A funny and honest chemistry between a cantor and his much older student.
I saw the new Jewish comedy “Between the Temples” virtually from the Sundance Film Festival,” and I would like to compare it to another Jewish movie I saw from another film festival-the Boulder International Film Festival (BIFF). It was called “All About The Levkoviches,” and it told the story of a Hungarian boxing coach whose estranged son has converted to Judaism, and they must perform Shiva when his mother passes away. And the son also brings his child (who doesn’t speak Hungarian, but Hebrew) for the tradition, although he was basically the reason why the movie was a mixed bag for me. Even my cousin agreed with me when we saw it.
“Between the Temples” is much better than that film, because there are no annoying kids, but Jason Schwartzmann and Carol Kane in roles I never would have guessed to see them in. And plus, it’s funnier and more consistent. Sony Pictures Classics has the right mind to distribute it, because its tone really matches the films the studio usually releases. And this movie knows an interesting character study when it sees it.
Schwartzmann plays a cantor named Ben Gottlieb, who has a life crisis of his own-the kind when he begins to lose his magic touch. His wife passes away, he leaves before he can sing at the temple, tries to kill himself by having a truck run him over, and goes to a bar where he reunites with his grade school music teacher Carla O’Connor (Kane). She asks him to his new adult bat mitzvah student, because her parents were communists in the 60s, and she got her period on her 13th birthday. Ben reluctantly agrees to teach her.
As their lessons take off, they start to become friends, much to the dismay of her son Nat (Matthew Shear from “Mistress America” and “While We’re Young”), who is an atheist.
The cast also consists of Robert Smigel as the Rabbi Bruce, Madeline Weinstein as his stage actress daughter Gabby, Caroline Aaron as Ben’s mother Meria, and Dolly de Leon (also seen this summer in “Ghostlight” and, unfortunately, “Jackpot”) as his stepmother Judith. And they all have their moments of authenticity and characteristics.
There are psychedelic moments between Ben and Carla which seem tedious, but there are other elements that make “Between the Temples” smart and entertaining. It has a 70s style cinematography which makes it feel old fashioned, and aspects on different faiths which are consistently honest. I often say that religion, movies, and politics feature the same outcomes when argued about. There are different opinions, and while some agree or disagree with less hostility, there are those who believe fights are the answer.
Schwartzmann and Kane are both funny and charming with the right direction from Nathan Silver (“Uncertain Terms,” “The Great Pretenders”), and they feel like characters in a 70s movies. Or at least in a movie that takes place in the 70s, like how Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers” delivered on the time period with a modern style fashion and consistently truthful tones. “Between the Temples” is on a different subject, but it still wins you over with the script co-written by Silver and C. Mason Wells (“LOL”).
“All About The Levkoviches” has yet to find a release date, but I still can’t recommend it. “Between the Temples,” however, that’s something I think you’ll really enjoy. I know I did.