MENASHE

Menashe (Menashe Lustig) is a bumbling grocery clerk in Brooklyn’s Borough Park Hasidic community, a sad sack, a schlemiel, a tubby, disheveled man who gets no respect. He’s a recent widower, struggling to retain custody of his son Rieven (Ruben Niborski), who, by the decree of his rabbi, cannot be raised in a single-parent home. The story is closely based on Lustig’s own circumstances, and he and Niborski create a close and credible bond. Aside from their relationship, the most recognizably human interaction is between Menashe and his two Hispanic co-workers at the kosher grocery. It’s not exactly a criticism of the rigid religiosity of the Hasidic community, but it does suggest a wistful peek over the fence at the wider world beyond. In his first feature, documentarian Joshua Z. Weinstein’s skills are most evident in the film’salmost stealthy observation of a community that does not encourage exposure to the outside world. Not rated. 82 minutes. In Yiddish with subtitles. Center for Contemporary Arts. (Jonathan Richards)