Jake (Keats) has become an assimilated Jewish immigrant in New York City of the 1890s. After five years separation, Jake is reunited with his wife, Gitl (Kane), who arrives from the old country and soon learns of her husband’s infidelities and shady business dealings. A milestone in American independent cinema, Hester Street earned Kane an Oscar nomination for Best Actress and established screenwriter-director Silver as one of the most formidable talents of her era. “[An] ingratiating little movie…it makes a pleasant and efficient entertainment” (Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader).
