The trailer for the Jesse Eisenberg-led indie drug drama “Holy Rollers” has arrived and it looks fairly run-of-the-mill. Set in late 1990s New York City, the film follows Eisenberg as a Hasidic Jew who turns to drug dealing. Essentially, it sounds like a twist on the formula used in Jonathan Levine’s “The Wackness,” though it seems with a lot less nostalgia for the era.
Here’s the synopsis from the Sundance Film Festival where it premiered:
Inspired by actual events, Holy Rollers uses the incredible story of Hasidic Jews smuggling Ecstasy in the late ’90s as a backdrop to examine the difference between faith and “blind” faith.
Sam Gold, an insulated Hasid on the cusp of manhood, is frustrated by the constraints of his beliefs and his father’s poor business decisions. When Sam is presented with an opportunity to make some real money smuggling Ecstasy between Amsterdam and New York, he cautiously accepts it—and quickly finds himself seduced by the allure of the secular world. Caught between life as a smuggler and the path back to God, Sam and his worlds begin to unravel.
In the lead role, Jesse Eisenberg deftly displays the internal moral struggle of a young man torn between polar-opposite cultures and ideologies. Director Kevin Asch fleshes out the disparate outer worlds of Brooklyn’s Hasidic community and the drug scene in Amsterdam, while revealing the complex interior lives of his characters and the taut dynamics among them.
Co-starring Justin Bartha, Ari Graynor, Danny A. Abeckaser and Q-Tip, the film will hit theaters on May 21st. [Poster via Cinematical]