Between the Temples review – a wise, wistful dramedy

Gottleib is in trouble. Since the death of his wife a year ago, Ben (Jason Schwartzman) has found himself in a place of personal and professional crisis. He’s moved back in with his mothers, Meira (Caroline Aaron) and Judith (Dolly de Leon) and still can’t perform his job as the cantor for his local synagogue because he’s lost his voice. Depression and loneliness lead Ben to a dive bar, where, after one too many Mudslides (that’s vodka, Irish cream, coffee liqueur and heavy cream) he gets into it with another patron, who promptly knocks his lights out.

When he comes to, a kindly older woman, who had earlier been performing karaoke in the back room, is standing over him. Carla Kessler (Carol Kane) helps Ben to his feet and insists on driving him home. Later, she turns up at the bar and bat mitzvah class he’s teaching… hoping to become his latest student. It turns out that Carla used to teach Ben music when he was a fifth grader, and despite the odd situation the pair find themselves in, they forge an unlikely – but very sweet – friendship.
Although Between the Temples boasts a significantly higher-profile cast than director Nathan Silver’s previous features, the film retains all the stylistic hallmarks of this New York indie scene mainstay. He wrote the script with his collaborator C Mason Wells, while Sean Price Williams – the city’s hottest cinematographer – shot the film on 16mm, giving the footage a wonderful warmth and intimacy. John Magary, another Silver regular, compliments the images with his playful, jittery editing,
creating a viewing experience that is as fractured and whirling as our cantor in crisis.

The odd couple set-up is reminiscent of Harold and Maude, and the soundtrack even feels like a nod to the Hal Ashby classic, but Ben’s problem isn’t so much that he wants to die (in fact, he’s very concerned about what happens after death) but that he’s completely forgotten how to live. He’s unsure if he wants Carla to be a friend, lover or parent, taking to staying in her house, sleeping in her adult son’s bedroom and wearing his pyjamas (something he is extremely unhappy about when he finds out).

Although Schwartzman and Kane are playing characters within their wheelhouse, their chemistry is a joy to behold, with every line of dialogue feeling completely natural to the extent it feels like we’re monitoring their private conversations. Ben’s initial defensiveness and Carla’s tendency to deflect through whimsy soon give way to a genuine connection, forged out of a desire to be truly seen by another person. Dolly De Leon is also a treat in her first major role since Triangle of Sadness, demonstrating her brilliant comedic timing (surely a meaty lead role can’t be far away?).

It’s a wonderfully observed and extremely witty film about the faith we have in a higher power and each other, and its uncertain conclusion mirrors the apprehension both Ben and Carla have about where they’re going in life. The stylistic flourishes stay on the right side of ‘quirky indie’, a its darker story beats are anchored by its infinitely charming leads.