Sixty Six, the opening night film for the 13th annual Seattle Jewish Film Festival, tells the story of dweeby, asthmatic British adolescent Bernie Rubens (Gregg Sulkin) as he prepares for what he assumes will be the biggest day of his life: his Bar Mitzvah.
The youngest child of a far-from-functional Jewish household, it becomes clear pretty quickly that Bernie is actually banking on the success of his Bar Mitzvah as a starting point for future happiness and familial love. Bernie’s humorless, obsessive-compulsive father (Eddie Marsan) is busy sinking the family business. His older brother, Alvie (Ben Newton), is an unredeemable jerk. And his mother (Helena Bonham Carter), while nice enough, is pretty much oblivious to the comings and goings of her younger son unless he’s having an asthma attack. There is seemingly nothing Bernie can do to hold their attention.
So Bernie hatches a plan to win the love and admiration of his family, and every other Jew in England, by putting on the biggest, best and classiest Bar Mitzvah of 1966.
“At my Bar Mitzvah, God would switch on a spotlight and finally everybody would be able to see me,” Bernie narrates, following his first meeting with his synagogue’s blind rabbi.
To ensure that his Bar Mitzvah is a huge success, and, more importantly, larger than his brother’s, Bernie takes the planning and preparations into his own hands, spending more time on seating arrangements and place settings than on practicing his Torah portion.
“Mine would be the Gone with the Wind of Bar Mitzvahs, the Cassius Clay of Bar Mitzvahs…the Jesus Christ of Bar Mitzvahs,” Bernie announces as he plots the extravaganza from the depths of the family’s garage.
Unfortunately, Bernie neglects to check in with his parents about his grandiose plans and receives quite a shock when he finds out that, after a series of financial setbacks, he must have his party at home, instead of in the banquet hall he had hoped for.
To make matters worse, Bernie soon learns that his Bar Mitzvah is set to take place on the day of the 1966 World Cup finals, which, he rightly assumes, will greatly impact the number of people attending his big day if England is playing.
The movie starts out with a burst of irreverent humor. But after the first half hour or so, most of the hilarity gives way to heart-to-heart talks, sad music and shots of Bernie looking utterly dejected.
Bernie’s suffering isn’t restricted to his Bar Mitzvah woes. As his big day approaches, his house catches on fire, his uncle is badly injured, his dad contemplates leaving his mom, and the family loses all of their savings. There is some levity throughout as Bernie does what little he can to sabotage England’s efforts to advance in the World Cup competition, including an outright hilarious scene where he appears to be appealing to satanic forces on behalf of England’s rivals. But still, an hour and a half of a near-chronically downtrodden Bernie is something of bummer to watch.
Also, Sixty Six is one of those movies that has a moral at the end, and it works a little too hard to get there. After Bernie’s poorly attended Bar Mitzvah, his dad, in a sudden moment of parental clarity, tells his son how proud he is and how Bernie should be pleased to share his special day with something as important as the World Cup. He then asks Bernie to say honestly which team he wants to win, England or West Germany, to which Bernie tearfully replies, “England.” Here, between Bernie’s newfound manhood, his love for his father, and his patriotism, the film threatens to topple into the realm of sickeningly sweet.
Still, it’s a cute movie and it’s hard not to root for Bernie — not for him to get the Bar Mitzvah he wants, but for him to be noticed and loved by his family. Obviously, his parents do come around eventually and there’s a happy scene of the whole family playing soccer together at the end. Bernie tells us that he’s learned that becoming a man isn’t about having some huge party, but about recognizing that your parents are human and loving them despite their humanity. Granted, this is not the most inspiring of cinematic revelations, but it is sort of a nice reminder. And it will probably make want to call your own parents once you get home.
Seattle Jewish Film Festival: Bar Mitzvah boy blues
