A Stranger Among Us | |
---|---|
Directed by | Sidney Lumet |
Written by | Robert J. Avrech |
Produced by | Steve Golin Howard Rosenman Sigurjón Sighvatsson |
Starring | Melanie Griffith |
Cinematography | Andrzej Bartkowiak |
Edited by | Andrew Mondshein |
Music by | Jerry Bock |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures Distribution |
Release date |
|
Running time | 109 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $18 million [1] |
Box office | $12 million |
A Stranger Among Us is a 1992 American crime drama film directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Melanie Griffith. It tells the story of an undercover police officer's experiences in a Hasidic community. It was entered into the 1992 Cannes Film Festival. [2] It is often cited as one of Lumet's two failures of the 1990s, the other being Guilty as Sin (1993). Despite the poor reviews suffered by both these films, Lumet received the 1993 D. W. Griffith Award of the Directors Guild of America. The film was also the first credited role for actor James Gandolfini. The shooting of the film was used as an example in Lumet's book Making Movies.
Hardened New York City homicide detective Emily Eden, daughter of a divorced former cop, and her partner Nick attempt to arrest two drug dealers. However, Nick is stabbed by one of the dealers, whom Emily shoots, killing him as he tries to flee. As a result, her superior Lt. Oliver temporarily takes away her gun. After Nick is hospitalized and the dealers have been apprehended, Emily goes undercover to investigate the murder of a Hasidic diamond-cutter named Yaakov Klausman. She questions the family of the Hasidic rebbe, an elderly Holocaust survivor who is revered for his wisdom and compassion toward his fellow Jews. He says to her, "You and I have something in common: We are both intimately familiar with evil. It does something to your soul."
While living with the rebbe's family, Emily changes her appearance and takes a liking to his son, Ariel, a young man who works as a diamond-cutter but teaches in the yeshiva and is expected to follow his father as the next rebbe. In addition to keeping all 613 Mitzvot, he is waiting for his intended, or basherte, the daughter of a Paris rebbe whom he has not yet actually met. They are the subjects of an arranged marriage, but he believes that she is his soul mate, chosen by God. He is also studying the Kabbalah, which is regarded as rather daring for a man under 40. Its discussion of sexual intimacy is restrained but specific, as well as a metaphor for the relationship between Man and God.
Emily finds out that the "inside man" in the murder plot is the rebbe's adopted daughter Mara, who had been living a disorderly life until Yaakov introduced her to the rebbe. Afterwards, she joined the community as a repentant baalat tshuva, "one who has returned," until a person from her past approached her and she let him into the Diamond Center to steal diamonds worth about $750,000 and kill Yaakov.
Shortly after, Emily saves the rebbe's daughter Leah from being scammed by brothers Anthony and Christopher Baldessari, who claim to be Yaakov's killers. Emily instructs her second partner Levine to call for backup and arrests the Baldessaris, but the Baldessaris manage to escape. In the ensuing chase, Levine is injured, while Emily fatally shoots the Baldessaris. Before succumbing to his wounds, Anthony admits to Emily that he and Christopher were not responsible for Yaakov's death.
Having solved the case such as Mara now an accessory to murder, Emily rejects Nick's proposal, secretly romances Ariel to overcome her personal problems, and returns to the rebbe's home with him, but finds that Mara has taken Leah hostage. After Emily attempts to negotiate, Mara knocks her out, and Ariel kills Mara with Emily's revolver, avenging Yaakov. Ariel comments that sometimes an evil deed has a partially good result. Emily is hospitalized for an examination, while the rebbe and his family bid her farewell. Ariel and his basherte Shayna Singer get married, in which a reformed Emily watches from a distance. Eventually, she returns to work and catches up with an also reformed Levine, who is on leave and invites her on a two-week trip to Aruba. However, she declines and awaits her bashert.
A Stranger Among Us received negative reviews from critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 22% of 41 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.7/10.The website's consensus reads: "A disappointing misfire for director Sindey Lumet, A Stranger Among Us tries to tell a murder mystery and a fish-out-of-water love story, doing a disservice to both." [3]
Film critic Roger Ebert described it as "a half-witted crime movie, wrapped in [a] love story that's a non-starter," and noted that "if there has ever been a crime, in all the history of crime movies, that has a lamer solution than this one, I cannot remember it," and "what's impossible to understand is how professional filmmakers could convince themselves that audiences would find the simple-minded crime plot even slightly plausible." He also wrote that "Jerry Bock's music is so inappropriately comical it seems to call for cartoon characters." [4] Peter Travers' review of the film for Rolling Stone reported that director "Sidney Lumet hits the shoals in this cop-out-of-water story," that "casting the babyvoiced Griffith as a hard case is a major miscalculation," and described writer Avrech’s script as "romance-novel mawkishness [with a] whodunit angle [that] is similarly lame." [5] A review of the film by Desson Howe in The Washington Post noted that Griffith's voice "isn't the bark of a no-nonsense, take-charge woman. It's the squeak of a laryngitic munchkin," that her "inspiration-free performance attests merely to an ability to memorize a script," and that she is "sensationally miscast in this role. Nothing she says is believable." [6]
Some of the criticism of A Stranger Among Us is based on comparisons with the Academy Award-winning film Witness , which has a superficially similar plot. Similarly, Lumet's earlier film Fail-Safe was unfavorably compared to Dr. Strangelove , but in that case both films have subsequently achieved cult status. Griffith's performance in the lead role has also been heavily criticized, for which her role won her the Razzie Award for Worst Actress (also for the year's Worst Picture, Shining Through ), while Tracy Pollan was nominated for Worst Supporting Actress.
Some aspects of the plot recall the 1977 murder of diamond dealer Pinchos Jaroslawicz.
Scenes from the movie were filmed in Ridgewood, Queens. The shootout was filmed at the Eldridge Street Synagogue on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
Yitzchak Hutner, also known as Isaac Hutner, was an American Orthodox rabbi and rosh yeshiva (dean).
Ger is a Polish Hasidic dynasty originating from the town of Góra Kalwaria, Poland, where it was founded by Yitzchak Meir Alter (1798–1866), known as the "Chiddushei HaRim". Ger is a branch of Peshischa Hasidism, as Yitzchak Meir Alter was a leading disciple of Simcha Bunim of Peshischa (1765–1827). Before the Holocaust, followers of Ger were estimated to number in excess of 100,000, making it the largest and most influential Hasidic group in Poland. Today, the movement is based in Jerusalem, and its membership is estimated at 11,859 families, as of 2016, most of whom live in Israel, making Ger the largest Hasidic dynasty in Israel. However, there are also well-established Ger communities in the United States and in Europe. In 2019, some 300 families of followers led by Shaul Alter, split off from the dynasty led by his cousin Yaakov Aryeh Alter.
The Morning After is a 1986 American psychological thriller film directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Jane Fonda, Jeff Bridges, and Raul Julia. It follows a washed-up, alcoholic actress who awakens on Thanksgiving morning beside the dead body of a photographer in his loft, with no memory of the events from the night before. She attempts to uncover the truth of what occurred with the help of a former police officer she encounters while on the run.
Sidney Arthur Lumet was an American film director. Lumet started his career in theatre before moving to film, where he gained a reputation for making realistic and gritty New York dramas which focused on the working class, tackled social injustices, and often questioned authority. He received several awards including an Academy Honorary Award and a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for nine British Academy Film Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award.
Melanie Richards Griffith is an American actress. Born in Manhattan to actress Tippi Hedren, she was raised mainly in Los Angeles, where she graduated from the Hollywood Professional School at age 16. In 1975, 17-year-old Griffith appeared opposite Gene Hackman in Arthur Penn's neo-noir film Night Moves. She later rose to prominence as an actor in films such as Brian De Palma's Body Double (1984), which earned her a National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress. Griffith's subsequent performance in the comedy Something Wild (1986) attracted critical acclaim before she was cast in 1988's Working Girl, which earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won her a Golden Globe.
Tracy Jo Pollan Fox is an American actress and author. She is known for playing Ellen Reed on the NBC sitcom Family Ties (1985–1987) and Harper Anderson on the crime drama series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2000), for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.
Yisrael Alter, also known as the Beit Yisrael, after the works he authored, was the fifth Rebbe of the Hasidic dynasty of Ger, a position he held from 1948 until 1977.
Prince of the City is a 1981 American epic neo-noir crime drama film directed by Sidney Lumet. It is based on the life of Robert Leuci, called ‘Daniel Ciello’ in the film, an officer of the New York Police Department who chooses, for idealistic reasons, to expose corruption in the force. The screenplay, written by Lumet and Jay Presson Allen, is based on a 1978 non-fiction book, by former NYPD Deputy Commissioner Robert Daley.
Romance & Cigarettes is a 2005 American musical romantic comedy film written and directed by John Turturro. The film stars an ensemble cast which includes James Gandolfini, Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslet, Steve Buscemi, Bobby Cannavale, Mandy Moore, Mary-Louise Parker, Aida Turturro, Christopher Walken, Barbara Sukowa, Elaine Stritch, Eddie Izzard, and Amy Sedaris. The film was nominated for a Golden Lion at the 2005 Venice Film Festival.
Night Falls on Manhattan is a 1996 American crime drama film written and directed by Sidney Lumet. Based on the novel Tainted Evidence by Robert Daley, the plot centers on a newly elected district attorney played by Andy García, who is eager to stamp out corruption within the New York City Police Department. Ian Holm, James Gandolfini, Lena Olin, Ron Leibman, and Richard Dreyfuss feature in principal supporting roles.
The Anderson Tapes is a 1971 American crime film directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Sean Connery and featuring Dyan Cannon, Martin Balsam and Alan King. The screenplay was written by Frank Pierson, based upon a best-selling 1970 novel of the same name by Lawrence Sanders. The film is scored by Quincy Jones and marks the feature film debut of Christopher Walken.
Q & A is a 1990 American crime film written and directed by Sidney Lumet, based on a novel by New York State Supreme Court judge Edwin Torres. It stars Nick Nolte, Timothy Hutton, Armand Assante and Lumet's daughter, Jenny Lumet.
Israel Friedman of Ruzhyn, also called Israel Ruzhin, was a Hasidic rebbe in 19th-century Ukraine and Austria. Known as Der Heiliger Ruzhiner, he conducted his court with regal pomp and splendor. Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, who was said to be jealous of the Rebbe's wealth and influence, had the Rebbe imprisoned for nearly two years on an unsubstantiated murder charge. After his release, the Rebbe fled to Austria, where he re-established his court in Sadigura, Bukovina, attracted thousands of Hasidim, provided for the Hasidic community in Israel, and inaugurated the construction of the Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Yitzhak Aharon Korff is the present Rebbe of Zvhil – Mezhbizh. Since 1975 he has been the Chaplain of the City of Boston and spiritual leader of Congregation Bnai Jacob, Zvhil–Mezhbizh Beit Medrash of Boston, Miami, and Jerusalem, serving also with the Chief Rabbis of Israel as Spiritual Leader of The Jerusalem Great Synagogue. He is a dayan of the BaDaTz Boston Beth din and Vaad HaRabbonim. He is also principal of Korff Associates, consultants in business, diplomacy and international law and relations, Consul to the government of Austria and publisher of the Boston-based Jewish newspaper The Jewish Advocate.
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead is a 2007 American crime thriller film directed by Sidney Lumet. The film was written by Kelly Masterson, and stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei, and Albert Finney. The title comes from the Irish saying: "May you be in heaven a full half-hour before the devil knows you're dead". The film unfolds in a nonlinear narrative, repeatedly going back and forth in time, with some scenes shown repeatedly from differing points of view. It was the last film directed by Lumet before his death in 2011.
A Price Above Rubies is a 1998 British-American drama film written and directed by Boaz Yakin and starring Renée Zellweger. The story centers on a young woman who finds it difficult to conform to the restrictions imposed on her by her community. Reviews of the film itself were mixed, though there were generally positive reviews of Zellweger's performance.
Joseph Meir Weiss, was a Hungarian rabbi and founder of the Spinka Hasidic dynasty. He is often known as the "Imrei Yosef" after his major work. The family name is sometimes spelled Weisz.
Eric Thal is an American film and stage actor, perhaps best known as Ariel in Sidney Lumet's A Stranger Among Us; Sam Nivens in The Puppet Masters; Samson in Samson and Delilah; Meade Howell in The Wedding; and Rick in Six Degrees of Separation.
Lee Richardson was an American character actor who frequently appeared in Sidney Lumet's films.
Leah McNamara is an Irish actress. She starred in the film Metal Heart (2018) and the Sky Max thriller Then You Run (2023). She also appeared in the History series Vikings (2017–2019), the BBC One–RTÉ crime drama Dublin Murders (2019), and the BBC Three–Hulu miniseries Normal People (2020).