{"id":190467,"date":"2026-03-13T18:01:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T18:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/190467\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T18:01:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T18:01:08","slug":"ethan-bloom-is-a-universal-story-made-in-miami","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/190467\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethan Bloom Is a Universal Story Made in Miami"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first fifteen pages of screenwriter Maylen Dominguez\u2019s film<\/a> had been hiding in a forgotten thumb drive, a vestige of a past life working in New York. It was her daughter who rediscovered it one day and encouraged her to finish the work, this time in Coconut Grove. The resulting movie<\/a>, Ethan Bloom, which screened at the Miami Film Festival<\/a> last year and opens in wide release this month, is a universal story made in Miami.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think kids are extremely wise and, if we listen to them, they actually say these really profound and incredible things,\u201d Dominguez says of the dialogue in the film. The sentiment could also explain why she listened to her daughter, who became a quasi-producer on the project, in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy daughter was young when I wrote the script,\u201d Dominguez says. \u201cI had her read everything that I wrote, and she would call me out if there was something out of line. \u2018No, we would never say that.\u2019 And, so, I changed some things based on her feedback.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ethan Bloom is many things: A fantastic, affecting coming-of-age film. A sometimes absurdist, sometimes straight comedy. A story about how we struggle to navigate the invisible architecture of the transcendent amid both the joys and tragedies of life in this world. What it means to learn to stand alone \u2014 and how that can help us eventually find real community. A sweet, heartfelt Coconut Grove-shot indie antidote for a state reputation that sometimes gets reduced to Florida Man, guy-walking-into-the-liquor-store-with-a-gator memes. (Yes, A.C.\u2019s Icees<\/a> is in the film.)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also more than all of that, though: It is a movie that entertains, but also \u2014 for those who feel separate, outcast, lost, unmoored by grief or lack of understanding \u2014 has the potential to provide spiritual sustenance; to empower, enrich, or even save lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes we must reach beyond what we\u2019re used to or what\u2019s normal,\u201d says Dominguez. \u201cSometimes we have to step into something that\u2019s a bit unknown, something that makes us a little bit afraid \u2014 and maybe makes the people around us a little bit afraid \u2014 so that we can understand the very real universal truth that love does transcend the differences that we try to create and the different polarities that we see in the world.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the setup: Reeling from his mother\u2019s death, young Ethan Bloom (Hank Greenspan) begins to strike out \u201cbeyond\u201d the confines of his loving yet somewhat rigid Jewish home for answers. At first, this primarily means exploring Catholicism, much to the dismay of his father (Joshua Malina), and even as he is bombarded with unvarnished antisemitism from a school bully. Once he begins the journey, however, Ethan learns you can\u2019t put the genie back in the bottle and \u2014 per the Rumi quote, \u201cAs you start to walk on the way, the way appears\u201d \u2014 an eclectic, sometimes eccentric cast of characters manifests to help guide him, including an unorthodox rabbi (Rachel Lefevre), a tough-as-nails girl who becomes a friend (Caroline Valencia, who played young Selena Gomez on Only Murderers in the Building), a priest (Carlos Ponce), and others.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Along the way, Ethan does what we\u2019ve all done: Stumble his way haltingly through first love. Strive to make his family proud while \u2014 inevitably \u2014 disappointing them. Feel alone, not just in a room full of people, but in a town full of neighbors. Find out there really is a light at the end of the tunnel \u2014 and, no, it\u2019s not a train.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t simply grapple with these questions in story form because most people don\u2019t like to be lectured. It is because storytelling and archetypal character building allow us to bypass the analytical brain\u2019s baggage and access deeper levels of emotion and fundamental personality.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince Ethan Bloom has started to screen, people have come up to me and said, \u2018You know, I really felt like you expressed something that I\u2019ve always thought. Like, why do I have to just be this one thing?\u2019\u201d Domiguez says. \u201cAs we start to expand our consciousness, we see we are really so much more than these limited ideas and different little boxes that sometimes we want to place ourselves in. As Walt Whitman said, we contain multitudes.\u201d<\/p>\n

That the film has resonated so powerfully with audiences in early screenings seems to bear this out, much to the gratification of director Herschel Faber, a self-described \u201ccomedy guy\u201d (\u201cI just naturally tend to make light of heavy situations,\u201d he says) who plumbed new depths to adeptly steer the drama to the screen.<\/p>\n

\u201cEthan Bloom gave me an amazing opportunity to connect with an audience emotionally and say something meaningful to them,\u201d Faber says. \u201cIt\u2019s why I make movies. To see someone shed a tear, or laugh, or be moved by something I had a hand in creating and capturing on film is incredibly gratifying.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Domiguez, it is also personal on a couple of different levels: First, she herself is a convert, though in the other direction, to Judaism. \u201cConverting to Judaism was a profound experience for me, but it was also full of humor and humanity,\u201d she says. \u201cI wrote this story while playing with the beautiful, sometimes funny moments that happen when two different worlds and traditions come together.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Faber and Dominguez \u2014 both of whom grew up in central Florida and spent considerable time as kids in Miami and the Grove \u2014 the area\u2019s diversity of cultures, individuals, and religions has played a large role in the film\u2019s success.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlorida gets a bad rap as a state,\u201d Faber says. \u201cIt\u2019s a place that is full of artists and forward-thinking people who are constantly creating and put new putting new ideas out into the universe.\u201d Ethan Bloom \u2014 a thought-provoking, boundary-pushing, unconventional coming-of-age film that plays out across a gorgeously shot tropical backdrop \u2014 certainly fits the bill. \u201cI spent a lot of my childhood in Coconut Grove,\u201d he continues. \u201cThat area of Miami is changing so rapidly, and you really hope that all the quaint cafes and quirky small shops and artist retreats don\u2019t end up going the way of the dinosaur in favor of high-rises and swanky restaurants. I wanted to immortalize and show the rest of the world what was so special about the old Grove.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMiami has so many different dimensions,\u201d Dominguez agrees. \u201cThere are all these unique characters here who live life in very unique, interesting ways. It\u2019s very inspiring to me. And, of course, these differences and all the sudden shifts that happen in life are mirrored in the unpredictable weather \u2014 the rain, sunshine, and wind. It really is the perfect setting for this film.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the end, Ethan Bloom is not an oracle or access to the mythical beast that is an accurate South Florida weather report. It is a brief for the transformational power of questioning without the need for a definitive \u2014 or divine \u2014 final judgment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we\u2019re faced with really big challenges, we tend to ask really big questions and look for really big answers,\u201d Dominguez says. \u201cWho am I, really? Why are we here? Why did this happen? Those are questions that I\u2019ve been asking myself from the time I was little to now. And they\u2019re the same questions that Ethan is asking. I think we all, as humans, are trying to figure out, \u2018What does this all mean?\u2019 Ultimately, it\u2019s a very universal thing. And we can find comfort in that universality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ethan Bloom. Friday, March 13, through Thursday, March 19, at Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables; 786-472-2249. Tickets cost $12.75 via gablescinema.com<\/a>. Opens in wide release Thursday, March 19.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first fifteen pages of screenwriter Maylen Dominguez\u2019s film had been hiding in a forgotten thumb drive, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":190468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[225,227,226],"class_list":["post-190467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hialeah","tag-hialeah","tag-hialeah-headlines","tag-hialeah-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}