The "stranger" is an undercover policewoman on a murder investigation; the "us" whom she's among are the Hasidim of New York City, and above all the "cute" Talmudic scholar who, we are told, "is to Jewish learning what Mozart was to music." Sparks inevitably fly. It might be convenient to think of this as a simple gender reversal of Witness, with a different religious faith plugged into the formula; but in fact there is a long screen tradition of sexual flirtation with the chaste and holy: Black Narcissus, The Bells of St. Mary's, etc. His world is all soft, golden, Rembrandt-esque light; hers is harsh, white, morgue-like neon. (Yeah, but at least she gets to watch Astaire and Rogers on TV.) The rest of the cultural lesson is similarly simple ("The Rebbe? Is that like a rabbi?"). For that matter, the murder case is simple, too, although unsatisfactorily resolved. (Who's supposed to have put the body in the ceiling?) It gets increasingly foolish as it goes, if not quite all the way to outright funny. With Melanie Griffith, Eric Thal, Mia Sara; directed by Sidney Lumet. (1992) — Duncan Shepherd
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