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Movies / Upcoming / Yiddish Theater: A Love Story
Yiddish Theater: A Love Story

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Yiddish Theater: A Love Story (2007)

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Reviews Counted:17

Fresh:15

Rotten:2

Average Rating:6.8/10

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 80 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Nov 21, 2007 Limited

Synopsis: Enter the funny, larger-than-life world of Yiddish Theater today through this documentary film about the amazing woman who has kept the oldest running Yiddish Theater in America alive. Zypora... Enter the funny, larger-than-life world of Yiddish Theater today through this documentary film about the amazing woman who has kept the oldest running Yiddish Theater in America alive. Zypora Spaisman is a Holocaust survivor who conquers all hearts in her passion for art, life and Yiddish.

This heartwarming story of one unique woman's struggle portrays the fight of both an old art form to stay relevant and an old actress to find meaning and a stage in a society that worships youth.

Shot in real time in one of the coldest winters in NEW YORK, Zypora's theater has one week to raise funding to keep their show going. Many miracles occur during this week. But will they be enough to save this critically acclaimed Yiddish show?

A must see film for anyone who loves theater!

The film has rare interviews with some of the key players in the Yiddish Theater world today. Among them Yiddish legends like Shifra Lerer, Felix Fibich, Seymour Rechzeit and many more. Also in the film are expert Zalmen Mlotek who heads the Folksbiene now and Scholars Dovid Katz and Nahma Sandrow. --© New Love Films
[More]

Starring: Shifra Lerer

Starring: Shifra Lerer

Director: Dan Katzir

Director: Dan Katzir
Screenwriter: Dan Katzir, Ravit Markus
Producer: Ravit Markus, Yael Katzir
Studio: New Love Films

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Yiddish Theater: A Love Story

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1 - 17 (sorted by date)
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However, whether by design or happy coincidence, several more universal truths lurk tantalizingly in the upper balcony and lift this production from the specific to the universal.

Full Review Source: JWR | comment Comment
07/23/09
S. James Wegg
S. James Wegg
JWR

Only a schmuck wouldn't love this movie.

Full Review Source: Quad City Times (Davenport, IA) | comment Comment
07/08/09
Linda Cook
Linda Cook
Quad City Times (Davenport, IA)

... an uneven but ultimately charming %u2013 and sad %u2013 look at the disappearance of a centuries-old cultural tradition whose impact on our own culture has been inestimable.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles CityBeat | comment Comment
12/21/07
Andy Klein
Andy Klein
Los Angeles CityBeat

Given its origins, it's not surprising that Yiddish Theater: A Love Story has a catch-as-catch-can feeling to it. But nothing can take away from the flavor of being caught up in the battles and dreams of a formidable group of people.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
11/30/07
Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Yiddish Theater is a melancholy work, as well it should be, but it's also almost giddy much of the time with the delight of discovery, preservation and nostalgia.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment Comment
11/30/07
Bob Strauss
Bob Strauss
Los Angeles Daily News

Katzir's documentary is on the cusp of posing worthy questions about American assimilation and cultural evolution, but it'd rather appeal to guilt and sympathy for art that we never get to feel.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
11/30/07
Amy Nicholson
Amy Nicholson
Boxoffice Magazine

Although the film's highly personal approach ultimately pays off in terms of heartfelt emotion -- particularly at its bittersweet conclusion -- it's hard not to wish that its focus was not quite so narrow.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
11/28/07
Frank Scheck
Frank Scheck
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

When you see all of these octogenarians struggling through the snow and perilous ice to make it to their show, you really see what true courage and artistic commitment are all about.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
11/26/07
David Noh
David Noh
Film Journal International

Charming documentary on the struggle to keep Yiddish theater alive against all odds, including assimilated Jews' shame at a language associated with victimhood.

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
11/23/07
Louis Proyect
Louis Proyect
rec.arts.movies.reviews

The film's candid personalities provide plenty of memorably off-the-cuff moments.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
11/21/07
Rob Humanick
Rob Humanick
Slant Magazine

Interviews with aging caretakers of the Yiddish Theater are vivid windows into a bygone world, and Spaisman herself, a feisty firebrand whose accent is so strong Katzir supplied subtitles, is a formidable personality.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
11/21/07
Maitland McDonagh
Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Touching, if uneven.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
11/21/07
Elizabeth Weitzman
Elizabeth Weitzman
New York Daily News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Filmed in real time during the freezing winter of 2000, Yiddish Theater: A Love Story tracks eight days in the failing life of the Yiddish Public Theater.

comment Comment
11/21/07
Jeannette Catsoulis
Jeannette Catsoulis
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Dan Katzir's film is, in many ways, an elegy to the Yiddish theater.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
11/21/07
Phil Hall
Phil Hall
Film Threat

Its extremely narrow focus on the death throes of an art form, rather than the art itself, limits its appeal.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
11/21/07
Ronnie Scheib
Ronnie Scheib
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

[A] gentle homage.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
11/20/07
Ella Taylor
Ella Taylor
Village Voice
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We can only hope that the film draws audiences larger today than those we see drawn by the Folksbeine.

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
11/14/07
Mark R. Leeper
Mark R. Leeper
rec.arts.movies.reviews
 
 
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