Holy Rollers

Sam Gold (Jesse Eisenberg) reluctantly follows the path his family has chosen for him, studying to become a Rabbi and awaiting an arranged marriage within his Orthodox Brooklyn community. When a charming neighbour, Yosef (Justin Bartha), senses that this may not be the future of Sam’s dreams, he asks him to transport a shipment of ‘medicine’ from Europe to the US for an Israeli friend.

Sam quickly demonstrates his skill to his bosses, who take him under their wing and expose him to the exhilarating nightlife of Manhattan and Amsterdam. As Sam falls deeper into the nocturnal world of parties and easy money, he finds himself experimenting with drugs and falling for the gorgeous Rachael (Ari Graynor). But as the business grows, Sam’s double life begins to tear his family apart.

Holy Rollers is inspired by actual events in the late 1990s when Hasidic Jews were recruited as mules to smuggle ecstasy from Europe into the United States.

“Holy Rollers fuses a somber, old-world palette with a jittery urban unease–a good mix of tones. It’s also wonderfully acted.” ~David Edelstein, New York Magazine (Vulture)