"The Seder"
A Slice of Life
Amos Lassen
This is quite a year for LBGT movies with Jewish themes and I am really glad to see that. I just watched an amazing twelve minute short, "The Seder" which really blew me away. I was expecting a comedy but instead got a hard look at life and acceptance. The Seder, for those of you who do not know, is the ceremonial Passover meal that commemorates and celebrates the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt and it is familiarly known as the holiday of freedom. What better time is there for gay people to be who they are, to come out and to celebrate difference? Mitchell (David Looza) decides to bring his boyfriend Leo (Adam Rodness) home for the very first time to the Seder and introduce him to his parents as the person he loves. We get the feeling that everyone is nervous—Leo, his mother and Mitchell. His father is okay but then he has been out in the back toking on a joint and nothing seems to bother him. Waiting for the Seder to begin are Leo's parents and grandmother as well as the rabbi who tires very hard to convince mom that Mitchell is doing the right thing by using the Seder to announce his love for Leo. After all, like the children of Israel, he is proclaiming his freedom. The production values of the film are excellent and I was sorry to see it end. I would love to see it developed into a full length film but then, perhaps, it might lose some of its punch. As it is, it makes quite a powerful statement. Leo and Mitchell have a job to do and they are not too eager to do it for fear for either hurting someone or fear of non-acceptance. Theresa Tova as mother is THE Jewish mother who worries about how things will go and she knows what her son is about to do. The dad (Harvey Atkin, who reminded me much of my own father---physically) seems to let nothing bother him. While we are speaking about acceptance, you should know that Leo's sister is married to a black man and they have a child with a huge Afro. Interesting that the mother should worry about their son being gay and involved when their daughter has given birth to problems of a different nature. The ending came as a total surprise but thinking about it in retrospect, I realize now that this is the only way it could end and that last scene is something that you will not forget. "The Seder" is finding a place on my "Best List" simply because it really spoke to me. Everything about the film is perfection, even the tiniest detail. Justin Kelly has written and directed a film of which he can be very, very proud as can everyone affiliated with this delightful look at the way we live.
