Minyan

Eric Steel’s first feature tellingly merges memories of Brooklyn in the 1980s with his own gay adolescence.

Brighton Beach in Brooklyn is a location that has featured in a number of films ranging from 1986’s Brighton Beach Memoirs, taken from the semi-autobiographical play by Neil Simon, to 1994’s Little Odessa. The latter had a particularly relevant title since the story centred on a family of Russian Jews typical of those who live in that area. This is now the atmospheric location for Minyan the first narrative feature by the documentarian Eric Steel and it's a work richly evocative of Jewish life in Brighton Beach in the late 1980s. The music score contributes to this. There is, however, a key element here that is fresh since, although Minyan is centred on three generations of the Brodsky family, the central figure is the 17-year-old grandson, David (Simon H. Levine), and a chief focus of the film is the way in which he is seeking to find his way as somebody who is both Jewish and gay.

Although Minyan has as it source a short story by David Bezmozgis set in Canada, Steel's film, which he wrote with Daniel Pearle, not only shifted the location but was developed to incorporate something of Steel’s own experience growing up gay. The fact that Steel, a man in his fifties, is only now reflecting on his youth in this way explains why Minyan comes across as a mature work. It is a film that is unhurried and has its own rhythm as it avoids big dramatic scenes in favour of understatement that is restrained yet potent. It's an approach which may not appeal to all viewers but which enables a highly talented cast to create characters in some depth and thus make them seem very real to us.

Minyan readily brings together a number of themes which merge effortlessly. In David’s case we witness his slowly growing awareness of his sexuality and his first serious involvement with a man, a bartender named Bruno (Alex Hurt, son of William). While the film generally seems quietly observational, the sex scenes involving these two are notably well handled and expressive of David’s feelings. He has doubts over how possible it is to be true to himself while also having a meaningful role within the Jewish community and this is in part worked through when he comes to know an elderly gay Jewish couple. These men are widowers who share a room in a subsidised housing block where they are accepted as best friends without more being said. The bond between these two (Christopher McCann and Mark Margolis) is most touchingly portrayed and is an influence on David when his grandfather (Ron Rifkin) moves into a room adjoining theirs following the death of his wife. These older Jewish characters are of an age to have bitter memories of the Holocaust years which understandably emerge in their conversation when they think back and what they experienced then stands as an example of how a minority can come through despite being persecuted.

Just occasionally a few details may seem a bit too neat. James Baldwin quite reasonably impresses David through his writings but, if the novel Giovanni's Room is a link in drawing David to Alex, Baldwin also happens to be very conveniently featured in literary studies attended by David. More telling is the reference to the rule which gives the film its title: not only do we learn at the outset that it concerns the requirement that ten be present to share in Jewish communal prayer but, in addition, it is mentioned near the close. The degree of freedom valid in interpreting religious texts is also an issue touched on here and the further reference to the rule for a minyan provides a telling conclusion in which the film's main themes are united.

MANSEL STIMPSON

Cast: Samuel H. Levine, Ron Rifkin, Christopher McCann, Mark Margolis, Richard Topol, Brooke Bloom, Alex Hurt, Carson Meyer, Zane Pais, Eleanor Reissa, Gera Sandler, Lawrence Jansen.

Dir Eric Steel, Pro Luca Borghese, Luigi Caiola, Ben Howe and Eric Steel, Screenplay Daniel Pearle and Eric Steel from a short story by David Bezmozgis, Ph Ole Bratt Birkeland, Pro Des Lucio Seixas, Ed Ray Hubley, Music David Krakauer and Kathleen Tagg, Costumes Annie Simon.

Easy There Tiger/AgX/Caiola Productions-Peccadillo Pictures.
119 mins. USA. 2020. US Rel: 29 October 2021. UK Rel: 7 January 2022. Cert. 15.