Films for Breakfast

You can have the smallest budget imaginable, but if you have two performers that truly sell their chemistry with one another, it can make all the difference for your film. Between the Temples follows Ben Gottlieb (Jason Schwartzman), a cantor whose in a crisis of faith in the wake of a tragedy. Ben finds his world turned upside down when his grade-school music teacher Carla Kessler (Carol Kane) re-enters his life as his new adult Bat Mitzvah student. The unorthodox premise and pairing of Kane and Schwartzman is what really drives the film home, as it feels entirely sustained and uplifted by both their performances as well as the screwball humor.

Writers Nathan Silver and C. Mason Wells truly come to play with a screenplay that feels so oddly specific that you can’t help but admire how singular it feels. In an age where so many films and shows feel like they are put through a process of focus groups, it truly is nice to see a film so comfortable and uncompromising in its own skin. Nathan Silver also directs the film with a truly solid and original style, making all the comedy hit even harder than it presumably does on paper. Schwartzman and Kane both deliver excellent comedic performances here too, as well as the entire ensemble cast. It truly feels like everyone understood the hyper-specific tone the filmmakers were going for, and it pays off a lot in the long-run.

One of my favorite aspects of the film is the inclusion of drama, which I feel like it sneaks in almost like a trojan horse. Schwartzman is mostly known for his comedic work, but he is sneakily such an empathetic and humanistic actor that conveys heartbreak so tenderly. Matching him up with Carol Kane, who is as equally talented and wears her heart on her sleeve as a performer, feels perfect from the moment it happens. The warm, cozy cinematography from DP Sean Price Williams is also a big highlight of the film and serves as a secret weapon with getting you claustrophobically close with these characters.

There are two tones at play within Between the Temples, one is an absurdist, uncomfortable comedy and a bleak, melancholy meditation on grief, lost time, love, and faith. I would hardly say these two tones clash and ruin the other, but it simply feels like a marriage that’s an acquired taste for the viewer. For my money, the film largely works more than it doesn’t – but I did find the humor and overbearing uncomfortability to hinder my enjoyment as the film reached its third act. This doesn’t completely ruin the film for me, but it does make it feel like less of a home-run.

Even with my misgivings regarding the tone, I still think Between the Temples is quite an admirable feat of filmmaking consider how singular and unique it truly is. Carol Kane and Jason Schwartzman’s chemistry does a lot of heavy lifting, but when you have two actors of their caliber headlining your film, I don’t think that’s a bad thing at all. By the end, your enjoyment of the film entirely relies on your tolerance for cringe-comedy and the choice to mix that in with deep-cutting drama. It won’t necessarily be for everyone, but it’s certain to find an audience that will appreciate how it never conforms or feels like anything less than a precise, confident vision.

3.5/5