MINYAN by Eric Steel (2020)

MINYAN FILM SCORE by DAVID KRAKAUER & KATHLEEN TAGG'S (2020):

With long-time collaborator David Krakauer, Kathleen co-composed and produced the musical score for the feature film Minyan by Eric Steel,(nominated for best film at 2020 Berlin Film Festival & Winner of Grand Jury Prize for Best U.S. Narrative Feature at OUTFEST 2020). Minyan is a beautiful coming of age story of an immigrant family in New York. A young Jewish man is caught between thrilling private trysts and his repressive family in this thoughtful drama set in 1980s Brooklyn.

Nominated for Best Feature at the Berlin Film Festival (2020)
Winner: Best Narrative Film at OutFest (2020)

“Has late ’80s Brighton Beach ever been rendered so truthfully onscreen? New York’s Russian immigrant enclave by the sea is ripe with texture in “Minyan,” the narrative debut of documentarian Eric Steele. There are a lot of moving parts in “Minyan,” glued together by a hauntingly frenetic klezmer score, but it ensures the film never courts cliche. The questions at hand are too great for a single answer, and — as any Jewish scholar will tell you — are always up for interpretation.”
—Jude Dry, IndieWire

"Documentary maker Eric Steel interweaves multiple threads with admirable skill and balance in his engrossing narrative feature debut, Minyan...He also benefits from strong collaborations with composers David Krakauer and Kathleen Tagg, whose score brings rich cultural specificity, and with accomplished cinematographer Ole Bratt Birkeland (Judy), who shoots the film in wintry tones that in retrospect feel almost like black and white."
–David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

“From an aesthetic standpoint, “Minyan” is an exquisitely realized fiction debut (Steele has directed documentaries) blessed with the muted colors of Lucio Seixas’ production design captured in Ole Bratt Birkeland’s graceful cinematography, which soak the period piece in the melancholia of a dignified humbleness, and a piercingly jazzy score that vibrates with eerie holiness.”
—Carlos Aguilar, LA Times

"One knows from McCann’s restless turn and the competing clarinets in David Krakauer and Kathleen Tagg’s wonderfully docile score that David has yet to reconcile who he is internally, making his unease in any number of worlds that he’s naturally been assigned a place in particularly pronounced, and while “Minyan” never strays from his perspective, the film is quite moving in presenting the dilemma facing all of the characters..."
–Stephen Saito, Movable Fest

“The film’s bluesy woodwind score has a teasing, goading quality that feels tinged with melancholy”
–Simran Hans, The Guardian

”Minyan is a leisurely film, running almost two hours, but it’s never boring thanks to the strength of the performances, the cinematography by Ole Bratt Birkeland, and especially the klezmer-inflected score by David Krakauer and Kathleen Tagg.”
–Sarah Boslaugh, The Arts STL

“Gentle rhythms and motifs are woven into the narrative: the covert draining and refilling of the ‘best’ vodka; the inspiring literature class; the score, klezmer infused jazz which anchors David’s story to the traditions of his family.”
–Wendy Ide, Screen Daily

“The frame feels grubby and drained, spiced up only by brief forays into the New York nightlife with an authentic soundtrack to match. And speaking of music, the entire film is underpinned by melancholic shofars, complimenting scenes of sometimes unsettling muscular religious obeisance.”
–Ben Turner, The Pink Lens

MORE:
IndieWire Review
​Hollywood Reporter Review

Discussion with Eric Steel (April 2020 from home- includes music)