When patriarch Moishe of Mexico City dies suddenly, his family is left trying to honor his memory. Gradually, though, they discover that the real Moishe was, ah, a lot more than he seemed.

With an elaborate cast of characters, including the head of the chevra kadisha (burial society), a gaggle of groupies from Moishe’s theater club and a wild assortment of alter cockers, My Mexican Shivah is a film of hidden lives.  For it turns out that almost all the people in Moishe’s circle were keeping secrets—about Moishe and about themselves.

We are left thinking about the complexities of life, family and personality not only of Moishe, but of everyone we know.

This is one of the few Mexican films with a Jewish theme, and among the first with Yiddish. There are scenes barely imaginable, including one that features a fantastic, extended klezmer-mariachi number courtesy of the Klezmatics.