Hester Street

Neglected piece of history receives atmospheric examination as old customs are replaced by assimilation. Keats is a young Jewish immigrant living on the title street while his wife Kane and their child are waiting back in the Old World. While trying to earn the money to bring them to the US, he becomes increasingly Americanized. He soon becomes involved with a fast-moving socialite who gives him some cash, which he in turn sends to his wife. Kane arrives but only shames Keats with her old-fashioned ways. They divorce and Keats goes off with his other woman, while Kane falls in love with a family friend. An engagingly simple first feature written and directed by Joa...