• About
  • Support AJW
  • Jewish Community Directory
  • Subscription Information
  • Contact Us
American Jewish World
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • All
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Australia & New Zealand
    • Europe
    • Israel/Mideast
    • Latin America
    • Minnesota
    • US & Canada
    On trumpet, Frank London

    On trumpet, Frank London

    Editorial: In the ghetto

    Editorial: In the ghetto

    Natalie Fine Shapiro’s artworks bring the colors of spring

    Natalie Fine Shapiro’s artworks bring the colors of spring

  • Arts
    • All
    • Blue Box
    • Books & Literature
    • Music
    • Televison & Film
    • Theater & Performing Arts
    • Visual Arts
    A wedding in Hebron gets complicated

    A wedding in Hebron gets complicated

    On trumpet, Frank London

    On trumpet, Frank London

    Surviving the hell of death camps

    Surviving the hell of death camps

  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Health & Wellness
    • Home & Garden
    • Travel & Culture
    Jewish Cubans survive the island’s economic collapse

    Jewish Cubans survive the island’s economic collapse

    My time with the Greek Jewish community

    My time with the Greek Jewish community

    Tracing family roots in Germany

    Tracing family roots in Germany

  • Editorial
  • Opinion
  • AJW Digital Archives
  • News
    • All
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Australia & New Zealand
    • Europe
    • Israel/Mideast
    • Latin America
    • Minnesota
    • US & Canada
    On trumpet, Frank London

    On trumpet, Frank London

    Editorial: In the ghetto

    Editorial: In the ghetto

    Natalie Fine Shapiro’s artworks bring the colors of spring

    Natalie Fine Shapiro’s artworks bring the colors of spring

  • Arts
    • All
    • Blue Box
    • Books & Literature
    • Music
    • Televison & Film
    • Theater & Performing Arts
    • Visual Arts
    A wedding in Hebron gets complicated

    A wedding in Hebron gets complicated

    On trumpet, Frank London

    On trumpet, Frank London

    Surviving the hell of death camps

    Surviving the hell of death camps

  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Health & Wellness
    • Home & Garden
    • Travel & Culture
    Jewish Cubans survive the island’s economic collapse

    Jewish Cubans survive the island’s economic collapse

    My time with the Greek Jewish community

    My time with the Greek Jewish community

    Tracing family roots in Germany

    Tracing family roots in Germany

  • Editorial
  • Opinion
  • AJW Digital Archives
No Result
View All Result
Morning News
No Result
View All Result
Home Arts

'Punching the Clown' mines folksingers' misfortune and misadventures for laughs

American Jewish World by American Jewish World
May 23, 2020
in Arts
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

READ ALSO

A wedding in Hebron gets complicated

On trumpet, Frank London

Henry Phillips walks onstage in a scene from Gregori Viens new film Punching the Clown. (Photo: Viens Films, LLC)Henry Phillips walks onstage in a scene from Gregori Viens new film “Punching the Clown.” (Photo: Viens Films, LLC)

In director Gregori Viens’ new comedy Punching the Clown, satirical folksinger Henry Phillips (both in real life and in this fictional narrative film) heads for Los Angeles, and his brother’s living room couch, when life on the road proves unsustainable. Henry usually wins over audiences with his raunchy and funny songs about soured relationships, but now and again a pizza parlor crowd of, say, Christian fundamentalists doesn’t appreciate his song about indulging in debauchery with a “tranny hooker” on the day before the end of the world.
In an L.A. of superficial relationships and wheeler-dealers (there’s a wonderful Hollywood party scene), Henry finds that his career is suddenly on the upswing — owing to a misunderstanding he is signed to a lucrative record deal. However, as the pieces are falling into place a rumor starts making the rounds that Henry is a racist and an anti-Semite. A benighted press piece about the “Nazi folksinger” brings a gaggle of picketers to his gig at the Espresso Yourself Cafe, and Henry is fired.
This is really a charming film; and I would like to see other work now by Viens. He previously did two documentaries, Island of Roses, The Jews of Rhodes in Los Angeles , which came out of his Sephardic Jewish ancestry, on his mother’s side; and Adio, a short film about his maternal grandmother’s stories. Of Adio, Viens says, “There are just three people in the film: Rebecca, her daughter Mati (my mother) and granddaughter Leah (my cousin). So, Adio is about listening to stories that a grandmother tells. And it’s also about culture, religion and all of those things, but Adio is much too short to be pedagogical or ethnographic. It’s only 19 minutes long, and that’s just about enough time for a grandmother to sit down and tell three stories to a grandchild.”
Again, Punching the Clown is a charming film that exhibits a keen eye for cultural detail, fine performances and laughs. I thought it was funnier than A Serious Man, for whatever that’s worth.
As part of the 2009 Sound Unseen Music and Film Festival, Punching the Clown will be shown at 9:45 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 1 at the Trylon Microcinema, 3258 Minnehaha Ave. S. Minneapolis. — Mordecai Specktor

Related Posts

A wedding in Hebron gets complicated
Books & Literature

A wedding in Hebron gets complicated

May 21, 2025
On trumpet, Frank London
Music

On trumpet, Frank London

May 19, 2025
Surviving the hell of death camps
Books & Literature

Surviving the hell of death camps

April 20, 2025
Kim Kivens treads the boards in CDT’s production of ‘Grease’
Theater & Performing Arts

Kim Kivens treads the boards in CDT’s production of ‘Grease’

April 20, 2025
Entering the age of invisibility
Books & Literature

Entering the age of invisibility

January 27, 2025
Jewish cast members talk about the relevance of ‘Parade’
Theater & Performing Arts

Jewish cast members talk about the relevance of ‘Parade’

January 22, 2025
Next Post

Ruth Brin, acclaimed poet, liturgist and American Jewish World book critic, dies at 88

Comments 0

  1. Joshua Perahia says:
    6 years ago

    The Christian community has no voice whatsoever in the film industry when it comes to “mocking” & “insulting” our traditions & beliefs. Every day goes by & all I see coming from Hollywood are insults, jabs, & contempt toward Christianity. I am sick of this crap. I instantly check out who the writers are to put a face on this continual abuse that ally’s with Hollywood. My Christian band “JOSHUA” took the same abuse from the Hollywood record labels. The many A&R record executives who worked with JOSHUA were also involved with the same Hollywood film industry. There was always a hostile environment between Christian artists & Hollywood. There was a contempt there that was stifling. As each day passes by, I see the film industry inching closer to obvious contempt & disgust for Christianity & the church. It exudes out of every film. Would Hollywood ever make these same nasty remarks & insults against other belief systems like the Islamic or Jewish faith? Stop with the cowardly attacks writers Henry Phillips & Gregori Vien. Tell all the other writers in Hollywood that we have reached the end of this ongoing battle.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

RECENT ARTICLES

A wedding in Hebron gets complicated

A wedding in Hebron gets complicated

May 21, 2025
Editorial: Repression in the guise of fighting antisemitism

Editorial: Repression in the guise of fighting antisemitism

May 20, 2025
On trumpet, Frank London

On trumpet, Frank London

May 19, 2025
Editorial: In the ghetto

Editorial: In the ghetto

April 21, 2025
Surviving the hell of death camps

Surviving the hell of death camps

April 20, 2025

About

Since 1912 the AJW has served as an important news resource for the Jewish community. The Jewish World unites the main Jewish communities in St. Paul and Minneapolis, as well as those in Duluth, Rochester and smaller cities, and bridges the divides between the various Jewish religious streams.

Quick Links

  • About the AJW
  • Advertising Information
  • Submission Guidelines
  • Subscription Information
  • Jewish Community Directory

Contact Us

The American Jewish World
3249 Hennepin Ave., Suite 245
Minneapolis, MN 55408

Tel: 612.824.0030 / Fax: 612.823.0753
editor@ajwnews.com

  • Buy JNews
  • Landing Page
  • Documentation
  • Support Forum

© 2025 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Food
  • Health & Wellness
  • Lifestyle
  • Opinion
  • About the AJW
  • Jewish Community Directory
  • Support AJW
  • Subscription Information
  • Contact Us

© 2025 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.