Movie: Menashe

Menashe:  an engaging story about a father and his son.  The film takes place in Brooklyn.  Menashe (Menashe Lustig) is a widower whose wife died about 11 months ago.  Although the wife is frequently part of the film’s conversation, she never makes an appearance; we’re not even shown a photo of her with one brief exception, a cell phone picture.  Menashe’s son, Rieven (Ruben Niborski), is about 11 years old.  When the film opens, Rieven is living with his uncle and his family because the Rabbi (Meyer Schwartz) believes a child should live with a family and Menashe is not interested in remarrying.  Menashe and almost all the characters in this film are Hasidic Jews.  As such, the Rabbi’s Talmud perspective that a good man should have “ a good wife, a good home, nice dishes” is the governing principal that drives this 82 minute film.  Menashe is directed and co-written by Joshua Z. Weinstein and the film is about Menashe’s attempts to regain custody of his son without remarrying.  There is only one date scene in the movie and I doubt it lasted even five minutes.  Scenes of females speaking total less than 5 minutes.  The story is authentic; it is based upon the actor Menashe Lustig’s own life and is about the Hasidic life style as much as it is about Menashe and Rieven.  Most of the dialogue is in Yiddish with very readable English subtitles.  Menashe is an ordinary guy working in a supermarket, but because he is an appealing person, the film works.  If you are interested in seeing a slice of Hasidic life, you should see this film.