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Ushpizin
Picturehouse Entertainment LLC


9.4

based on 25 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 12 votes
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MPAA RATING: PG for mild thematic elements

Starring Shuli Rand, Michal Bat-Sheva Rand, Shaul Mizrahi, Ilan Ganani, Avraham Abutboul, and Daniel Dayan

Director Gidi Dar's film, Ushpizin (roughly translated as "holy guests"), is a revelatory and humorous look at the daily lives of ultra-orthodox Jews learning, living and loving in modern-day Israel. (Picturehouse)

GENRE(S):	Drama \| Foreign
WRITTEN BY:	Shuli Rand
DIRECTED BY:	Giddi Dar
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: April 4, 2006 Theatrical: October 19, 2005
RUNNING TIME:	90 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	Israel
LANGUAGE(S):	Hebrew / Yiddish (with English subtitles)

Original title "Ha'Ushpizin"; Best Actor (Rand), 2004 Awards of the Israeli Film Academy

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Does what the best movies can do: take viewers to what might be unfamiliar places, into a culture with unique customs and traditions, and show, through drama and comedy, how the fundamental truths of the human experience need no translation.

Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan

In addition to providing a fascinating, agenda-free look at an unseen way of life, the film presents a lesson that should be welcome among people of any faith or none at all.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The unusual intimacy and authenticity can't be faked: The cast is peppered with nonprofessionals, most notably Michal Bat Sheva Rand.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Jew or Gentile, a good story well told is a thing to be cherished.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

The Israeli comedy Ushpizin begins something like Guy Ritchie's "Snatch" and ends like the Coen brothers' "Raising Arizona" – in between it's a wholly original movie.

San Francisco Chronicle Walter Addiego

You need not be a believer to appreciate its humor and humanity.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

Ushpizin takes us to a fascinating place, and hands out the sort of brochure that tourists always need but seldom get -- the charming kind, fun to ponder and rewarding to browse.

Miami Herald Marta Barber

Ushpizin may not turn out to be as popular as Miracle on 34th Street, but if you believe that miracles can happen, it is a perfect outing during the holidays.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

The new Israeli movie Ushpizin, a film about man's clumsiness and God's grace, is a touching and amusing tale that expands our horizon and also should open our hearts.

New York Post V.A. Musetto

On paper, Ushpizin (Aramaic for "holy guests") looks like a hard sell. It works, however, thanks to a witty script and believable performances from real-life husband and wife.

TV Guide Ken Fox

There's little difference between this joyful holiday film and the standard-issue yuletide-miracle movie, except that the holiday isn't Christmas.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Gentle and affecting, it offers an introduction to a mostly unfamiliar world while touching on issues recognizable to all.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Stylistically Ushpizin belongs to a classic tradition of raucous Yiddish comedy that is easy to enjoy if taken lightly. At the same time, it sustains a double vision of ultra-Orthodox life.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

As directed by Gidi Dar, Ushpizin has a disarming folk quality.

The Hollywood Reporter Sheri Linden

In the charming comedy-parable Ushpizin, religious orthodoxy inspires not unbending dogma but humble, sometimes baffled spiritual striving by its embraceable, flawed characters.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

A warm, conciliatory entertainment.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

A gently humorous fable about the power of faith and the possibility of change, Ushpizin not only takes place in Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, it was filmed with that media-shy group's cooperation and followed religious law at all times.

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

The ability of faith to reintegrate a damaged personality is one theme here, although the film doesn't strive for psychological realism; in its heartfelt embrace of religion as ethical path, it owes more to the bygone Yiddish drama than to psychodrama.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

A charming comedy with a philosophical undercurrent that provides a fascinating glimpse of Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox Jews, who live in a realm almost literally sealed off from outsiders. But the most remarkable thing about the film is that it exists at all.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

The picture has enough good feeling and chuckle to take it out of the parochial.

Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson

A good-hearted movie aimed at Orthodox Jews who don't normally go to the movies.

Variety Jay Weissberg

An enjoyable seriocomic tale of a poor couple whose holiday-time miracle becomes a test of faith.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Most revelatory here is Malli, who defies the stereotype of submission and subservience and emerges as a woman of self-possession and substance. (The earthily beautiful Bat-Sheva Rand infuses the character with a generous dollop of her own zaftig sensuality.)

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Ushpizin's effortlessly authentic depiction of Jewish orthodoxy--and the palpable, almost ecstatic sense of joy its characters take in it--ultimately tips the film's hand.

Empire David Hughes

A flawed but fascinating (and frequently funny) insight into a culture seldom explored on film from an insider's point of view.

The average user rating for this movie is 9.4 (out of 10) based on 12 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Chad S. gave it a7:
The filmmaker's unwillingness to go all the way like Michael Haneke's "Funny Games" in dealing with the volatility of unwelcome guests within a pacific household hampers, but doesn't do irrevocable harm to a very unique film-going(or DVD-watching) experience. These two uncouth friends from the protagonist's past are genuinely menacing, so when the inevitable is circumvented by a collective change of heart in their attitudes towards Jewish Orthodoxy; "Ushpizin" ceases to be a real film and more like a promotion of religious ideology, the Hebrew equivalent to Christian films like "Left Behind". For the sake of religious tolerance, however, "Ushpizin" should be seen, even though it fritters away some very uncomfortable moments between the sanctified and the heathens at dinner-time. But really, only a certain Aussie would want this film to end like "Funny Games".

Joe S. gave it a10:
This movie was superb. A most remarkable portrayal of the inherent beauty of faith.

Sylvia S. gave it a10:
I loved this film. I laughed, and cried, and was lifted up by the love at the heart of this movie. The acting of Shuli Rand and his real-life wife, Bat-Sheva is superb. The film does a fine job of shedding light on the hasidic community about which there is so much misunderstanding.

Carol M. gave it a10:
Awesome! Love this movie! So poignant! Got to get a copy! Can't get the song out of my head, either!

patricia b. gave it a10:
Great movie. A touching story very authenticly preformed. I loved.

Neil P. gave it a10:
Normally I don't like foreign movies with subtitles, but I loved this one. It is a charming comedy-drama that the whole family can enjoy together. "Fiddler on the Roof" meets "Miracle on 34th Street".

Ushpizin Picturehouse Entertainment LLC

Ushpizin
Picturehouse Entertainment LLC