Hester Street

Plot synopsis:
Hester Street tells the story of Jewish immigrants who come to the Lower East side of New York City in 1896 from Europe and who live on Hester Street in Manhattan. When Yankle first comes to the U.S., he quickly assimilates into American culture and becomes Jake. He also begins to have an affair with Mamie, a dancer. His wife, Gitl, who arrives later with their son, Yossele, has difficulty assimilating. Tension arises in their marriage as Jake continually upbraids and abuses Gitl, despite her efforts to assimilate. Additionally, Jake continues to see Mamie, which Gitl later discovers through Mrs. Kavarsky, a neighbor. Jake and Gitl ultimately divorce, whereby Gitl takes all of Mamie's money and marries Bernstein, a faithful traditionalist. By the end of the film she is sartorially and lingually assimilated — walking down the street with Bernstein and Yossele (now known as Joey), speaking English, and showing her hair. But she is now liberated from Jake, who in turn has married Mamie.
The film is noteworthy for its detailed reconstruction of Jewish immigrant life in New York at the turn of the century—much of the dialogue is delivered in Yiddish with English subtitles—and was part of the wave of films released in the late 1960s and through the 1970s which began explicitly to deal with the complexities of American Jewish identity. In addition, Carol Kane's lead character posed a still-provocative synthesis as she discovers her own self-assertion on behalf of her right to maintain a traditional identity in an aggressively modern setting.

Tags: romantic

Review:
Joan Micklin Silver's directorial debut is a lovely, funny, warm, and observant historical drama-comedy about Jewish immigrants who left the little shtetl in Russia in the end of the 19th century for the hopes of better life and success in America.
The film tells the story of a young couple, Jake (Steven Keats) and Gitl (Carol Kane).
The husband came to Lower East End of Manhattan five years before his family and has gladly accepted American way of life making transition from Yankel to a Yankee, losing his beard and side curls on a way to become a real American and falling in love with Mamie Fine, attractive and independent young woman, an immigrant herself.
When his wife Gitl and their son Yossi (Joey) arrive from Russia and join him in the flat at Hester Street, Jake is torn between his desire "to live like educated people in an educated country" and his wife's quiet but firm holding on to the traditions of Old Country.
The film concentrates on Gitl, quiet, gentle, pious seemingly fragile and naive young woman with huge dark eyes who has to make very serious decisions about her new life and how to make sense of it.
All characters have one thing in common - one day, they took a chance to start over, to leave their past behind, to movie to the absolutely new unknown world with the different language, customs, traditions, rhythm of life and to try to survive and succeed and not to lose their unique identity.
Comic, moving, warm, lyrical, with the loving attention to the smallest details, with the love and understanding for its characters, "Hester street" is a perfect example of an independent art movie that was made on the shoe string budget, had difficulties to find distributors, but luckily did not get lost, found its way to the viewers, and brought Jewish ethnicity to the screen.
One does not have to be an Art movie buff or an immigrant to enjoy "Hester Street".
The simple story of a young traditional woman's transformation and coming to terms with her new life can be enjoyed by any viewer regardless their age, gender, or ethnic background.Carol Cane is fantastic as Gitl and more than deserves her Academy Award nomination for the Best Leading Actress.
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 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.
But in 1975, before we'd gotten used to her comic bravado, she turned in a lovely, Oscar-nominated portrayal of an immigrant Russian Jew in New York that still stuns, even today.
Quiet emotions permeate this careful, low-budget, somewhat slight film set on New York's East Side in 1896.
Telling a tale of culture and love amongst Jewish immigrants in the late 1800's, this picture works perfectly well as what it is meant to be: A nice, little film.
Silver also directed Crossing Delancy, another classic, especially for anyone of the Jewish-American subculture, or familiar with it, though anyone who likes a love story will enjoy it as well.To learn that the entire budget of Hester Street was $500,000 is astounding.
Here is an unknown Carol Kane, who got the best actress nomination for this one, surrounded by great performances by veteran actors and first time non-actors alike.
With its black-and-white cinematography, soundtrack music, and Jewish characters, this film at times reminded me superficially of a Woody Allen movie.
If you like a movie that immerses you in a less-familiar culture you might give 'Hester Street' a try.Steven Keats plays a Russian emigre who prides himself on the way he's molded himself into a real Yankee in the USA, though the world he lives in, New York's Lower East Side in the late 19th century, is almost exclusively populated by other Jewish immigrants.
When his wife (Carol Kane) finally arrives in the New World, however, she has a lot of assimilating to do.
This causes the tension which drives the movie along, though it maintains a fairly light atmosphere most of the time.Keats and Kane do fine jobs in their roles; in fact, Kane was nominated for an Academy Award.
All I'm saying, audiences won't believe it is the past without a newsreel or spooky tempera projection.The documentary feel to Hester Street, the authentic clothing and dialect, the old Russian to English dialect fills the viewer, especially Jewish filmgoers with a weird sense of nostalgia since no one today, in 2006 is alive to tell the immigrant story.
It is amusing that these immigrants assimilated, learning English, building jobs, and business within two generations; all hardship forgotten consciously, but I would assert, not unconsciously.Carol Kane, Gitl, is a wonderful young country wife flabbergasted by the modern, secular ways of America.
Her husband, actor, Steven Keats has left the greenhorn, religious Jew nonsense behind as he takes on a new girlfriend, a hottie for her day.
Saw it on local PBS station many years ago not expecting much.A wonderful and charming movie.Acting, Sets, costumes, plot, and ironic ending make this a great movie that anyone can enjoy without being deluged with sex, violence, strong language.Carol Kane and Steven Keats were marvelous.I just about fell off my sofa laughing at the end.A true gem!.
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.
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..
If what you want is a dramatic exercise you may like this, because that's its intent.But it relies on storytelling gimmicks that you have to decide how to take.The story is about Jewish Immigrants in New York in the 1890s, and one husband and wife.
Silver, is based on Abraham Cahan's 1896 novella, an exclusively Jewish tale about immigrants who come to Lower East Side of NYC, and their acclimatisation of a new life in the land of hope, where the collisions of culture, religion and moral codes escalate attendantly.Jake (Keats), whose yiddish name is Yankle, is a young Ashkenazi Jew from Russia, assimilates himself to the American lifestyle quite smoothly, staying in a tiny room on the titular street in Manhattan and earning his living as a seamster, he hooks up with a single dancer Mamie (Kavanaugh), who is also a Jewish immigrant, in a dancing ball during the opening sequences, where the vintage tactility honed up amazingly by Black-and-White graininess and yesteryear finesse, instantly charms and attracts viewers as a comedy skit from the silent era.Jake is rakish, all spruced up, he is determined to erase his ethnic traces and aims to be a real Yankee, proudly.
Steven Keats comes into his own to characterise a stomach-churning impression defies any sympathy.Jake's carefree bachelor days are over once his wife Gitl (Kane, who was Oscar-nominated for her brilliant calibre in seething intensity trapped inside a serene mound, and it is one of the most inspiring nominations accredited to the often publicity-steered Academy) arrives with their son Yossele (Freedman), whose name is changed to Joey under his insistence.
In order to provide a place for the family reunion, Jake borrows Mamie's savings with an unwittingly false promise, and takes his co-worker, a bookish bachelor Mr. Bernstein (Howard) as a room to split the expense.Gitl is a beautiful, unassuming and sensible girl, in everyone's eyes, she is the perfect wife should be cherished by her husband, especially to the neighbour Mrs. Kavarsky (the late Doris Roberts, thrust by her spitfire probity), her stalwart protector.
Don't expect Gitl to relent under the influence of sentimentality or for the old time's sake, she might be a shrinking violet but never stupid, Jake is good-for-nothing, but at least, he has the knack to provide a handsome alimony for jilting his family.HESTER STREET superbly overreaches its ethnographic demography and it is not merely a film for Jews only as it has been merchandised since its self-sustained distribution, in the eyes of a local Chinese who has never been to America or familiar with Jewish culture, the film enchants, seduces and competently relishes in a woman's self-reliant awakening in a foreign land, moreover, it teaches an edifying lesson about how important to preserve one's own distinctive traits without becoming homogeneous.
Steven Keats, Carol Kane, and Doris Roberts are excellent.
Carol Kane's performance of Gitl is outstanding, a well deserved Oscar nomination.
But it was however a thoughtful, low-key story of a husband and wife dealing with their differences in regards to century old traditions.Carol Kane plays Gitl, a turn-of-the-century Jewish immigrant arriving from Eastern Europe to live with her husband in America.
When she arrives in New York City she is surprised at how traditions held dear back home are thought of as 'uncivilized' here.For example: Her husband has shaved his beard, and the women no longer wear kerchiefs or wigs to cover their natural hair.
Her husband is in love with another woman and wants a divorce.The pace in this movie is very slow, and the black and white cinematography is all but stagnant.
It was said that when Carol Kane was notified that she had been nominated for best actress, she had just returned home from the Unemployment Division."Hester Street" is the story of impoverished Jews at the end of the 19th century in New York City.A low budget film, it recounts the story of a woman arriving from Europe with her young son to her husband, who has been in the U.S. for a while.Her husband has become a real "American" while she will struggle to assimilate.
(Kane winds up with him by the end of the film.)Doris Roberts, in a brief appearance, is funny with her line that 2 women with their rear ends can't be in the same kitchen at one time.As the couple, Carol Kane and the late Steven Keats are perfect examples of a Jewish couple, whose relationship was obviously arranged in Europe.
They really have nothing in common other than their Jewish faith, and this becomes quite evident once the Kane character joins her husband in America.By film's ending, the couple are divorcing by getting the Jewish "get." (divorce) By Jewish law, the husband can marry immediately but the wife will have to wait for 90 days before she can do this.Kane's acting is excellent, especially with the effective use of Yiddish which she heard quite frequently in her Cleveland home.The set decorations are excellent.
Carol Kane, in one of her first roles, is perfect as the Jewish immigrant trying to make sense of life in the New World.
Trying to hold on to her traditions, she must decide what accommodations to make to modern life in turn-of-the-century New York City.
The scene between Carol Kane and the lawyer negotiating a divorce settlement is, I think, one of the funniest in all cinema, and the ending is bound to make you feel good about the possibility of justice in the world..
Life among poor Jewish immigrants in 1890's New York.
Americanized Jake and the more Old World Bernstein are recent immigrants eking out a meager living.
Then Jake's wife arrives unexpectedly from Europe with Jake's young son, and ends up in the middle of her husband's love affair and ends up falling in love with Bernstein.A loving reconstruction of life at the time, though seemingly cleaned up and also somewhat restricted by a low budget.
Agreeable Story of Immigrants In New York..
Well, in 1972 "The Godfather" was a sensation, so why not other stories about immigrants adapting to life in the New World?
The adaptation of immigrants is never smooth, and it's a bit bumpy in this story.Steven Keats is Jake, who shares quarters with Bernstein.
He's not making much money -- twelve dollars a week behind a sewing machine -- but he's happy.But then his comfortable routine is busted up by the arrival from Russia of his wife, Carol Kane, and their young son.
Kane speaks no English, wears traditional clothes, and an outlandish wig considered suitable for observant women in the old country.I mentioned speaking English and I must admit I love the locutions that immigrants bring to American English.
Keats loves the gay life and Kane is quiet and seems antiquated.
I believe, too, that the low budget may have drained the film of some energy.The movie ends with Keats walking down the street with his new hotsy-totsy wife and wondering if they should peddle vegetables for a living.
Sigmund Freud as Jewish immigrant living on Hester Street.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I was convinced by the sets and costumes, that this was a least filmed in the 30's, but supposed be taking place at the turn of the century.
I saw it as a drama: comparing those who embrace assimilation into America (Jake and his friends) and those who cling to the "old ways" because it is familiar and comfortable.
His wife, Gitl, is very uncomfortable with American ways: they way they dress, and particularly, to be seen – a married woman - in public with her own hair, like a gentile.
Her husband is embarrassed by Gitl puts pressure on her to be like American women: to dress up, look pretty and wear hear hair out (like his mistress), but when she tries to be an American woman, it really isn't what he wants.
He wants the mistress.In the mean time, Jake and Gitl have a boarder: Mr. Bernstein.
She has taken a small step towards assimilation, a small step towards leaving the old country and becoming an American.I wondered how the director found such a sweet, quiet, shy, naïve, innocent, timid, reserved young girl to actually be on camera and play Gitl.
observes recent Russian immigrant Gitl Podkovnik (Carol Kane) in 1896, when there was no need for 12-ounce bottled water here because the U.S. had not yet been "fracked," and all our earthquakes were "natural." I've watched hundreds of films released by the Edison Manufacturing Company in the 1890s and 1900s, which feature a wide cross-section of the same sort of Jewish characters that HESTER STREET tries to recreate from a distance of seven decades.
While HESTER STREET writer\director Joan Micklin Silver produces a somewhat-romanticized feature aimed at the tiny "Jewish ROOTS" niche market, Thomas Alva Edison's very hands-on productions brought depictions of this era of the American Jewish Experience home to the U.S. gentile masses AS IT WAS HAPPENING IN REAL TIME!