A careful balancing act between character study and romantic comedy, Joan Micklin Silver’s 1988 film Crossing Delancey strikes a beguilingly effervescent tone in spite of its main character, Izzy (Amy Irving), being so prickly and intransigent. This can largely be attributed to Silver and screenwriter Susan Sandler’s willingness to depict Izzy as a woman who lives life on her own terms, discovering herself as she discovers her power.
The film accepts Izzy in all her dysfunctional glory, understanding that we learn and grow by making often bad decisions. She’s a fascinating character for how she has complete agency but often operates against her own self-interest. And while a love triangle is at the center of the film, one never gets the sense that Izzy needs a man to fix or complete her, but rather one to complement her.
The two men vying for her affection couldn’t be more different: smug and accomplished writer Anton (Jeroen Krabbé) and kindly pickle salesman Sam (Peter Riegert). While it’s clear who Izzy will end up with, the pleasures of the film lie in watching Izzy figure it out as she’s forced to confront her own prejudices and assumptions about both men and the worlds they represent.
As the title suggests, to cross Delancey Street is to walk into a different world, here the New York Jewish neighborhood where Izzy grew up. The way our heroine sees it, this little corner of the Lower East Side, as exemplified by her Bubbie (Reizl Bozyk) and the pushy matchmaker (Sylvia Miles) who’s enlisted to find her a husband, is stuck in the past, and far less enticing than the Upper East and West Sides of Manhattan where she rubs elbows with writers and intellectuals.
As much as Crossing Delancey is about Izzy discovering what she wants and needs from a partner, it’s also about these two vastly different worlds. And through the film’s fascinatingly warts-and-all portrayal of them, we see how they both draw and repel Izzy. Whether it’s in scenes of Izzy hanging out with friends at a work soiree or a bris, or spending time with her Bubbie, there’s a full-bodied, lived-in quality to these worlds and the people who inhabit them.
At one point, Izzy claims to love Anton’s writing for its “deceptive accessibility,” going on to say that “it reads like pulp fiction…and then you hear music.” Crossing Delancey certainly isn’t pulp fiction, but there’s a deceptive accessibility to its rom-com trappings. In everything from its frothy score by the Roches to the delightful chemistry between Irving and Riegert, it’s easy to dismiss the film as a lighthearted romp. But scratch beneath the surface and you’ll be gobsmacked by something that more rom-coms could take notes from: an earnest, intense sense of compassion and a depth of feeling for its main character’s conflicted affections.
Image/Sound
The new 4K restoration that the Criterion Collection has transferred looks wonderful in 2160p. Crossing Delancey’s autumnal hues are deep and rich, while primary colors are suitably vibrant and skin tones are naturalistic. There’s a bit of softness in some of the film’s wider shots, but plenty of detail is present in the image. The 2.0 surround audio presents crystal clear dialogue that’s nicely balanced with street ambience in the outdoors sequences.
Extras
A new program features interviews with actors Amy Irving and Peter Riegert and screenwriter Susan Sandler, who all discuss how they became involved with the film and their working process with director Joan Micklin Silver. Sandler also talks about how her original play was based on her own experiences with her grandmother and a matchmaker, while Irving provides insight into how Warner Bros. picked up the film after almost every other distributor passed on it. We also get a 20-minute interview from 1988 in which Silver describes her start in the industry and the brutal process of shopping the Crossing Delancey script around town. Rounding out the package is a foldout booklet with an essay by critic Rachel Syme, who teases out the ways in which Silver and Sandler’s female perspectives permeate the film.
Overall
Criterion’s release of Joan Micklin Silver’s Crossing Delancey should ensure that this oft-overlooked gem secures a spot in the rom-com canon.
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