lasttimeisaw Joan Micklin Silver is an unheralded, enterprising US indie filmmaking, a pathfinder for women daring to break the glass-ceiling in the probably most sexist post in the film industry. Her debut feature, produced by her late husband Raphael D. 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. Through his impertinent jokes about a greenhorn, Silver seems to inform us, he is not a character we should show a certain amount of appreciation. 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. But not for Jake, Gitl represents everything he is eager to jettison, their conjugal bond is flimsy with Mamie hovers around under the pretext of collecting her money. It always takes two to tango, at this step, if Mamie still wants Jake, and is willing to help him get out of the marriage, what else can we say? They truly deserve each other.On the other hand, Gitl and Mr. Bernstein finds some kindred spirits under the aegis of Silver's tender characterisation confined in their cramped apartment. The third act can be captioned as "a divorce: Jewish style", improbably farcical thanks to the committed recreation of the scenario. 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. Surely, it is a humdinger of a greenhorn's debut enterprise.

Robert J. Maxwell Well, in 1972 "The Godfather" was a sensation, so why not other stories about immigrants adapting to life in the New World? This one is about Jews on Hester Street which was, at the turn of the century, the heart of the community on the Lower East Side. 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. It's 1898 and Jake is a rake, going to dancing classes, flirting with the looser local girls, wearing a fashionable mustache, speaking English quickly and cockily. 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. They can be utterly charming, whether or not they're amusing.Scene: Keats has met his wife and child and is trying to maneuver them through the immigration obstacle at the station. The uniformed official behind the desk is skeptical when Keats claims they are his family. "For what purpose are you bringing this woman into the country?", asks the bureaucrat with a squint. (Dumb stare from Keats.) "For what purpose are you bringing this woman into the country?" Keats, angrily: "For the poipous dat she is my WIFE!" The marriage doesn't work out in the new environment. Keats loves the gay life and Kane is quiet and seems antiquated. So Keats sends a lawyer to her to discuss divorce. How much does she want to grant him a divorce? "Fifty dollars," says the lawyer in a theatrical manner. "You'll be a rich woman. You can get another husband just like that." No? The lawyer shakes his head sadly. Okay. "You got a little one you need to take care of. I can go seventy-five dollars. No? What kind of business are we doing here, Lady? What do you want, a HUNDRED DOLLARS? Oy -- what am I saying! Okay, it's out. I said it. A hundred dollars." I'm still laughing as I write this, but the whole movie isn't made up of such comic gems. I've seen it twice, the first time on its release, and was completely involved. The second time there were fewer surprises, although some scenes -- the ritual of the divorce, for instance -- were just as touching as the first time around. 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. They have no money and their choices are not exactly limitless. A thought drifted into my mind. Sigmund Freud as Jewish immigrant living on Hester Street. Freud would have been 32 years old in 1898. I can almost hear the exchange between him and his wife. "Siggie, should we leave the soda water out on the sidewalk or keep it in the shop?" And Freud stops and rubs his chin before replying, "YES and NO."

RARubin It's pretty tough to build a realistic set of the Lower East Side, New York City, 1896. The Godfather films did the best they could. When directors shoot the distant past of our great grandfathers, they usually shoot in tempera hue antiquing the scenes, so we feel we are looking through a time machine. In the case of Joan Micklin Silver's, Hester Street, she shoots with black and white stock. 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. The poverty, crowded conditions, popular prejudices, and alienation were a fact of life. 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. His wife arrives with child unexpectedly thwarting his plans. Keats rejects her old world ways. Waiting in the wings is a boarder, a religious man that admires Gitl. A simple plot, no, but satisfying.

edwagreen 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. Fact is, she just can't do that.To make ends meet, a border lives in the house which was a very common practice then. (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. You feel that you're in the typical Jewish home of that period.