Crossing Delancey
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Synopsis
Joan Micklin Silver’s wonderfully affectionate spin on the romantic comedy infuses the genre with a fresh, personal perspective, following an unmarried Jewish woman’s search for fulfillment in New York City. Happily independent bookstore manager Izzy (a luminous Amy Irving) isn’t looking for love, but she’s forced to reevaluate her desires when she catches the eye of two very different men: a self-centered novelist (Jeroen Krabbé) and the mild-mannered Lower East Side pickle seller (Peter Riegert) with whom her old-fashioned bubbie (scene-stealing Yiddish-theater star Reizl Bozyk) sets her up. A love letter to 1980s Manhattan shot in beautifully burnished, autumnal tones, Crossing Delancey gracefully captures the magic of a city where disparate cultures, generations, and traditions both clash and connect.
Picture 9/10
Criterion, once again showing its commitment to 4K, presents Joan Micklin Silver’s Crossing Delancey on 4K UHD, delivering the film with Dolby Vision on a triple-layer disc in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The 2160p/24hz ultra high-definition presentation comes from a new 4K restoration sourced from a scan of the 35mm original camera negative. The release also includes a standard dual-layer Blu-ray featuring a 1080p presentation (from the same restoration) along with all of the release’s special features.
This isn’t necessarily a film I would have thought was screaming for a full 4K presentation, but there’s no denying it benefits tremendously. It looks unbelievably good, delivering a razor-sharp image much of the time, with super-fine details rendered cleanly—including the film’s delicate grain structure, which remains natural and never appears noisy. This contributes to a lovely filmic texture as well. Restoration work has also been thorough, with only a few minor marks remaining—ones so faint you’d have to go looking for them.
While not a particularly flashy film, HDR and Dolby Vision still bring some noticeable improvements. Black levels are deep and inky, and shadow detail is impressive, particularly in the bookstore sequences that play a central role in the film. There are other standout moments, like a scene in Anton’s (Jeroen Krabbé) apartment, lit by a single lamp. Highlights also look great without blowing out detail.
Colors can be a bit muted, though they still look natural. Some scenes exhibit a heavier teal tint, but this appears to be an intentional choice rather than a blanket application. The effect is most noticeable in exteriors, where it enhances the chillier weather, and in certain interiors, particularly those lit by fluorescent lighting. However, it’s not applied universally—bookstore scenes look a bit more neutral (if dark), and a sequence set in a sunnier climate (featuring Isabelle’s parents and their friends) is almost entirely free of the tint.
I’m a little surprised Criterion went all out on this one, giving it the full 4K treatment, but it was absolutely worth it. The film looks really, really good.
Audio 8/10
Criterion includes the film’s original 2-channel surround sound mix, presented in DTS-HD MA. There isn’t much to say about the mix—it’s a fairly straightforward presentation, with dialogue and effects staying primarily in the front channels, while the music soundtrack (a mix of contemporary songs and occasional classical pieces) subtly spreads to the rear channels. Everything is delivered with ample range and fidelity, and the audio remains sharp and clear throughout.
Extras 4/10
I wasn’t too surprised to find this edition a bit light on supplements, but Criterion still put in a decent effort, managing to bring together screenwriter Susan Sandler and actors Amy Irving and Peter Riegert (all filmed separately) for a new 30-minute feature aptly titled Crossing Delancey Revisited. I was expecting a fairly standard talking-head retrospective, but it actually digs deeper into the material and subject matter than I anticipated.
Interestingly, the film started as an off-Broadway play written by Sandler, based on her own recent experiences. The original production starred Shirley Stoler (The Honeymoon Killers) as the matchmaker. When Joan Micklin Silver saw the play, she immediately wanted to adapt it into a film. However, as was often the case for Micklin Silver, she struggled to secure funding. Studios saw the film’s deeply rooted Jewish themes as a hard sell for a mainstream audience.
Luckily, with Amy Irving cast as the lead, her then-husband—one Steven Spielberg—was able to pull some strings and convince Warner Bros. to back the project. What makes this even wilder in hindsight is how cheap the film was to make (the marketing budget was reportedly far bigger than the production budget), and yet it went on to become a box office success, earning the studio a tidy profit.
After discussing this and other pre-production details—including how Sandler originally wanted Riegert for the stage version but couldn’t get him due to scheduling conflicts—the three shift focus to the shoot, their co-stars (including Reizl Bozyk), and the Lower East Side community that serves as the film’s backdrop.
Criterion also includes a 1988 Harold Lloyd Master Seminar audio recording featuring Joan Micklin Silver discussing the film. Played over a production still, the director recounts the film’s development, production, and post-production process. She also shares some of the frustrations of pitching the film, including a particularly absurd suggestion from studios to change the characters to Italians to make it more commercial—a change she, unsurprisingly, refused.
The disc wraps up with the theatrical trailer, and the included fold-out insert features an essay on Micklin Silver and the film by Rachel Syme. It’s a fairly slim selection of extras, and I do wish there had been more focus on topics like New York’s Yiddish theater community, which had a clear influence on the film—from its stage origins to the casting of Bozyk in her only major film role. That said, what’s here is still solid and worthwhile.
Closing
I do wish the supplements had covered more, but the new 4K presentation is simply stellar.
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