truly essential during this overly materialistic holiday season. The plot involves a drifter by the name of Aloysius “Mac” McKeever (Victor Moore) who uses the vacant, luxury townhouse of rich businessman Mike O’Connor, here played by Charlie Ruggles, as his residence during the winter while O’Conner winters in Virginia. Soon Mac invites an unemployed veteran, Jim Bullock, played by DeFore (who played the boss of Hazel in the 60s situation comedy starring Shirley Booth) who is evicted from a building owned by O’Connor to stay with him in the mogul’s townhouse. Before long, McKeever is hosting a passel of friends of Bullock’s who are homeless like he is because of a housing shortage. Then to mix up the Irish stew of residents of O’Connor’s 5th Avenue posh address comes O’Connor’s own 18-year-old daughter who is escaping from a boarding school that her father enrolled her in; she disguises who she is and passes herself off as Trudy “Smith” and immediately falls in love with Jim Bullock. Then true mayhem ensues as the real O’Connor goes looking for his daughter and is recruited to pass himself as just another vagrant by his daughter and takes residence in his own house as an unwelcome guest. This is the kind of madcap comedy and human drama that was usually directed by Frank Capra in many 30s and 40s films. Thus this movie has what is called a Capraesque feel to it, even though it was directed by someone else. Jake and I enjoyed the film and he didn’t want to leave before the movie ended, which was at 1 or so.

Anyway, Jake arrived earlier than I expected. I’m glad I put out all of the goodies before 1, since he buzzed downstairs a little after 1. I mentioned that he was early, but he just ignored that. After the customary hugs, we sat down on the couch and caught up on the last three months or so. The conversation ranged from the trivial to preparing for one’s own demise. Pretty heavy, I would say.

At some point, I entertained Jake with my proposal for going to the Kew Gardens Cinema and seeing the new Jesse Eisenberg film A Real Pain, and he concurred it would be a good idea. He didn’t want to see Wicked which was playing there as well, as it was a far longer film than the movie I had suggested seeing, which was only about 90 minutes. The time for our film to begin was 6:45 so we talked until about 5 and headed out in the frigid cold. But we took our old car which was just parked on the next block abutting the building, so we didn’t have to walk very far to it. I would have wanted to show Jake the new car, but I didn’t want him slipping on ice on the way there.

I found a spot far up the way from Lefferts Boulevard on the right, so we had somewhat of a walk to the theater and it wasn’t easy for the two of us, given how bitterly cold it was.

We got to the theater in enough time to buy two tickets and to see all those mindless ads and trailers for new films before our intended movie began. And then the film started! What can I say about this jewel of a film? It’s quite short – as I said, about 90 minutes – but it packs a narrative wallop that will leave you quite charmed.

From an original screenplay written by Eisenberg himself, the story recounts the adventure of two mismatched cousins, played by Eisenberg as David Kaplan and Kieran Culkin as Benji. These two dissimilar young men are scheduled to fly to Poland to join a tourist group for a week, where they’ll visit historical Jewish sites, as well as the house and area their beloved grandmother – who just recently died – lived. David is all wound up, with bouts of nervousness, as Eisenberg’s usual persona generally is, while Benji is a bit of an odd duck; he’s impulsive, while David is very strait laced, Benji is enormously erratic, prone to outbursts. He vacillates between being tremendously annoying, seemingly triggered by random events, and disruptive and inconsiderate to everyone in the Holocaust group.

The acting in the film is exceptional, especially Culkin’s interpretation of this thirtyish nonconformist who still lives with his mother in her house in Binghamton and is decidedly single, while his more mature cousin, David, is married, has a job, and is a father to one little boy.

Interspersed with this intensive character story are vistas of modern-day Warsaw and the World War II Majdanek concentration camp which are unsettling, to say the least. The film is really a showcase for Culkin as the out-of-control cousin who has lost touch with his more sedate cousin who is thrust into taking this historical road trip to discover how different he is from his relative.

I’d be remiss to mention that a more mature-looking Jennifer Grey (the star of Dirty Dancing) is cast in this film as one of the people on this historical Poland adventure. She plays wistful Los Angeles divorcee Marcia (I tell you, Jake and I didn’t recognize her until the credits). Other traveling companions in this small, tight group include a boring older couple – Diana (Liza Sadovy) and Mark (Daniel Oreskes) from Shaker Heights and soft-spoken compassionate Eloge (Kurt Egyiawan) who fled the Rwandan genocide and later converted to Judaism.

The tour guide is James (Will Sharpe) who is British and an Oxford scholar, who has an intellectual understanding of the statistics of history, but who later clashes with Benji over this kind of method of just dredging up facts and not connecting with the visceral connection to these landmarks. Their dispute occurs in an old Polish cemetery and it is here where David grows more embarrassed and exasperated with his “real pain” of a cousin.

The film was not only written by Eisenberg but directed by him too. I highly recommend the film; it’s a small but deftly perceptive comedic drama that deals with the various paths to dealing with pain, loss, and suffering, accompanied by the complicated upheaval of self-discovery. So see it if you can over this holiday season before Amazon Prime gets it on December 31.

As we walked back to the car and started driving home to a warm apartment, I looked down at my left hand and noticed – Egad! – my missing star sapphire ring. I lost the ring probably due to my finger contracting in the cold and it slipping off. (I was wearing gloves over my left hand.) I mentioned this to Jake and I suddenly got somewhat ill. But I never told Jake. I had to focus on driving us both safely back to Forest Hills. Then I could panic.

When we got back to the building, I left Jake off to take shelter in the vestibule while I parked the car on the street. I found a spot near the Grand Central Parkway and it was there I looked all over the driver’s seat and in the back, hoping to find my ring. I didn’t find it in the car, so I was resigned to having lost my newish ring on this cold December night. However, when I thrust my hand in my left-hand jeans pocket, lo and behold I found the ring right there at the bottom. To me, this is a holiday miracle of sorts. Or just good luck, if you want to characterize it as such.

Anyway, I happily told Jake my good news and we went upstairs where we greeted Elliot who was home from his wanderings and I made coffee for all of us. Then he repaired to the bedroom, while we watched It Happened on 5th Avenue in the living room.

Have a good week.

And so it went!