Ushpizin (PG)

Succoth is a Jewish holiday wherein the celebrants erect wooden huts outside their houses to commemorate the temporary dwellings which sheltered the Children of Israel when they left Egypt. But Moshe, an ultra-Orthodox Jew living with his wife in Jerusalem, is so hard-up that he can't afford a "Succah", or any of the other sacred items he needs to join in the festival.

At first, his plight seems to be the stuff of quaint ethnic comedy, but then two guests drop in unexpectedly. They're friends of Moshe's from his younger, pre-religious days as a thuggish criminal, so we have the tantalising prospect of A History of Violence with yarmulkes.

Ushpizin doesn't quite live up to that promise. For one thing, it has a hero whose idea of taking positive action is to sit on a bench and pray. But it's a bright, charming peek at an unusual lifestyle, and one of the few collaborations between Orthodox Jews and secular film-makers. Shuli Rand, who wrote the screenplay as well as starring as Moshe, did so only after receiving his rabbi's blessing.

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