Swapping out hearses and 1970s nihilism for snowy New York suburbs and Shabbat dinners, the new oddball comedy Between The Temples calls up Harold and Maude in its portrait of two Jewish, awkward misfits (with maybe a dash of Cassavetes-esque camera techniques), he in his 40s and she in her 70s, who form an unlikely bond. The movie, written by Nathan Silver and C. Mason Wells, and directed by Silver, is a funny, quirky, joyful celebration of being Jewish and unconventional spirits. And for those who have been missing Carol Kane, who criminally, has not been seen on the big screen in a minute (Hollywood, get to work!), Temples is a terrific showcase for her distinctive comedic style.
Ben (Jason Schwartzman), a cantor at Temple Sinai, has been in mourning and unable to perform since his wife died suddenly in an accident a year ago. Besides listening to the 700+ voicemails of hers he’s saved that soothe/torment him – many very sexual – Ben manages, barely, to lead the B’nai Mitzvah instruction at the synagogue. The nontraditional Rabbi Bruce (Robert Smigel) with a TIKKUNLM vanity plate and a shofar for office putting practice (“if anyone walks in, tell them it’s a non-Kosher shofar”), thinks it’s time for Ben’s to get back on the bimah after his lengthy “sabbatical”. Meanwhile, his moms Meira (Caroline Aaron) and Judith (Dolly De Leon), a pair of well-meaning yentas with whom Ben is living, are pushing for him to jump into the dating scene, creating dating profiles for Ben and then trying to get him together with the Rabbi’s recently jilted daughter Gabby (Madeline Weinstein).
Failing to sing at his first Friday night service back, Ben dashes out and makes a half-hearted suicide attempt, lying down in the road and pleading for the oncoming 18-wheeler to “keep going, please!” He ends up at a bar drunk on Mudslides and recognizes Mrs. O’Connor (Kane), his former school music teacher, though she doesn’t initially know who he is. Carla Kessler, as she now goes by, has also lost a spouse as well as her job after 42 years. Ben fondly remembers her class and that she gave him “A”, to which she dismissively responds, “It was music class. Everybody got ‘A’s”. He tells her he’s a cantor and Carla, daffy (and maybe a little high from mushroom tea), replies, “That’s so interesting ‘cause I am an Aquarius.”
After learning about the classes Ben teaches and reading about the first Bat Mitzvah – performed at home in 1922 – Carla decides she wants one for herself and insists that Ben, who had been a good music student, teach her how to feel the music of the words. Born Jewish, it was something denied to her, first by her Communist parents, and the certainty that as a result, no rabbi would do it, and then by her Protestant husband who wouldn’t have been okay with her practicing Judaism. Ben initially objects because she’s older than his students, but whether owing to his happy childhood memories from her classroom or her unrelenting cheerfulness, he relents.
As the two spend more and more time together preparing for her Bat Mitzvah – he sleeps over, she gives him breathing and singing lessons, they share meals and mushroom tea together – Ben begins to find his footing again, regaining his voice and some purpose. But it’s Carla, in her eighth decade, who really blossoms. After a life dictated first by rigid parents and then a controlling husband (replaced now by a humorless, belittling adult son who mocks this new pursuit), she is finally having agency to decide how she wants the rest of her adulthood to look.
Though within the confines of a comedy. Silver and Mason Wells adeptly add pathos. Ben’s grief, his inability to function, and being emotionally shut down, resonate. The handheld camerawork used by Silver’s frequent collaborator Sean Price Williams enhances our understanding of Ben’s disorientation, the jerkiness mirroring the frenzied tumult of Ben, Carla and their families.
The ensemble, from relative newcomer Weinstein (who has a scene-stealing vehicular encounter with Ben) to comedy veterans Smigel and Aaron, are pitch perfect. Better known as the voice of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, Smigel is much more low key here, believable as a very flexible rabbi willing to bend the rules a touch if it means Temple Sinai will get a donation. Aaron, who many will recognize from Mrs. Maisel, Ghosts or countless other projects, is once again a comic treasure as the devoted, co-dependent Meira.
Schwartzman affectingly captures a man adrift, going through the motions, but also one who is slowly fumbling his way through healing when Carla offers a surprising detour. Kane alternates between zaniness and warmth, and Carla’s effervescence and determination to connect with Judaism and change the course of her life vividly comes through. Kane and Schwartzman, who obviously have very different approaches to comedy, make for an utterly delightful pairing.
Between The Temples is in theaters now.
