The First Seven Years

Based on a widely anthologized short story by Bernard Malamud, The First Seven Years is--like many short subjects--mildly interesting yet ultimately unfulfilling. Set in the immigrant Jewish community of Manhattan's Lower East Side during 1949, the film stars playwright Israel Horowitz as Feld, a shoemaker whose daughter Miriam is the object of his laconic, well-read assistant Sobel's (Ned Eisenberg) affection. Sobel and Miriam's relationship is built on a deep spiritual sharing through literary classics, but Feld knows nothing of this, and arranges a date with a local college lad with a head for numbers, a move which angers Sobel. It sounds good on paper, but the relationship between the principals seems more like an anti-love story (Miriam seems bouncy and bright enough, but Sobel comes across as an aggressively silent, moody introvert--an older grouch). And while the jacket copy claims that "the shoemaker is blind to the deep love shared by Miriam and [Sobel]," many viewers will ultimately share the shoemaker's blindness since Miriam's feelings for Sobel are never made clear. A very optional purchase. Aud: J, H, C, P. (R. Pitman)