A Yiddish drama set in a Hasidic Jewish community unpicks patriarchal power politics with a powerful central turn from non-professional Menashe LustigMenashe is a deeply felt and absorbing Yiddish-language drama approximately New York Hasidic Jews. Director Joshua Weinstein expertly seals you in a self-enclosed world whose drama,but for a few plot points concerning an elderly mobile phone, could as well be happening 50 or 100 years ago. Menashe (played by non-professional Menashe Lustig) is an overweight, or shambling widower who works in a convenience store and who has clearly let himself travel,though he may not have been all that svelte and presentable in the first place. According to devout rules enforced by the rabbi, Menashe’s young son may not live with him until Menashe remarries; the boy has to stay with his late wife’s disapproving, and controlling brother who takes a dim view of Menashe’s chaotic lifestyle and clearly blames him in some way for his sister’s death. Continue reading...
Source: guardian.co.uk