When “Minyan” debuted in late February 2020, you were probably hoarding toilet paper or stocking up on the wrong kind of canned goods. In other words, doing anything but paying attention to the latest in indie Jewish cinema.
That’s a shame. The film, which is getting something of a do-over at this year’s all-virtual New York Jewish Film Festival, follows a gay Jewish teen chafing against expectations in his 1980s Soviet émigré milueu. Visually enchanting and stubbornly enigmatic, “Minyan” elevates a slice of Jewish experience that rarely makes it onto the big screen it deserves to be on everyone’s watchlist.