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Jackson Heights, Queens, boasts that it's the most diverse neighborhood anywhere on Earth, with migrants or descendants of migrants from more than 160 nations.
Documentarian Frederick Wiseman seems to cram nearly every one of those national identities into his latest film, "In Jackson Heights," and yet it's never boring. Even at three hours, it's a vibrant, energetic look at the many ways the American experience is lived day-to-day.
Filmed over summer 2014, "In Jackson Heights" allows Wiseman to plunk his ever-watchful camera into a great many places to create intriguing vignettes. At first, the episodes seem random, bouncing to a mosque at morning prayer to a meeting of gay senior citizens in the local Jewish center — a building that's often shown as near empty, as the local Jewish population dwindles and ages.
In other parts of the neighborhood, change is afoot. Business owners are learning they face eviction from their longtime storefronts, part of an effort (we're never told clearly who's behind it) to gentrify Jackson Heights for rich people getting crowded out of Manhattan.
Then there's the action at Make the Road New York, a social-justice nonprofit to which Wiseman's camera frequently returns. In one scene, volunteers there are collecting hardship tales from people who crossed the border from Mexico illegally. In another, a transgender Latino seeks help fighting discrimination in a neighborhood that's not as gay-friendly as its city councilman, the openly gay Daniel Dromm, would have everyone believe.
But it's not all politics and business in Jackson Heights. Wiseman catches outdoor performances from an all-female mariachi band and a community chamber orchestra. He enters butcher shops where poultry is slaughtered in the halal method, with a knife to the throat and a prayer to Allah. He peeks in on a belly-dancing class, citizenship lessons and a workshop for would-be cabbies. And, seemingly everywhere, people are stopping to watch their home countries in the World Cup.
The resulting mosaic created by Wiseman — who is director, producer, editor and sound recordist — is a fascinating look at diverse people bouncing up against each other in a tight space. Some of the bumps are friendly, others more confrontational, but all of them are uniquely and defiantly American in every way that matters.
Twitter: @moviecricket —
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'In Jackson Heights'
Frederick Wiseman captures the ups and downs within the mix of humanity in one diverse Queens neighborhood.
Where • Tower Theatre.
When • Opens Friday, Jan. 16.
Rating • Not rated, but probably PG-13 for language and some meat-processing scenes.
Running time • 189 minutes; in English, and Spanish and Arabic with subtitles.