In Jackson Heights

At least 167 different languages are reportedly spoken in Jackson Heights, a neighborhood in the New York borough of Queens. Frederick Wiseman enters this buzzing melting pot in his 43rd film. It is one of his most beautiful, a great urban symphony, overflowing with color, sound, and movement. Over the course of three hours, we learn about the problems of LGBT groups, generational conflicts, the difficult lives led by immigrants, and the steady advance of gentrification. One can feel Wiseman’s presence in every frame, and his pioneering attitude once again, as well as the passion of the people in front of the camera, make IN JACKSON HEIGHTS, whose first images are of people in a mosque, one of the most important US films of recent years. A film about the US. (hb)