Serendipitously, three miracles graced my life this week, two in the form of terrific television and film, and one in an elegantly written print story about a woman of valor.
Sometimes, not always, I love it when life mugs me, especially when serendipitous happenings tear open my heart and my eyes, lift me out of despair, and, I know, will change me forever.
This time it was two “movies” that did it; one made for television this year; one crafted for the big screen 10 years ago. Both were elevated even higher by a New York Times piece about Michele Singer Reiner, titled “A Life Rooted in Activism & Listening to Others.” It was written by the Times Tayla Minsberg, and published on Sunday, December 21, 2025.
The brilliant hour of television which grabbed me was Episode 5 of the new HBO Max series “Heated Rivalry.”
A fun, not-quite-soft porn Canadien series about two male hockey players who fall madly in love, had been entertaining escapist television for the first four episodes, with lots of action, lots of beautiful bodies (no frontal nudity), and a desultory script about an unlikely pairing of arch-rival hockey plays, from Canada and Russia.
The breakaway star of the mini-series, from the very first scene, was the Russian Hockey Star Ilya Rosanov, played by American action Connor Storrie, whose James Dean vibe, and Patrick Swazye/Rudolf Nureyev rugged good looks would have been enough to make anyone sit up and take notice. But Storrie went one better. He perfected a Russian accent and attitude of arrogant confidence that electrified every scene in which he appeared.
Storrie’s Canadian counterpart, Shane Hollander, played by Hudson Williams played the perfect straight-arrow (although not sexually) professional athlete, who’s “boring” personality, was a friendly foil for the risque Russian. Except for a few naked love scenes (butts only), locker room scenes, kissing sequences, and a coquette-ish coupling between yet another hockey player (played by Francois Arnaud) and a NYC-based barrista, “Heated Rivalry” could have been confused for an after-school special. Until, along came Storrie. In every scene. In every conversation. With every look. In every way imaginable.
Rosanov’s back-story—son of a Russian Police apparatchik, brother of a coke-addict draining his famous hockey-playing brother for money, superstar in a nation notorious for violent punishment against the LGBTQ community—was riveting enough to hold your interest and keep you guessing, throughout the first 4 episodes, where the only other big on-screen mystery was how the talented hockey players could find ways to discreetly hook up for sex, without their families, and the rest of the world, knowing. But, there was a sameness settling in. Until, Episode 5.
Episode 5 began with Hollander (Hudson Williams) opening up to a movie-star girlfriend of his about being attracted to men, and Ilya in Moscow, mourning the death of his father. Distraught with grief, and feeling trapped by his life’s circumstances, Ilya calls Hollander on his cellphone, and is frustrated by his inability to express his feelings to him in English. Hollander, as deeply in love with the Russian hockey star as Ilya is with him, gently urges Rosanov to express himself to him in Russian, just to let things out.
Storrie (Ilya) steals the scene, and the series, with an explosive monologue of his feelings for Hollander and the urgency of his need to be himself. The power of this Russian’s repressed feelings pours out of Rosanov, and the English subtitles do no justice to his extraordinary expression of anger, frustration, desperation and love.
But, Hollander’s (Williams’) facial expressions are better than any literal translation. Even though the Canadian doesn’t understand a word of Russian, the depth of Ilya’s feelings transcend the barriers of language, and pierce the audience, and Hollander, with the universal language of love and aguish and desire.
The scene may be among the best on television this year, and Storrie’s stirring performance has him marked for superstardom. This was James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause. The performance was transformative.
So, I turned to another film intended to be a vehicle for expressing deep emotion that could not be expressed in person, or even completely understood in the same native language: Being Charlie, the 2015 film written by Nick Reiner, and directed by his father, Actor/Director/Producer Rob Reiner.
Being Charlie tracked the story of Nick Reiner’s descent into heroine and cocaine addiction, his struggle with mental illness, and his inability to communicate his feelings to his famous father. Interviews of both Reiners when the film debuted 10 years ago, quoted Nick, who earlier this month is alleged to have stabbed his father and his mother, Michele Singer Reiner to death, as having felt overshadowed by the lives of his famous father, and his famous grandfather Carl Reiner.
Watching “Being Charlie” was like watching a car drive off a cliff in slow motion, especially when you knew the real-life ending to this story which was meant to avoid that horrible descent into hell. A quote from the character playing the father was particularly haunting, since it was the precise quote Rob Reiner gave to media 10 years ago in explaining his approach to his son’s addiction: “We listened to every expert with a degree and a desk who recommended that tough love was what you needed.”
Tragically, the experts were wrong. That wasn’t what Nick Reiner needed, nor were Nick Reiner’s 18-trips into and out of rehab centers, and repeated relapses into drug addiction. Nor, sadly, was making a film about his addiction with the father —a sure fire formula for a happy Hollywood ending, some thought.
In “Being Charlie”, the character of the mother listens carefully to her son, and appears to be able to get through to him, when no one else can, although not without great struggle, which only families grappling with mental illness can fathom.
The New York Times story about Michele Singer Reiner, gives us a bit more clarity into the life of the least famous Reiner, the daughter of an Auschwitz survivor, whose mission in her family and community was to make sure everyone was heard.
“One conversation at a time,” Ms. Singer Reiner would say at the dinner table, clinking her glass with a utensil. “One conversation.”
She believe in Tikkun Olam, the Jewish principle of repairing the world, and never giving up on fighting for what one believed was right. She prodded her famous husband to use his celebrity to advance social causes, and led the way in helping to overturn California’s Propostion 8, the ban on same sex marriage.
The Times reported the observations of Kris Perry, a plaintiff in the case that overturned Proposition 8, who later became a friend of the Reiner Family. “They didn’t just hop in and out or swoop in and get attention—they were just quietly there,” Perry said.
As the Times noted: “When Ms. Perry took the stand and was asked why she wanted to get married to her partner, Sandy, she looked at the Reiners (Rob & Michele) who were sitting in the front row.”
“I want to have what they have,” she said.
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