Minyan (2020) User Reviews

Ten men are needed for a minyan

[Red-125 · 8/10 · 23 October 2020]

Minyan (2020) was co-written and directed by Eric Steel. It stars Samuel H. Levine as David, a young yeshiva student, who has to come to grips with the fact that he is gay, and the fact that he is not certain that he believes in God.

Sadly, coming out as gay in a traditional family is a problem for many people. The centrality of this problem is reflected in the number of movies about gays coming out. What makes this movie different is the superb acting, and the uncanny rendering of Orthodox Jewish life in Brooklyn in the 1980's.

A minyan is ten men (or ten people) that are required for a full Jewish prayer service. As do people in other religions, Jews pray all the time. But it requires a minyan to bring out the Torah. Part of the plot depends upon the fact that David and his father can make a minyan where they live.

We saw this film as part of Image Out, the excellent Rochester LGBT Film Festival. This isn't a great movie, but I think it's worth seeing. The film has an anemic IMDb rating of 6.7. I thought it was better than that and rated it 8.

A brilliant 80's coming of age tale

[roger-99-171599 · 6/10 · 15 October 2020]

Sensitive and uplifting, director Eric Steel's coming-of-age sexy drama won the Best U.S. Narrative Feature Prize at Outfest. Channeling the obstacles of growing up gay in a conservative Russian-Jewish community in 1980's Brooklyn, it brings a career-changing performance by Broadway's The Inheritance's Samuel H. Levine, in the role of the rabbinical student David, a teen struggling with hormones and family expectations. A beautiful portrait of a Brighton Beach boy exploring his sexuality, identity and culture, as well as a rich meditation on generational values (he's educated by his grandfather and other local elders), Steel conceived a powerfully perceptive debut.

A Very Specific Queer Film

[yanghenry41 · 7/10 · 30 October 2021]

This film plods along and you don't really know where it's going, but I felt like the residue of it lingered on me even though it didn't feel like it knew what it wanted. It's a unique - maybe even odd - addition to the queer indie film canon.

Different

[lucaschriskowalski · 7/10 · 22 March 2022]

I didn't mind this at all, slow burn but not boring. There was something intriguing about the narrative, some left of field scenes and plot holes not explored but mostly a good film. I'm a fan of anything set in New York City and this was a side of it I'd never seen before.

A Very Jewish Story!

[martimusross · 6/10 · 12 April 2022]

Minyan

A very Jewish story about a young man coming of age in New York in the 80's.

The script was great and we had some great characterisations, I thought it was a really great movie that breathed in all the right places.

David, played by Samuel H Levine, did a great job, he was very compelling.

I giving this a firm 6 outta 10 for a solid movie all round despite the issues being small.

NOT my story, but my story still

[jtboone2 · 10/10 · 6 February 2022]

An exceptional, moving performance all the way around. Every aspect exuded excellence yet this is a film that isn't for everyone. Deep dive into an ethnic that most of us only very slightly know and even fewer understand without being one of them. It's one of those rare glimpses into the unknown and still one can never thoroughly understand unless it is YOUR story.

I can not imagine y'all watching it. Painfully slow but so exacting in every detail. Beautiful in the extreme when it explores things you are familiar with, but mystifying in the unknown pieces of those lives and loves.

And the soundtrack featuring clarinetist David Krakauer takes you on a wild ride to heaven and back. Just took my breath away...

Jewish Coming of Age

[jeroduptown · 4/10 · 3 January 2022]

David is trying to find his way as a young Jewish man in NYC - and bumps up against both the traditional and the unaccepted. His older neighbors break the mold he's always known...but the relational ties in the film don't quite get as deep as they need to be.

Unexpectedly moving and thought-provoking

[thejasonstation · 10/10 · 26 October 2020]

I didn't have high expectations when starting this film, and yet it crept up on me. Expertly crafted, it's a subtle, yet powerful piece. A dark humor runs within it, but I found it illuminating in so many ways- the love, support, idiosyncrasies and hypocrisies of family and communities.

A worthwhile watch when you want to be moved by a film.

A wasted opportunity

[dogukanelnogl · 4/10 · 18 April 2023]

A promising storyline unfortunately that does not even come close to its full potential, owing to abrupt scene transitions, poor script and some bad acting here and there. The whole time I was trying to make connections between what one person says and how the other responds. Dialogues are very poorly written and unsubstantial; you are forced to make assumptions constantly. Most of them also strike as quite unrealistic. The music in the film was interesting. In some scenes it was ok but in some it did not make sense considering what was going on. I really wanted to like this movie but it is safe to say for me that it was unfortunately a waste of time.

A slow burn

[micheyns · 8/10 · 16 January 2022]

It takes a while to get into this subtle, understated film. Exchanges between characters tend to be muted and at times abruptly truncated. This, you gradually come to understand, reflects the closeted world of the main character, David, whose most crucial interchanges are often a matter of a sidelong glance, a touch, amidst the garrulous world of his mother and fellow Jewish emigrés in nineteen eighties Brighton Beach. I was slowly drawn into thus milieu, permeated as it is by memories of the holocaust and ominous references to a disease affecting gay men, and ultimately found it deeply moving.

Meh

[omer-hadi44 · 2/10 · 12 February 2022]

Extremely disappointing. Boring, anticlimactic, too long, and a lame ending. Honestly, I expected the movie would be deeper I ended up feeling bored, empty, and upset cuz I wasted 2 hours of my life..

Slow but steady

[Caribtony · 8/10 · 28 April 2022]

I had no idea what to expect from this film, but it didn't disappoint. The storyline is a bit all over the place at parts but you still get the tale it tells. The acting is good, and I like how the dialogue of the main character, David, opens up more and more as he discovers who he is. The ending is not clean and wrapped in a bow but makes you think about the untold story. Solid movie, not great , but solid.

A long jewish coming of age story .. that leads to nothing.

[mouldimahdi-04320 · 4/10 · 7 June 2022]

The movie had a very promising story and the potential to deliver a one-of-a-kind tale. A young Jewish boy trying to understand his identity, making his best to navigate in the modern-day USA while staying truthful to his culture. Unfortunately, it failed from the beginning with the slow and the very unpleasant silence that reigned over the scenes. You can feel the effort to create a deeply touching movie, yet the director only gave us a very long loathsome movie with the lamest ending ever.

Takes you somewhere you've never been

[jpcarr · 10/10 · 28 September 2020]

Extraordinary film. Feels completely real. Great cast and directing.