Drugs, Sex, and Holly Rollers
So imagine if Walter from the Big Lewbowski did roll on Shabbos! Just when you thought you had heard of everything, I come across this movie called High Rollers. It’s about Hasidic Jews recruited in the nineties to serve as drug mules for bringing Ecstasy into the US. Now, I went to a Jewish elementary school, and all I know is my best friend, Esther, got kicked out for bringing like some kind of tiny knife into class. That for me was pretty hard core, and this is a whole new level, clearly.
Basically, the protagonist is an Orthodox kid from Brooklyn. His neighbor proposition him to transport “medicine,” which he decides to do for an Israeli dealer and his girlfriend. As a drug mule, he gets to know the seedy underground of Manhattan and Amsterdam nightlife. Soon, however, his double identity begins to screw up his family while his community becomes suspicious of his illegal work. I suppose a lot of Torah reading and the pressure to marry young could result in the desire to dabble in a little drug trafficking. The review in New York Magazine wasn’t so excellent but thats hard to believe. I’m not sure what else there is to know. A movie about drugs, sex, and long Hasidic curls? Who could ask for more?
Landmark Sunshine Cinema
143 E. Houston St. @ Eldridge St.
[Lower East Side]