Movie with Abe: Sukkah City (Capsule Review)

Sukkah City
Directed by Jason Hutt
Released August 22, 2014/DVD March 24, 2015

There are a number of Jewish holidays that are more obscure than others, and Sukkot is one of the ones that might seem strangest to those without any experience of its customs or traditions. It’s especially interesting, therefore, to see it presented to the masses in an extremely public way. “Sukkah City” is a documentary that chronicles an ambitious project created to challenge designers and artists to create a decidedly untraditional Sukkah, a temporary booth or hut. Selected finalists will be able to bring their ideas to life and display them in Union Square in New York City. It’s an intriguing process to see the genesis of different designs and their implementations, but watching some of it play out is too technical and scientific to be truly engaging. Seeing the building of certain especially ambitious notions, like a Sukkah assembled from signs held by homeless people, can be invigorating, but that’s the highlight of an undramatic filming of an admittedly much more exciting event.

B-