DELI MAN ★★★

Documentarians evidently will not rest until they’ve given every last corner of the North American Jewish experience a 90-minute exploration. In the past couple years, we’ve had a mini-trend with films like Hava Nagila: The Movie, finding the soul and history of Eastern European shtetl Jews in the klezmer folk staple, and When Jews Were Funny, doing the same thing, but with Borscht Belt comedy. Deli Man puts this sub-genre on rye, tracing the history of the delicatessen from insurgent immigrant hangout to legitimate cultural phenomenon— at one point, there were over 1,500 strictly kosher delis in New York City alone — and down to beloved but threatened institution. Where it tops its predecessors is in capturing the kibbitz-y verve and spirit of its setting. Leaning a bit too hard on the story of deli owner Ziggy Gruber — a French-trained chef whose grandfather opened the first deli on Broadway, and maybe just a bit too run-of-the-mill to be the centre of a documentary — it’s at its best when talking to the historians, cooks and especially patrons, who rattle off everything from piercing cultural insights to chuckling remembrances of characters consuming corned beef. The sharpest of the former notes that the deli, influenced by Eastern European food but strictly a child of North American influence, acts as a sort of “immigrant restaurant for a place where immigrants no longer come from”; that potent mix of culinary and cultural tradition suggests the deli is exactly the right window on the distinctively rich Jewish history, and makes Deli Man a cut above its fellow films. Deli Man opens June 19 at Toronto’s Bloor Hot Docs cinema. ★★★