'' A Stranger Among Us '' is a 1992 film directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Melanie Griffith . It tells the story of an undercover police officer 's experiences in a Hasidic community . It was entered into the 1992 Cannes Film Festival . It is often cited as one of Lumet 's two failures of the 1990s , the other being '' Guilty as Sin '' ( 1993 ) . Despite the poor reviews suffered by both these films , Lumet received the 1993 D. W. Griffith Award of the Directors Guild of America . The film was also the first credited role for actor James Gandolfini
1992 Cannes Film Festival
1992 Cannes Film Festival
A Stranger Among Us