Before "Loving Leah" even Sunday night in California, the east coast calls began. The first call came from my parents. "I hope you're watching this," they said. I had plans, I told them, and wouldn't be home for it. Then my friend Suzy called in. "Are you watching this? You need to watch this because I need you to tell me if all this crazy stuff is true."
"This crazy stuff" is the film's basic premise: a young Hasidic widow becomes part of a Levirate marriage, an obscure, rarely-if-at-all observed Jewish ruling in which she marries her late husband's unmarried brother in order to provide the deceased with an heir post-mortem-- I explained what I knew: that the ritual itself was real and not invented, and yes, the deceased's brother can really exempt himself from it by spitting into a shoe. But I had to admit that I had no idea if anyone really did that nowadays, or whether it was being presented accurately and respectfully in the show.
Then the reports started coming in via Facebook: "Pretty cringeworthy," one person said. "Painful more than just awful," another said. Other comments ran in a similar vein until there was one quasi-endorsement: "I actually thought Lauren Ambrose was pretty aidel," she said, using a Yiddish term that (if online Webster's is to be believed) means "cultured or finicky." "They should have called it 'Reforming Leah,'" one friend commented, which along with a photograph of Lauren Ambrose baring her shoulders and smiling, leads me to believe that the character gives up her Hasidic lifestyle after finding love with the dreamy Adam Kaufman (who broke Buffy's heart as "Parker," the first mortal love to disappoint her).
So yes, I missed the airing, and am now looking for it online to form my own opinion. But was there anyone out there who really liked it? And does anyone really engage in Levirate marriage anymore?
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Corny? Sure! Trite? Maybe but I LOVED this movie.
I live in Los Angeles in a very Orthodox area & as a Christian, know very little about the customs.
But there was something so real. & honest & "loving" about this movie that I "rooted" for these two to make a go of it. LAUREN AMBROSE is a fabulous actress & made so much of 6 FEET UNDER work & this ADAM KAUFAMN guy is gorgeous & a fine actor as well, And ANYTHING that has the inimitable, MERCEDES RUEHL in it is definitely worth watching! I'm going to buy the DVD I loved it that much!
I loved the movie even though I knew how it would end as soon as I saw the trailer. An atypical Romeo and Juliet story.
However several things bothered me about it. The most annoying thing is that it never showed Jake's mother mourning over the loss of her son Benjamin. Even though she is not orthodox, she should have been shown to mourn the death of her son. She showed up at the funeral and the only thing she said was about her mistake in wearing open-toed shoes.
There were many inconsistencies regarding religious observance and continuity, but I don't know how many people would catch them.
Overall a nice little love story, a happy ending which we could use more of these days.
I had never seen either Lauren Ambrose or Adam Kaufman before. I was particularly impressed with Ambrose's portrayal, but Kaufman was good also. He is VERY easy on the eyes!!
I too loved this movie! It is rare these days to see a relationship evolve from friendship in a very sweet way. Both Lauren Ambrose (who was luminous in her role) and Adam Kaufman (super cute!) were perfectly cast. I too had never seen either before and agree that both were very good. I recorded it, have re-watched it once, and will probably buy the dvd. I would love to see a "Loving Leah" Two made, but only with the original cast.
One of those rare treats..a movie that really touches the heart strings and you just know that these two wonderful people...thrown together by circumstances about which so many of us know so little - will eventually find the happiness they both deserve...Lauren Ambrose was quite beautiful and touching and you just wanted her to find someone who would love and cherish her and Adam Kaufman - a gorgeous hunk - in a way a true romance but not without its ups and downs! Can hardly wait until the dvd is available..to keep it and watch it again and again.
The young lady Lauren Ambrose played the role with a little know fact, is that she is not Jewish, as most have not noted here in the comments, thus can she act, you bet'um. Show me one movie since the 30's that has everything right down to the lighting of the candles, come on you want a movie or do you want a documentary? My wife and I have watch it about four times now. It’s clean, it has light moments and yea I’m an old guy, but it brought smiles to my face and lots of memories.
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