Menashe

"Menashe" is a little slice of life, delivered with a knowing sense of truth.

The curious are welcome, but this one fits snugly in the category of "You Don't Have to Be Jewish, But..."

Weinstein normally directs documentaries, and "Menashe" has a fly-on-the-wall feel at times, particularly in the warmly believable interplay between father and son. The movie was filmed in Borough Park, N.Y., which adds to the atmosphere.

Weinstein brings a palpable authenticity (attributable in part to a cast made up of local non-actors) to this universally resonant story, rendering it unique and specific in a meticulously detailed setting.

The subtle on-screen chemistry between father and son gives this sweet and poignant drama a solid emotional base.

Delicately woven and sensitively told, director-writer Joshua Z Weinstein's ode to a shlemiel rings true.

The effort to raise a child, Menashe reminds us, is as likely to confront us with our own childishness as it is to bring out our maturity and responsibility.

Menashe is a film that's about a man who has been dealt a bad thing in his life and he's doing the best that he can.

"Menashe" is a slice of an America that you've rarely seen before on screen, a world that largely remains from the mainstream, but to which Weinstein shows us a bird's eye view of here.

Menashe is the most human and humane of dramas.

The hyper-specificity of [a] community, and the deep respect for faith that the movie observes, makes it easy for Menashe to reinvent the everyman tragedy.

At its heart, Menashe is a universal story.