Being a parent is difficult – this is a sentiment shared by a great many films, and a subject explored countless times in various ways, across different genres throughout the years. One of the most profound meditations on this subject is Menashe, a small independent film that uses the concept of parenthood and its intersections with culture and traditions in a way that is unique and innovative and positions it as one of the most extraordinary films of the year. The film is a tremendously fascinating look at the interplay between modernity and beliefs as we track the development of an individual as he tries to navigate the dreadfully complex life he has been given, particularly after a tragedy that causes him to question everything, including his own values and competence as a man and a father. Menashe is certainly one of the most incredibly moving films of the year, and it achieves this through its humble production values and its unabashed dedication to a realistic, often brutally honest, narrative that represents a specific culture as shown through one man, as he struggles to come to terms with his own flaws, as well as the challenges that come with attempting to improve on oneself.

Menashe follows the titular character (Menashe Lustig), a middle-aged Hasidic Jew living in Brooklyn, and making ends meet by working as a grocery store clerk. His wife as recently died after a long battle with a painful illness, and his son, Rieven (Ruben Niborski) is being taken care of Menashe’s late wife’s upper-class and highly critical brother, Eizik (Yoel Weisshaus), much to Menashe’s great chagrin. In an attempt to reclaim his life and pick himself up in the aftermath of a great tragedy, he demands his son returns to him, and throughout the week leading up to his wife’s memorial service, Menashe needs to prove to himself as both a man of great faith, but more importantly, as a father who is able to give his young son the life he deserves. The central question that exists throughout this film is that of who Menashe is trying to prove this all to – is he trying to prove it to those who see him as an idiotic, clumsy and incompetent man, both in terms of his faith and in his day-to-day life, or is he trying to prove it to himself? Through a series of episodic events over the course of a few days, Menashe endures the trials and tribulations of looking to convey that he is far more capable than others would expect, and through some successes and even more failures, he is able to possibly come to some sense of resolution through self-reflection and compromise, but also through the sheer determination to prove his own willful and admirable nature, which others are clearly unable to see.

I’ve mentioned this countless times before, but independent cinema usually has three kinds of lead performance that are often missing in more mainstream, higher-budget cinematic offerings. The first is the mainstream star in an against-type performance (think of Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club, Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler and Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler), the second being the beloved character actor being given a role much larger than the supporting roles they are usually offered (such as Harry Dean Stanton in Lucky, John Hawkes in The Sessions and Richard Jenkins in The Visitor) and the third being my personal favorite: the obscure, relatively unknown performer usually having their acting debut in a particular film. Menashe falls very much within this third category, and if there was ever an acting revelation, it is Menashe Lustig. Very few professional performers would be able to give such a raw, naturalistic and deeply moving performance as Lustig, who brings much-needed emotional gravitas and pathos to the titular character. His performance is subtle and nuanced, and lacks any trace of artifice or unneeded effort – there is a true sense of realism in his performance, and he certainly gives one of the most deeply heartbreaking portrayals of a father doing his best to provide for his family that I have seen in a long while. Lustig is somewhat of an unconventional leading man (this entire film, however, is built on lacking any sense of what is conventional in terms of how it approaches the story, and it subverts expectations massively throughout through its relentless exploration of culture and traditions, and the impact it has on one’s personal life). This is a performance akin to Demián Bichir in A Better Life and Lamberto Maggiorani in Bicycle Thieves in its unabashed sincerity and realistic portrayal of fatherhood as a man tries to provide for his family in any way possible. Lustig is absolutely tremendous, and I am only hoping that he continues to pursue a career in acting because there is something so natural and charismatic about his performance, and the fact that an extreme newcomer such as he is able to give such a brilliant performance in his acting debut is truly incredible.

Lustig is not the only great discovery within Menashe, with Ruben Niborski giving a surprisingly complex performance of a character that one would not expect to be this layered. Too many films rely on the natural charm of adorable children to draw audiences into caring about the character, but there is something so fascinating about Niborski’s performance here that sets it apart from so many other similar kinds of portrayals of children in cinema. There is a vulnerability present in him that is often missing (usually, as I suspect, suppressed in favor of having these child characters come off as endearing and lovable, rather than as entirely complex characters with their own flaws), and the way in which he conveys the inner-turmoil of the character is simply extraordinary. His performance may arguably be seen as being secondary to Lustig’s character, but he is central to the development of the story. Moreover, the chemistry between Lustig and Niborski is tangible, and they play off each other extraordinarily well. Independent cinema is usually very character-driven, and thus the performances are foregrounded as the element that can either make the film a roaring success or force it to descend into something that is dull and uninteresting. Luckily, through the wonderful performances of the two leads, Menashe succeeds spectacularly, with both actors (and others in smaller performances) are committed to conveying this heartbreaking but uplifting ode to family and traditions.

There is something so brilliantly different about Menashe in terms of the fact that it is set in Brooklyn – and as I have said many times before, cinema is absolutely enamored by New York City and has explored nearly every corner of the iconic city. Yet, there is only a few lines of English spoken in this entire film, with the vast majority of dialogue being in Yiddish. This beautiful subversion of expectations elevated this film further than the story and performances did, and when you consider director Joshua Z. Weinstein apparently does not speak much Yiddish himself, it conveys the inherent innovative nature of this film. There are not many Yiddish-language films out there, let alone films set in the hub of New York City – but it all speaks to the multicultural nature of the city, where the landscape is populated by people of various ethnicities, nationalities, and creeds. While it would have been far easier to simply make this film in English (as well as allowing it to be marketed to a wider audience), the sheer audacity of Weinstein’s decision to make this a Yiddish-language film is absolutely astonishing.

The Yiddish-language aspect of this film was only one of the elements that gave Menashe a deeply authentic quality. Menashe is a film foregrounded by the deep faith of the titular character, and thus the traditions of the Hasidic Jewish community is made very prominent, but not in a way that would alienate viewers who are not a part of the Jewish community, but rather serve to be a fascinating introduction to the customs and traditions of the community. It serves to be a beautiful ode to the culture, and from a personal point of view, I found it to be a refreshingly informative approach to representing Judaism on screen – it just seemed so authentic and realistic. The entire film as a whole is a beautiful exercise in exploring the nature of life, being void of artificial cinematic flair or false sentimentality, and rather choosing to convey this story through simplistic, beautiful filmmaking that places the human condition, with all its flaws and defects, right at the forefront, and allows the inherent emotion of this film resonate with absolutely anyone. The raw emotional core of Menashe is actually quite brutal and shockingly profound. This is a film that does not attempt to be anything less than an honest portrayal of a father-son relationship as told through the traditions of a specific culture, much like the aforementioned Bicycle Thieves (and such a haughty comparison does not come lightly – Menashe has the same heartbreaking realism and beautiful parental relationship as Vittorio de Sica’s cinema-defining masterpiece).

Menashe is a wonderful film. Warm and endearing, it is a heartbreaking journey into fatherhood as well as being a deeply meaningful look into the cultures and traditions that govern the Hasidic Jewish community that lives in Brooklyn, a very specific and seemingly marginal, but no-less fascinating community that was certainly worthy of such a beautiful film. Menashe is not a major work in terms of being entirely notable as a populist film, and therefore I doubt it will be widely seen. However, I can tell you that it is one of the best films of the year, a deeply touching film with authentic emotional resonance and a profoundly beautiful storyline that will surely move anyone who endeavors to experience this lovely film. Joshua Z. Weinstein is most certainly a filmmaker to watch, and Menashe is one of the most audacious cinematic debuts, and while it may fly under the radar, it is most definitely a film that deserves as much acclaim and love as it can possibly get, because in a landscape of heartless money-making blockbusters, such a small and sincere film as Menashe dares to be different, and that is more than enough to justify Menashe as a towering achievement of independent cinema.