MINYAN

Director: Eric Steel

2021, USA, In English, Hebrew, Yiddish, Russian and German with English Subtitles, 118

Screenwriter: Eric Steel & Daniel Pearle based on the short story by David Bezmogis

Cast: Samuel H. Levine, Ron Rifkin, Brooke Bloom, Alex Hurt.

 

An overdue shout out to OutFilm CT co-directors Jaime Ortega and Shane Engstrom’s Queer Thursdays, who move heaven and Earth to get films of interest to the LGBTQ community on screen once a month – even when the pandemic threatened to isolate us all. January’s provocative selection is set in Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach in the 1980s. Impressive newcomer Sam Levine brings a subtle eroticism to his role as David, a restless 17-year-old who is at war with his religious, traditional father. Which explains why he moves into a new apartment with his grandfather (Ron Rifkin) on one condition: he’ll agree to be the tenth man to make up a minyan – the minimum necessary for communal prayer. Emboldened by the more tolerant atmosphere, David explores the pleasures NYC has to offer, including a very sexy (and available) bartender, in the brief time between liberation and the coming devastation of AIDS.

“Heartfelt and honest. And at times, unexpectedly hot” – Screen International