The Outside Chance of Maximilian Glick (1988)

overview : 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.

Release Date : Sep 16, 1988

Runtime : 1h 35m

Genre : Drama  Comedy  

Companies : Southgate Entertainment, ONF | NFB

Countries : Canada

Keywords : canada, winter, mine, classical music, piano lessons, rabbi, bar mitzvah, judaism, prairie, rural area, religious differences, teenage romance, christanity, manitoba