Ushpizin

Critics Consensus

Ushpizin offers a rare and warmly intimate look into ultra-Orthodox Jewish culture.

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Ushpizin Photos

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Movie Info

The insular world of Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem comes to the screen (with their blessings) in this warm comedy drama. Moshe (Shuli Rand) was once a secular Jew, but he rediscovered his faith and became an ultra-Orthodox Jew, and with his wife, Mali (Michal Bat Sheva Rand), he struggles to support their family. With the harvest festival of Sukkot around the corner, Moshe is broke, and asks for help from a yeshiva charitable fund. Moshe is told the fund has been depleted, and he and Mali are left with no options but to pray for a miracle. To their surprise, the next day they're informed some money was found in the fund after all, and they are given 1,000 dollars; Moshe and Mali believe this is the miracle they asked for, and they joyously make plans to build a sukkah, a gazebo-like structure where Orthodox Jews entertain guests and serve their meals. Just as he completes the new sukkah, Moshe is surprised by the unexpected arrival of Eliahu (Shaul Mizrahi) and Yosef (Ilan Gannai), two old friends from his restless days before he embraced his current faith. Imagining the Lord has sent him guests as part of the miracle, Moshe takes in his old pals and tries to make peace with their rambunctious ways, but what he doesn't know is that the two are on the run from the law, having recently escaped from jail. Ushpizin was scripted by leading man Shuli Rand, who is in real life an ultra-Orthodox Jew and demanded a number of conditions before agreeing to participate in the making of the film (such as the producers agreeing to never show the picture on the Sabbath).

Rating:

PG (for mild thematic elements)
Genre:

Art House & International, Comedy, Drama
Directed By:

Gidi Dar
Written By:

Shuli Rand, Amit Yasur
In Theaters:

Oct 19, 2005 wide
On Disc/Streaming:

Apr 4, 2006
Box Office:

$1,381,814
Runtime:

91 minutes
Studio:

Picturehouse

Cast

Shuli Rand
as Moshe Bellanga

Michal Bat Sheva Rand
as Malli Bellanga

Shaul Mizrahi
as Eliyahu Scorpio

Ilan Ganani
as Yosef

Avraham Abutboul
as Ben Baruch

Yonathan Danino
as Gabai

Daniel Dayan
as Rabbi

Michael Vaigel
as Ethrog Assessor

Daniel Rand
as Elazar

Yizhak Levkovits
as Charity

Shmuel Ovadia

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Critic Reviews for Ushpizin

All Critics (62) | Top Critics (23) | Fresh (58) | Rotten (4)

[The film] places a captivating life study in the context of a modern fairy tale.

Dec 2, 2005 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

Peter Howell
Toronto Star
Top Critic
Very light, even saccharine at times, but blessed with enough pure charm to make the syrup go down a treat.

Dec 2, 2005 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

Rick Groen
Globe and Mail
Top Critic
An unexpected delight from an unlikely source, Ushpizin is the first feature film set inside the closed community of Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox Jews.

Dec 1, 2005 | Rating: B

Eleanor Ringel Cater
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Top Critic
It had me, this film with blessings on its mind.

Nov 28, 2005 | Rating: 3.5/4 | Full Review…

Amy Biancolli
Houston Chronicle
Top Critic
Ushpizin will certainly be manna to people of religious sensibility, but you need not be a believer to appreciate its humor and humanity.

Nov 23, 2005 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

Walter V. Addiego
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic
Viewers who aren't familiar with Orthodox Jewish culture might have trouble fully relating to this Israeli film. But everyone should be able to appreciate its heartwarming tone.

Nov 23, 2005 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

Jeff Strickler
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Top Critic
An orthodox Jew will identify and thereby raise the level of the movie to something beyond the temporal film experience

Oct 2, 2007 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

Jordan Hiller
Bangitout.com
Dryly funny and richly humane, Ushpizin marries biblical simplicity to secular banality to depict an everyday miracle of devotion rewarded.

Jun 15, 2007 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Anton Bitel
Film4
Ushpizin is engaging, entertaining and has something to say about us humans, through the prism of discovering %u2013 or re-discovering %u2013 the importance of faith, and the strength it can impart. Especially under duress.

Feb 18, 2006 | Full Review…

Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
In addition to providing a fascinating, agenda-free look at an unseen way of life, the film presents a lesson that should be welcome among people of any faith or none at all.

Jan 20, 2006 | Rating: B+ | Full Review…

Marc Mohan
Oregonian
Devout and delightful. That's a rare one-two punch for a feature film. Ushpizin pulls it off.

Jan 19, 2006 | Rating: 3/4

Larry Ratliff
San Antonio Express-News
The film provides a valuable glimpse into the religious practices of ultra-Orthodox Jews living in Jerusalem. But it's also a cleverly plotted film, which, refreshingly, also features a few welcome comic elements.

Jan 6, 2006 | Rating: 3.5/4

Jeff Vice
Deseret News (Salt Lake City)

View All Critic Reviews (62)

Audience Reviews for Ushpizin

Apr 25, 2008

Nothing is lost in translation here. You can read every emotion in these actors faces.

Sunil J Super Reviewer
Dec 23, 2007

The first 9/10ths of this movie were great. But how did an indie flick like this end up with such a Hollywood ending? (And a poorly edited one at that.)

Ed K Super Reviewer
Jun 27, 2007

A foreign movie about an Orthodox Jewish couple in Jerusalem. It was fascinating and so uplifting, it instantly became one of my favorites!

Ida K Super Reviewer
May 03, 2007

(Oct 2005 Director: Gidi Dar) This Israeli film won Israeli awards plus International awards!! I loved this film about an Orthodox Jewish couple...the husband had been a former gang leader but turned straight...still having his past trail him. Funny, original, provocative....I loved the emphasis on prayer! Much chuckles! Great fun (along with the pseudo serious)

Teresa S Super Reviewer