The Outside Chance of Maximilian Glick

"When Max was born they cut off his .... It's 13 years later, 1960, his BarMitzvah, and they're still at it!"

Jan 19 1990 G 1h 37m
Comedy, Drama, Music

The early 1960s: In preparation for his Bar Mitzvah, a Jewish boy, Max Glick (Noam Zylberman) from a small Manitoba community with an overbearing family tries to navigate his coming-of-age with his family's condescension and bigotry using his sarcastic, Jewish humour. The town's rabbi dies, and a sub-plot develops in which Max's father (Aaron Schwartz) and grandfather (Jan Rubes)-both synagogue leaders-are saddled with a traditional Hassidic rabbi who sticks out like a sore thumb among the otherwise assimilated Jewish community. To make matters more difficult, Max likes a Catholic girl (14 year old Fairuza Baulk in just her third film), whom he later competes with in a piano competition. The quirky, fun-loving rabbi tries to help him with his problems, yet harbours a secret ambition of his own. Filmed in Winnipeg and rural Beausejour, Manitoba, Canada.

Plot

Maximilian Glick is an ordinary Jewish kid in a 1950's small town in Manitoba, Canada. Unfortunately, he is also saddled with overbearing parents, who are intent on railroading his life to meet their expectations of him. The most obvious examples are giving him a piano when he really wanted a bike and pushing him to study for his Bar Mitzfah. Unfortunately, both paths get bumpy when he is partnered with a Christian girl for duo piano playing. His prejudiced parents forbid Max to see her, and his rabbi is killed in an accident. That leads to the appointment of Rabbi Teitelman, an orthodox jew with a unorthodox fun loving look on life. Together, the two must find a way to fulfill their dreams and their own identities in a world that seems dead set against them doing that.

Written by

Phil Savath, Morley Torgov

Directed by

Allan A. Goldstein

Cast

Saul Rubinek, Jan Rubes, Noam Zylberman

Crew

View crew

Production Countries

Canada

Production Companies

ONF | NFB, Southgate Entertainment

Languages

English

Awards

2 wins & 5 nominations

Scores
# of Votes
268
Average Rating
6.9 out of 10
Metascore
NA
Popularity
NA