Schwartzman and Kane are a winning combo in thoughtful, appealing film
The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival concluded a few weeks ago, but lucky for you its Centerpiece Narrative film opens widely today. While Between the Temples is without a doubt thematically very Jewish, it’s also very universal. Audiences of all stripes will find moments of humor, grace, and wisdom in this charming film.
Jason Schwartzman stars as Ben, a cantor in upstate New York struggling since the death of his brilliant but alcoholic author wife. Now living back at home with his supportive but worried moms (Caroline Aaron and Triangle of Sadness’s Dolly De Leon), Ben drifts through his life, drinking, picking bar fights, half-heartedly attempting suicide, and refusing his rabbi’s pleas to return to singing at the synagogue. When Carla (the great Carol Kane), Ben’s elementary school music teacher, asks him to help her prepare for a late-in-life bat mitzvah, Ben slowly begins to emerge from his stupor.
This set-up may seem prosaic – redemption and rebirth through renewed purpose – but writer/director Nathan Silver’s smart screenplay and Schwartzman and Kane’s sincere, lived-in performances and palpable chemistry elevate the material to something special and almost profound. Schwartzman’s dry delivery of some of Silver and co-writer C. Mason Wells’s sharp lines adds humor to the pathos, and you’ll find yourself laughing just as much as weeping.
In one such inspired and particularly droll bit, on a quest for meaning post-widowerhood, Ben visits a Catholic church and engages in heavy conversation with the priest about life and death. After Ben tells the priest he’s Jewish, Ben deadpans, “We don’t have heaven and hell… we just have upstate New York.” And perhaps the film’s biggest laugh comes from a slightly x-rated exchange Ben has with the rabbi’s daughter Gabby (Madeline Weinstein) about why she likes Jewish men. I won’t spoil the complete conversation here, but suffice to say Ben’s matter of fact response of “Thank you for the support of our people” becomes the film’s most memorable line.
The picture also contains what may be the single most uncomfortable dinner party game of Telephone ever seen on screen, as we watch a traditional Shabbat dinner hilariously devolve into a chaotic and stunning family drama. The scene’s MVP is Dolly De Leon, who delivers a master class in passive aggression here that deserves multiple award nominations and is bound to make you squirm.
But it’s the unexpected pairing of veteran comic actress Kane and Gen X’er Schwatzman, nearly 30 years Kane’s junior, that carries the picture. Their slow but sweet developing relationship and the way each supports and admires the other is lovely, and the film’s message of hope, resilience, and connection resonates in this pre-election summer. If you’re feeling stressed, Ben, Carla, and this gentle but sage movie are bound to cheer you up.
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Between the Temples is in theaters now, including at the AMC Metreon and Landmark Opera Plaza in San Francisco and the Rialto Elmwood in Berkeley.
