“Bordertown” on Netflix: A brilliant/half-psychic officer at the National Bureau of Investigation in Finland changes locations and jobs when his wife barely survives brain cancer. His new job, leading SECRI, the Serious Crime Unit in the previously peaceful little town of  Lappeenranta on the Russian border, turns out to be just as demanding.

The Scandinavians produce great crime dramas, and this one has an attractive film noir ambiance.

“Shtisel” (Netflix): An engaging and heartwarming series about the lives of a Haredi family living in Jerusalem’s Geula neighborhood. The show was created by two writers with Haredi roots. It gives you an inside view of what it might be like to live within a religiously ultra-Orthodox community where there are rules against so many things we take for granted, including appearing in public without all the required clothing and watching TV. It was produced several years ago and gained a surprising wide viewership (including some ultra-Orthodox viewers who aren’t supposed to watch TV) and won a number of awards. I noticed it a month ago on Netflix and relished the first two seasons. I hope there is a third.

The first time I saw The Graduate (1967, the year it was made), I was a junior in high school, and I thought it was a great movie. I saw it again about 25 years ago, and was happy to discover that it still worked for me. And I saw it again last night and still liked it. It had passed the test of time. But my response to it this time was different.

In 1967, I loved it because it seemed to perfectly depict what was then called “the generation gap” – the moral and intellectual gulf between my generation and our parents. I identified strongly with Ben, the main character (played very cleverly by Dustin Hoffman). I approved of the plot and the implicit critique of upper-middle-class values. I also liked the many cinematic tricks director Mike Nichols employed, the clever cuts and overlaps. And, of course, I loved the score, which was written by Paul Simon.

Watching it for the third time last night, I found the plot to be just as compelling, the music nostalgically engaging, and the cinematic effects dated but still effective. What was different was that I had difficulty identifying with Ben… and the moral dilemma of the story disturbed me. I could no longer see Ben as a sympathetic character. I was with him 100% in his inability to resist Mrs. Robinson, but I couldn’t excuse him for falling in love with and then courting her daughter. Fifty-one years later, I was no longer identifying with the 20-year-old Ben but with the husband he cuckolded.

Watch This: I’ve never done any serious reading about John D Rockefeller. I visited his home in New York a few years ago and that sparked an interest that I’ve maintained. As the professor her points out, he’s often remembered as a robber baron, but the truth is that he was as far from a robber baron as an industrialist could possibly be.

This little lecture hits the high points of his life as the person who could be said to have created America’s the middle class…

Watch This: This Swedish performer adds an extra dimension to magic.