OVP: Hester Street (1975)

Film: Hester Street (1975)
Stars: Steven Keats, Carol Kane, Mel Howard, Dorrie Kavanaugh, Doris Roberts
Director: Joan Micklin Silver
Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Actress-Carol Kane)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

I read a blog frequently where the author's pet peeve is when the Best Actress race is declared "weak," as he argues persistently that the Best Actress race is never "weak" if you look hard enough.  While I don't entirely agree with him (axiomatically if there are strong years for Best Actress there inevitably have to be "weak" years for the category), I do agree in the sense that the actual lineup of Best Actress nominees should never be "weak" as there is never a year where there aren't five very strong, exceptional performances given by women.  You just occasionally have to look a bit harder than the Academy is willing to do, so you end up with a lineup that underwhelms when you could have had something better.  Occasionally, though, the Academy steps greatly outside their comfort zone principally because they don't seem to have much of a choice, and that's what happened in 1975, a year that was considered so poor by many members of the film community for women that Oscar-winner Ellen Burstyn even suggested they cancel Best Actress as a statement (to which eventual victor Louise Fletcher retorted to Burstyn, "why don't you suggest that in a year where you're competing").  Oscar's lead actress nominees that year included  a performance from a former "sex kitten" in a rock opera, a French actress no one had heard of before the nominations, a supporting performance being elevated as a lead, and strangest of all, an unknown character actress in a very tiny film about the Jewish immigrant experience at the turn-of-the-century.  That film was Hester Street, that nominee was Carol Kane, and that is our film of today.

(Spoilers Ahead) The film itself is so odd not because Oscar ignores historical epics (he doesn't), but because the film itself is incredibly specific and a bit niche, to the point where it's difficult to find the Academy, which usually goes for more universal-experience films, discovering a foothold in the movie.  The film follows the story of Jake (Keats, who was quite fetching in the film, something I didn't know before the movie started), who has been having an affair for years with Mamie (Kavanaugh), but is married to a traditional Jewish woman named Gitl (Kane).  Gitl moves in with him in the United States, but is very leery of New York and rigid in trying to assimilate and adjust her customs.  As a result, Jake becomes frustrated and abusive with her, more openly parading Mamie in front of her while a tenant in their house, Bernstein, becomes ensnared with Gitl.  Eventually Gitl grows confident enough in herself to leave Jake and marry Bernstein, and that's how the film concludes.

The movie itself is not great.  The film works too broadly, frequently working in brushstrokes of characters rather than letting us into the film.  It seems like Jake was forced to marry Gitl in the old country, but it's hard to imagine they had a particularly solid relationship previously-one wonders why he even sent for his wife and son, quite frankly, and didn't just abandon them as it seems like this is something that better reflects his character.  Gitl is an interesting creation as a character, primarily because so little is known about her as she goes through the film, even after she is "freed" toward the end of the film by tradition.  Kane, who has the most expressive eyes of any actor in the world, is not an actor of limited talents, and I have always liked the fact that such a specific actress gets to call herself an Oscar nominee, but I'm disappointed that her ability to pitch unusual comedy and play broader emotions with such conviction (such as rage and passion) are not on-display in likely the only nomination she will ever receive.  Here she's too reserved for most of the film-she plays the part, but it's too full of tics and the character doesn't give her enough chance to emote.  There's subtlety, and then there's boredom, and I feel like Kane falls prey to the latter far too often in the film.

The movie is incredibly short, and in my opinion, pretty straight-forward.  The only really interesting dynamic it pushes out to the audience is whether or not traditionalism or new-thinking is better, and the film weirdly tries to condemn both, neither siding with the "do what you want" philosophy nor picking one, but instead making Gitl leave behind her traditions and have Jake condemned to a life of poverty.  All-in-all, it's a weirdly convoluted message from a film that seems sure it's giving you a moral.  As a result the film is a failure, but it's so atypical of most films of the 1970's that it's almost worth the view just to catch a film that is completely out-of-the-box for the Academy to honor.  If you've seen it, chime in on your thoughts, and if you haven't, we all have thoughts on that 1975 Oscar race-with more traditional contenders like Faye Dunaway, Marilyn Hassett, and Glenda Jackson all an option, what was happening in the water to pick Kane, Ann-Margret, and Louise Fletcher?  Share your hypotheses in the comments!