Between the Temples, 2024.
Written and Directed by Nathan Silver.
Starring Jason Schwartzman, Carol Kane, Dolly de Leon, Caroline Aaron, Robert Smigel, Madeline Weinstein, Matthew Shear, Lindsay Burdge, Julia Walsh, Brittany Walsh, Diane Lanyi, Annie Hamilton, Pauline Chalamet, Cindy Silver, Stephen Lack, and Jacob Morrell.
SYNOPSIS:
A cantor in a crisis of faith finds his world turned upside down when his grade school music teacher re-enters his life as his new adult Bat Mitzvah student.
In writer/director Nathan Silver’s Between the Temples, Jason Schwartzman’s Ben Gottlieb is having a midlife crisis. Still grieving the tragic death of his accomplished writer wife, he finds himself living with his two Jewish mothers (Caroline Aaron and Dolly de Leon) in the basement (with a door that amusingly refuses to stay shut), who find seemingly harmless ways to push him into moving on, becoming increasingly overwhelming throughout the narrative. The Jewish cantor is also losing his faith, at one point visiting a Catholic priest to discuss the concept of heaven and hell and if it’s possible to grandfather his late wife beyond those pearly gates.
Most significantly, Ben gets himself briefly knocked out at a bar, where he is subsequently reunited with his former music teacher, Carla Kessler (Carol Kane, effortlessly switching between hilarious and soulful), catching up before she drives the drunken mess home (or, more specifically, the wrong home.) It also turns out that despite only having a small slice of Jewish ancestry and not being a teenager, Carla would like to make her bat mitzvah. Naturally, this confuses Ben, who initially doesn’t even want to guide her through the educational process before the ceremony but initially cracks once Rabbi Bruce (Robert Smigel) suggests he do it.
Born to communist Russian parents and labeled a “red diaper baby,” Carla’s parents were against the idea of a bat mitzvah even though their daughter has always been fascinated with the religion, culture, and the sounds of the language. As the two continue reconnecting, it also becomes clear that whatever Carla enjoyed in life was either seemingly robbed from her or out of reach from maximized fulfillment. She did have a husband who has passed away, but there are also implications that she never got to chase a musical career aside from putting out one small album. There is a sense that she sees this freedom and later stage of life to accomplish what she wants, even if it is something as unorthodox as an adult bat mitzvah.
Carla is also burdened by a family (mostly her son) that mocks such innocuous concepts that would bring her happiness. He seems more bothered that his mother wants to have a bat mitzvah than he does about his initial jumping to conclusions that they are intimate together just because Ben has been sleeping in her home and wearing some of his old clothes. Meanwhile, this whole process and rekindled friendship (Ben was one of her favorite students with an unforgettable smile, as visualized on his ID for a good laugh) slowly brings Ben out of despair. He also happens to be seeing a woman named Gabby (Madeline Weinstein) at the request of his mothers.
A layered chemistry between Jason Schwartzman and Carol Kane is warm, chaotic, and charming in lively ways that otherwise don’t always exist on screen when other characters are involved. The potential love interest between Ben and Gabby also has its swirl of confusing emotions, with her, at one point, mimicking dirty voice messages he still has on his phone left from his wife. Some of that confusion is also presented through intentionally hazy editing that sometimes blends a childhood version of Ben observed by his adult self with similarly dreamlike cinematography from Sean Price Williams. Scenes involving Ben and his parents are also less engaging, or perhaps once again simply pale in comparison to the dynamism when he and Carla are interacting.
Eventually, these various characters and families converge into your standard anxiety-ridden Jewish get-together, where everything blows up with hidden feelings revealed. The tunnel-vision stubbornness of these families reaches its peak, unable to accept alternative methods of practicing religion and what is giving Ben and Carla’s lives new meaning. Between the Temples is quirky and lightweight until its third act shifts into something more emotionally draining and heavier. It also features arguably the best performance Jason Schwartzman has ever given.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
