atlasmb
I think the best adjective for Hester Street is beautiful. The way immigrant life, with all of its complexities and nuances, is depicted is very poignant. It is not so long ago that many of our ancestors displayed bravery by leaving for a faraway land that they knew little of. Their struggle to escape persecution or poverty and to assimilate into a foreign culture is part of the American experience. I love the way this film captures the duality of life in the Jewish section of New York. Despite the fact that only Jews live in this area, we see both the Americanized lifestyle and the orthodox lifestyle, existing side by side and evolving daily.Carol Kane is wonderful in the part of Gitl, the wife who must adapt to a new world and put up with a husband who has abandoned all principles in his adoption of American ways.Hester Street feels like a "small" film. Much of the action takes place in the cramped apartment of Gitl and her family (and the boarder). This is Gitl's new world, a reality that she might be content with, if her husband were loving. The street scenes remind us that Gitl's apartment is just a small part of a bustling neighborhood situated in a huge city in a corner of the new world.
Scott Amundsen
Director Joan Micklin Silver's first full-length feature film, HESTER STREET is an utterly beguiling and absorbing tale of a Russian Jewish family and the trials and tribulations that they face upon emigrating to America.We start with Jake (Americanized version of Yankel), the husband and father (Steven Keats), who like so many, came ahead of his wife and son to get himself established. Jake is a determined assimilationist; he tries without success to throw off his accent, shaves off his beard, and goes about with his head uncovered, all of which would have been shocking for a Jew in the Old Country, but in the United States, the people have the freedom to pick and choose.I don't remember how long Jake has been in the USA before his family finally get there, but it's long enough for him to form a passionate attachment to Mamie (Dorrie Kavanaugh), a broad on the make who manipulates him shamelessly because she can. He also has a boarder: Mr Bernstein (Mel Howard), who unlike Jake, is distrustful of shedding the old ways and harbors a secret desire to be a Torah scholar.Jake's wife Gitl (Carol Kane in a stunning performance) and son Yossele (Paul Freedman) finally arrive in New York, and to put it mildly, Jake is somewhat less than thrilled at the reunion with his wife. When she introduces him to his son using his Yiddish name, Jake reacts violently and informs her that in America his son's name is Joey. Gitl, overwhelmed and confused, says nothing.The rest of the film charts both Gitl's attempts to assimilate and the gradual disintegration of her marriage. In their first scene together in their apartment, he angrily informs her that no one wears wigs in America. She tries to compromise by switching to a kerchief, but he bellows at her that that is no good either. Gitl realizes, much to her horror, that he expects her to go about "with my own hair;" something a married woman would never do.Gitl is not without allies. Bernstein rather obviously falls in love with her early on, and she is helped with her assimilation process by Mrs Kavarsky (the great Doris Roberts), a jolly sort who dresses as she pleases and goes about with her head uncovered and is not the least bit afraid of Jake; in fact she goes after him on a couple of occasions, the most poignant of these being the moment when Gitl shyly shows herself to him with her own hair neatly styled, and he reacts as if she were a streetwalker. Mrs Kavarsky gives him the rough edge of her tongue in an extended rant that he does not dare to stand up to; at bottom, Jake is a bully and a coward, wanting nothing more than to rid himself of his wife, whom he no longer loves, so that he can take up with Mamie.Meantime, Gitl, shy though she may be, is no fool; she picks up enough English to get by, and is aware of Bernstein's admiration of her fairly early on. She remains polite to him, even kind, encouraging him to study Torah if that is what he wants, but maintaining the distance between them as a married woman should.Until one day when Jake finally pushes Gitl over the edge and she decides to divorce him. Even the inequity of the divorce ritual is well-documented here; Gitl may not marry for ninety-one days from the divorce, whereas Jake could marry that same day if he had a mind to.The ending is funny, sad, happy, and ironic all at once, as Gitl and Bernstein walk off together in one direction and Jake and Mamie in another. Gitl and Bernstein are radiant; Mamie is smugly triumphant, but Jake is already beginning to realize that he may have made a terrible mistake. But he has been such an out-and-out bastard to his wife that one can't help laughing at the irony of the trap he is in, a trap of his own making.The acting is exquisite; there is not a single false note in this film, which is especially impressive since the actors had to work in both English and Yiddish. The entire cast is wonderful, but Carol Kane in particular shines here. Kane's best feature has always been her deep, expressive eyes, and she communicates volumes with them, as Gitl moves from being a submissive, Old Country wife subject to the whim of her husband to a woman of self-confidence who finds love with a man who also respects her.This is a beautiful little film; every moment rings absolutely true. A stunning debut for Silver.
Tony Rome
This film gets a 10 out of 10. The film was made for $375,000 and made over 7 million dollars. Steven Keats, Carol Kane, and Doris Roberts are excellent. The cinematography is excellent, and the direction is superb. Carol Kane's performance of Gitl is outstanding, a well deserved Oscar nomination. The film has its comedic moments, many of them delivered by the very funny Doris Roberts. A great harmless PG film, atmospheric, and intelligent. This is definitely a cinematic achievement. This film was recently screened in East Hampton, NY at The East Hampton library. There was a great turnout, and everyone enjoyed the film. Many thanks to Mr. Steven Spataro for selecting this film.
mercuryix
If you're a Carol Kane fan, and haven't seen this film, run out and rent it now (if you can find it). But don't expect the usual eccentric comic character Ms. Kane usually plays.Filmed in black & white, this is a very atmospheric period piece about a traditional Jewish wife in turn-of-the-century America, whose husband is dissatisfied with her and wants a more modern woman. Carol Kane plays a quiet, thoughtful wife who somehow commands the screen just by sitting there and watching the selfish, thoughtless people rant and rave about her. She is a truer definition of a hero than any of the action heroes that have come out of Hollywood in the past 30 years; thoughtful, indefatiguable and irrepressible, despite the fact that she is firmly part of the traditional Jewish community where women subjugate themselves to men.
This is not an action piece; it's a character and period piece about surviving with dignity despite poverty, repression and injustice. This is the best performance by Carol Kane I have seen, not because she can't do better, but because she hasn't been given another role this thoughtful and dynamic. If she is given more roles like this in the future, she will again prove she is one of the best actresses in the country. A great film and a great performance.Eight out of ten stars.
