Stranger Among Us (1992)
Oy Vey!, 28 January 2005
Author: THOMAS C. RIZZO, JR. from LARGO, FLORIDA
Director Sidney Lumet is no hack - his resume includes classics such as "The Pawnbroker," "Serpico," "Dog Day Afternoon," and "Network." But every artist is entitled to the occasional misstep, and at least "A Stranger Among Us" is more an interesting failure than the outright disaster "The Wiz" was.
Lumet is dealing with a number of problems here, first and foremost among them a meandering script that can't quite decide what its main storyline should be. Ostensibly a crime drama centering on the murder of a merchant in Manhattan's diamond district (the stretch of 47th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues), it persists in wandering off in two other directions - Brooklyn's Hassidim community and its age-old traditions, and the threat of forbidden love between one of its members and the detective assigned to the case. While the scenes involving the religious rituals and customs add nothing to the plot, they at least are interesting and informative about a culture foreign to most viewers. Less compelling are those moments involving Ariel and Emily of the NYPD, since their interest in each other strains credulity, not only because their backgrounds make it unlikely, but due to the lack of any chemistry between Eric Thal and Melanie Griffith.
Griffith is Lumet's other major problem here. No doubt she was cast because at the time she was still Hollywood's flavor-of-the-month, but we are asked to suspend disbelief and accept her not only as a New York police officer, but as one who would be selected to go undercover and infiltrate the Jewish community and live with them as one of their own. Dying her blonde locks brown does nothing to make Griffith less the "shiksa" (Gentile woman) than she obviously is, and it's unlikely anyone in Crown Heights would have mistaken her for anything but. Yet - oddly enough - although plainly she's out of her element, the fish-out-of-water aspects of the story just don't work.
By the time whodunit is revealed, you may not care who was responsible for the nearly-forgotten crime lost in a jumble of sub-plots - but give it a moment or two of thought and you'll wonder how the victim's body could have been hidden where it was by the person implausibly identified as the killer. It's a plot twist that just isn't quite - forgive the pun - kosher.
The actors cast as the elder Jews and the atmosphere in which they live and worship add an air of authenticity that's missing from any of the scenes involving police procedures. Lee Richardson is impressive as the rebbe who, despite his misgivings, must welcome the street-smart female cop into his home. John Pankow, Mia Sara, and Jamey Sheridan do well in their small supporting roles, and James Gandolfini makes an appearance as a thug in a foreshadowing of his career as Tony Soprano, but Eric Thal is saddled with the almost impossible task of making us believe he would forsake his strong religious beliefs and dedication to Kabbalah for the hard-talking, gun-toting Griffith.
Despite its many flaws, "A Stranger Among Us" is one of those films that makes a long flight, rainy day, or dateless Friday night easier to endure. As a Lumet credit, it's a far cry from "Serpico," but a hell of a lot better than "The Wiz."
Fiddler on the Roof with a Homicide, 5 December 2004
Author: Cactus-7 from Austin, Texas
Man, this is one bad film! If you want yet another mind-numbing lecture on Hassidic Judaism, this is the flick for you. If you thought you were getting a "Whodunnit," you wasted your money. Everyone was so sweet and pious I half expected the final line to be "Rabbi says every time you hear a bell ring, a gentile gets its wings." Perhaps this would have been a better film if it had been made as a musical a la "Fiddler on the Roof." Think of the numbers. "If I Were A Dead Guy," Sunrise, Sunset; My Gut's Upset" etc. Sopranos fans will enjoy a brief appearance by James Gandolfini and John Pankow's "Levine" is the only character of any interest. Bad, bad, bad. Someone bring me a slab of ham. And a shot of Jameson's Irish Whiskey! Quick!
 A Shiksa Among Us * * * 1/2,
Lumet does his usual splendid job of presenting New York City dynamically and organically, not just as a city of steel and glass, walls and bridges, towers and tunnels, but as a place where people live. Lumet couldn't have found a more shiksa-ish shiksa to play the shiksa than Melanie Griffith, but Griffith doesn't carry the role of tough as nails plainclothes Detective NYPD Emily Eden very well. To start, the name "Emily Eden" is redolent of crinolines, bubble baths, and lavender. Sure, her character is as crude, profane and inappropriate a cop as the role demands in the face of the exclusively Commandment-driven life of the Hasidim, but Griffith herself is as soft and squeaky as a plush toy. She's CUTE, which makes her very unbelievable. This would have been a breakthrough role for the beautiful, hard-edged Theresa Russell a la IMPULSE, but chalk it all up to a missed opportunity. Good supporting roles are played by Tracy Pollan as Mara and James Gandolfini in his debut performance as---guess what--a Mafiosi. The plot is strictly generic and off-the-shelf. One of the younger Hasidic diamond merchants is murdered, and all evidence points to it being an inside job. Assigned as investigator, Griffith is posted in the home of the aged Rebbe, a Holocaust survivor, and becomes acquainted with, and then attracted to, his adopted son and lineage heir Ariel. This film excels (and it does excel) in giving the general audience a glimpse into the close-knit community and mutually interdependent lifestyle of Hasidic Jews. This may not seem like a very big acheivement in our fractionalized modern world, but the film is a wonderful vehicle for presenting the multiculturalism of New York's varied communities with respect. The people portrayed in this film become far less alien, familiar and likeable---understandable---when seen through Lumet's lens. For this, if for no other reason, A STRANGER AMONG US is a worthy addition to Lumet's body of work. |
