User reviews

Between the Temples in s an exercise in " randomness" without much thought as to how the scenes fit together.

Really? Is this the best the editing could do?

Even the writing is very uneven, as though more than one writer threw out different ideas and then clipped them together.

Some of the scenes were not consistent with the character's personality but it seems as though the anything goes!

I really wanted to like this movie but it did not pick up traction and I was surprised at how little humor there was.

I'm not sure how long it took to make this film but it was disappointing!

So disappointing!

Carol King was terrific !

Nathan Silver's "Between the Temples" is widely acclaimed by critics. Your experience may vary. Mine did.

Following the accidental death of his wife, Ben (Jason Schwartzman - "Asteroid City" and other Wes Anderson projects) is bereft. Although he works as the cantor for a local synagogue, he is unable to sing. After his latest failed attempt during services, Ben rushes out of the synagogue. He lies down in the middle of the road to end it all but instead gets a lift from the truck driver to a nearby bar. He gets drunk. In a related matter, he gets punched in the face. In the process, he becomes reacquainted with his childhood music teacher, Carla (a fantastic Carol Kane). Eventually, Ben begins to tutor the 70ish Carla for the bat mitzvah denied her by her Russian Communist parents.

Silver uses this story, which begins with tremendous potential, to explore the themes of many of his previous films, particularly the paralyzing consequences of anxiety and fear and why people fall in love or even put up with each other. At the same time, he offers a gentle critique of Jewish culture that features an explosive Shabbat dinner, mothers (Ben has two) fixated on immediately finding him a nice Jewish girl and a rabbi who's willing to negotiate and haggle about everything. Robert Smigel as the rabbi and Madeline Weinstein as Gabby, the rabbi's daughter and very available Jewish girl, offer strong performances.

The oddball relationship between Ben and Carla is mesmerizing. It's sweet, kind, confusing, funny, quirky and completely charming. Schwartzman and Kane's performances are well worth the price of admission.

What sunk this film - and it's a sinking of Titanic proportions in my view - is the muddled tone. On the one hand, there's a pervasive sweetness and a kindness in the face of everyone's frailties that's quite endearing. This sweetness encourages, even compels, the moviegoer to really invest in what's happening with these characters. So it's jarring to have slapstick scenes injected into the story along with diversions into broad, bawdy, absurdist comedy that shove us away from the feelings being so carefully nurtured. At times, I felt manipulated by these jolting shifts in tone and perspective. For me, this tonal inconsistency was a deal-breaker. Even the title of this film can't seem to make up its mind. Is the film to be an assessment of Jewish culture? Is it to be a treatise on behavioral neuropsychology? Or is it just trying to be too clever for its own good?

"Between the Temples" is a step forward from Silver's very low-budget previous films, many of which starred his mother. It's thoughtful, sometimes insightful and occasionally hilarious. Unfortunately, it's a film that never decides whether it wants to be sweet and earnest or "Harold and Maude." I left the theater feeling confused by an unfocused story (and an incomprehensible conclusion) that felt more lazy than layered.

Ben Gottlieb (Jason Schwartzman) is a socially awkward cantor. He runs out of his synagogue and tries to kill himself. Of course, he awkwardly fails and goes to a bar. He doesn't know what to order and starts drinking mudslides. He gets ridiculed by a bully and knocked out. His childhood teacher Carla Kessler (Carol Kane) comes to his aid. Later, she wants his help with her bat mitzvah. Her father was Jewish but she never was.

This is a lot of quirky without much actual laughs. Schwartzman is uncomfortable and weird. The second-hand embarrassment is extremely high in this one. I do love her family restaurant outing. His one crazy move during his family dinner is truly crazy. It is outlandishly crazy as a man without any social skills. The meat and cheese scene could have been funny, but the closeup of Schwartzman eating is too gross. This movie pushes awkward comedy too far and the leads manage to save this with their charms.

"Cantor Ben" (Jason Schwartzman) has recently become a widower and is struggling to get on with his job working for Rabbi "Bruce" (Robert Smigel) at the Sinai Synagogue. He has one too many chocolate-laced "Mudslingers" in a bar one evening and that leads to an altercation that leads to a reunion with "Carla" (Carol Kane). Though neither recall immediately, it transpires that she used to be his childhood music teacher. Next thing we know, she has turned up at his synagogue where she declares her Jewish heritage and that she wishes to have her Bat Mitzvah. I didn't know that took over year to study and prepare for, and neither did she - but after a bit of convincing, he is cajoled into preparing her and the story picks up the pace as, predictably but not in a predictable fashion, the two start to bond. "Ben" lives with his two mothers - "Judith" (Dolly De Leon) and "Meira" (Caroline Aaron) who are keen on him settling down again with a nice girl, and to that end they try to set him up with the Rabbi's daughter "Gabby" (Madeline Weinstein) but somehow we just know that this solution that would please friends and family alike isn't likely to be the one he goes for. It's not especially innovative, this film - we've seen this sort of drama often before. What this does, though, is entertainingly take a look at the contractions of tradition and at belligerence. It invites us to consider what makes people happy, why age matters, and two dinner scenario towards the end provide for quite an effective conduit for true colours to come out and judgements to be delivered. It's comedic rather than a comedy - there aren't any laugh-out-loud moments; with the writing quite potent at times and an enjoyable rapport developing between the two characters uncertain of their next move. Kane steals this with her delicate delivery of a strong yet venerable persona, and although it does strive to contrive once or twice, it's still quite an enjoyable look at hypocrisy and faith and kosher burgers.

My husband and I, who are Jewish professionals and movie buffs, were really looking forward to this movie. We'd seen the amazing reviews and wanted to support one of the few solidly Jewish themed movies out there. I ignored the sour faces of the few friends who'd already seen it, hoping for the best. Wow, was it awful! We found it weird and borderline insulting. Cinematically, the tone was all over the place; obviously the creators were going for a Harold and Maud vibe, complete with 1968 mania, but it came off as amateurish, while the heavy-handed artsy dinner scene just went on and on! The side characters were sickos or just horrible (though I liked his two moms), and I wanted to dive under my seat when they trotted out the cartoonishly botoxed rabbi's wife. Was that painfully unfunny stereotype really necessary? Supposedly the writers (one of whom was not Jewish) and the director sought out a few "experts" here and there to get the Jewish stuff right, but it doesn't show. Most likely, the experts said, "Umm, that would never happen", and the writers simply ignored them for the sake of tasteless jokes or preposterous plot points. Such a disappointment!

I loved Between the Temples. Not so much for the slightly predictable plot -- twenty minutes in, you get no prizes for guessing where the story is going -- but for the fresh, improvisational camerawork, for the observations, the attention to the sheer physicality and texture of reality, of bodies, of objects. Some sequences are almost Vertovian: the one where the protagonist watches the video of his younger self, in particular: its tempo is so precise, so funny and poetic, it made me want to applaud.

The references to the cinema of the 70s are so pointed that it occasionally borders on the pastiche; it wasn't before the appearance of the first modern car that I became sure I wasn't watching the reedition of a forgotten vintage indie movie. But, heck, it works, in spite of its occasional weaknesses it's fun, fun, fun.

"I taught you. Now you teach me." Carla (Carol Kane)

Between the Temples taught me more about Jewish culture than any other film in recent memory. And it's not nerdy stuff: it's about Cantor Ben (Jason Schwartzman), whose gentile music teacher, Carla, requests Bat Mitsvah for herself even though she's hardly 13 years old. When she was that age, she was not allowed the 13-month preparation due to her parents being communists.

Although Temples is ostensibly a comedy, for which its screwball dialogue is a testament, it is really about different cultures adjusting to the changes that outsiders eventually bring. Having lost his wife to a freak accident a year ago, Ben is understandably distracted until Carla re-enters his life bringing romance and a host of cultural cliches, like a pushy mother trying to arrange a marriage for him. See the Shabbat dinner for the full explosion of cultural imperatives couched in comedic form.

Adding to his tension is Gabby (Madeline Weinstein), visiting daughter of Ben's Rabbi Bruce (Robert Smigel), who offers kinky sex and Ben's Mother's approval. Weinstein is an at-ease actress easy on her emotions and her look to promise a grand future.

Between the Temples has a breezy, comfortable way about dealing with the challenges so that it makes The Graduate, with its Protestant expectations for Benjamin (Dustin Hoffman) look unassuming, and Benjamin's affair with Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft) negligible.

Director/writer Nathan Silver and co-writer C. Mason Wells a keep the jokes coming, e.g., the biggest menu of any restaurant scene in the history of film and Ben saying even his name is in the past. The film shows how much pain change can bring while it also delivers a whole lot of love. Pursuing your own likes makes its way to the head of the class for happiness, age and cultural differences be damned.

Schwartzman has never been better as the vulnerable Jew, and Carol Kane has never been as attractive, regardless of her age. Heck, look at 19-year-old Harold and 80-year-old Maude; thank you Hal Ashby and Cat Stevens.

It's a North American Jewish comedy set in 2022 in a small upstate New York town with a Reformed Jewish synagogue. Ben Gottlieb (Jason Schwartzman) is the synagogue's 40-ish cantor. His wife, Ruth, died a year ago in an alcohol-related accident. Ben is at loose ends, has lost his voice, and is living with his mother, Mira (Caroline Aaron), and Mira's wife, Judith (Dolly de Leon). Ben is leading the class of youngsters preparing for bar and bat mitzvahs. Rabbi Bruce (Robert Smigel) is highly flexible in his ethical and religious views.

During an altercation in a local bar, Ben meets Carla O'Connor (Carol Kane), who he suddenly remembers was his now 70-ish music teacher in elementary school. Carla is widowed and tries to help Ben recover his equilibrium. Meanwhile, Ben's mothers and Rabbi Ben try to interest him in Gabby (Madeline Weinstein), the Rabbi's actor daughter who recently broke an engagement in New York City. Carla, who has some Jewish heritage, decides to reclaim this heritage and asks Ben to prepare her for a bat mitzvah.

"Between the Temples" follows all these threads, plus adding Carla's atheist psychiatrist son, Nat (Matthew Shear). The film proceeds in a telegraphed direction, causing consternation all around. The humor is modest but mostly effective. The cinematography provides excellent immediacy to the story. The story's resolution could be more satisfying.

Carol Kane is outstanding; Jason Schwartzman, Robert Smigel, and Dolly de Leon are good; Caroline Aaron is a stereotype.

The first thing, and really only thing, one should know about this film before they see it is it's a straight up homage to 70s film making. This means there are certain camera choices and character behaviors that won't bother you in the least if you are into that era of movie making. However, if you are not familiar the genre or out right hate it, this is not the film for you.

The last film I saw do this retro style was the 2023 Paul Giamatti movie, The Holdovers. If you enjoyed that movie, you likely will enjoy this. Or least you shouldn't hate it.

Between the Temples tells the story of a Cantor who clearly needs a psychologist but who everyone else seems to think just needs to get laid. One day, he meets his former music teacher who wants to get back to her Jewish roots and get a bat mitzvah. What's a bat mitzvah? Think of it as a coming of age party. But honestly, you do not need to know a thing about Judaism to get what's happening here. Since the films only true religion is cringe. There are scenes right from the top to almost the end that are absolute flinch inducing. All realistic but embarrassing as hell.

This is a small heart felt little movie that should be enjoyed by those in the right mindset.

Deep, funny, unexpected, strong performances, smart and wonderful. We loved this film, including our teenager who is a tough critic! Comic geniuses Jason Schwartzman and Carol Kane are great together and have strong chemistry. The whole ensemble cast is great too. The story feels fresh and the characters are multi dimensional. The movie has wonderful small moments and laugh out loud moments, yet also moves you. Thank you for making this movie! Run to see and support this film, especially so more quality movies like this are made. Mazel tov to the writer-director on making this thoroughly enjoyable and thoughtful film.

Between the Temples is a 2024 "comedy" directed by Nathan Silver. "Comedy" in quotations because this is really not a 'haha' comedy life American audiences are used to, but a drama with a universal lens of levity and funny *life* moments. There really aren't many examples of this genre in western media, but in many eastern movies and TV shows, this would easily slot into the genre called "Slice of Life". There are so few that the only one that I can think of off the top of my head is the masterpiece novel Cannery Row by John Steinbeck. Undoubtably, this was made with much love and many winks for Jewish audiences, as the punctuated laughter throughout my viewing showed, but underneath that is a very pure, human, down to earth story about the healing power of human connection.

For starters, the dialogue and especially the layered dialogue performances by all the characters throughout the film are so real, it's uncanny at times. We can't help at laugh and cringe at awkward dinner scenes that are so like the ones many of us have been apart of in our lives. The script is tight, and the story flows beautifully, although it might not be clear until the end where the story is going. This is something that is just going to be inherent to the genre because, like life, it's not clear what the story arc is until it's over. The film is also very timeless, as it's based around a small community and makes very infrequent use of technology or modern plot devices. It could as easily have been made in 1980 as in 2024. I have some gripes about the photography of the film, but its undeniable that there is a cozy and timeless feel to the whole movie. Solid acting jobs all around by the entire cast. I'm not sure that anyone particularly stood out beyond the great dialogue writing, but everyone played their part well. In this absolutely charming, down to earth story about human connection, the most stunning moments are often the most mundane -- just moments when the two leads are in on room together, riffing back and forth.

As you can tell, I'm exceptionally charmed by this film, but there are a couple negative things I can note. For one, the choice to use a very dated 90s digital photography setup didn't do much for me. The picture was very noisy, and I'm not sure that any of the film's great qualities would be taken away if a modern 2024 digital photography setup was used. Another thing is that the film is very Jew-centric and therefore non Jewish audiences will inevitably miss a lot of jokes. I knew there were quite a few camera gags that I didn't understand, but the Jewish audience members were howling at. Nonetheless, I still think the underlying film is great. A few genre-specific points as well: it's not quite clear for much of the film as to where the film is going, or even how long the timeline of the film is. Silver does a decent job at re-grounding the audience periodically as to what is happening when, but it can still be a bit confusing due to the way the film is edited. The film purports to be over the course of 3ish weeks, but it could easily have been over the course of a few months. A minor gripe, but still.

As the gap between critical acclaim for this film and audience despair widens, I have to say that I think this is a case of the media not being to the western audience's tastes. That's totally understandable, so if a cozy and somewhat funny human interest story appeals to you, then please please please give Between the Temples a watch!

I cannot in good conscience give this dumpster fire of a movie a balanced review. It does not deserve one. Nor does it deserve even a 1-star rating-more like 10💩. Instead, I'm offering a public service announcement, a warning to anyone contemplating seeing it. Please do not. Trust me on this; you will lose the will to live.

My wife and I rarely go out to see movies anymore and prefer to watch them on our own time in the comfort of our home through the multiple streaming services we subscribe to, just like many people do.

But given the three-day Labor Day weekend we thought it might be time to reacquaint ourselves with what a theatre experience is like today.

My wife had read a positive review of this train wreck of a movie in a national publication; but whoever wrote that should be ashamed of himself and have his computer confiscated.

We paid $27 for two tickets, which is two months of Netflix or HBO. Plus we were tied to a 6:40 pm start time and had to endure 45 minutes of commercials and previews. So much for a pleasant theatre experience.

But in the end, the previews were the least painful part of the evening. (Actually, the seats were comfortable, though not any better than home.)

Oh, the movie. We left after a little more than an hour, even though I was ready to leave 15 minutes into this horror show. My wife finally had had enough and literally felt nauseated from the appalling camera work, the totally obnoxious characters, the lack of any writing or directing standards, and the utter assault on one's intelligence. Here's a basic rule: it's possible to make a comedy on almost any subject, and make fun of almost anything, but the result must be viewer laughter. While we were in the theatre, with ~100 other suffering souls, no one laughed.

This movie was made as if the producers had never seen a movie before, or knew how to operate a camera. I'd guess that even a random chimpanzee in captivity could write a better script and get his fellow zoo residents to collaborate on a more watchable film with nothing more than old banana peels and their own excrement.

If this PSA keeps just one person from seeing it, then the wasted time I spent and the $27 that went down the drain were not in vain.

I was not Bat Mitzvahed, but had the opportunity to learn to read Torah at the age of 50. As soon as I saw a review of this film, I knew that I had to see it. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and was moved on a very personal level.

The performances were superb, the script was sharp and funny. Most of the details were spot-on, many of them recalling my own and my family's experiences. That said, I can understand why viewers who are less familiar with Jewish ritual and culture might be left cold by the film.

Coming to Torah later in life, I, of course, related strongly to Carla's character. The one glaring flaw I felt was the absence of a Torah scroll in film. Reading from the scroll, copied and produced exactly as it had been for milennia, was an overwhelming part of the experience for me. It gave me a connection to ritual and history that I'd never experienced before.

It was like walking with a blindfold in a zig zag with a beer in one hand and a glass of wine in the other. It made no sense. No good continuity of story not continuity of filming techniques. No rhyme or reason to the story. I waited until it was finished but I wish I had not. Carol Kane is a great actress but this did not help her shine. We were not given the opportunity to learn enough of each character. Very superficial. So many questions left unanswered which would have helped with the storyline. Save your money and find something else to do with two hours of your time. I walked away scratching my head wondering why it was made.

First, I cringed.

Next, I fell asleep.

Then, I got up and walked out.

The writing was terrible. Just not funny at all. The characters were not likeable. I didn't pull for them, wonder about them, it care about them at all, really.

The directing was awful. The camera style, the choice of angles.

It just did not work for me. I was disappointed because I'm such a big fan of Jason Schwartzman as well as Carol Kane. (I've watched Bored To Death at least 3 times, all the way through)Sadly, however, they were fighting against bad writing and direction. They had no chance.

Spare yourself the agony.

This is a very dreary and poorly edited film with a bunch of characters running around and falling over, crude slapstick, awkward family meals, and a creepy subplot of a schlubby man falling in love with his grade school music teacher. I didn't laugh at all and felt indifferent to anyone's struggle and how Judaism was portrayed.

It's almost built like a mockumentary or home movie, in how the camera zooms in on everyone's face. But the biggest problem is how the writers don't reach far enough into these characters. Everyone seems screwed up in their own way, and that's how things remain throughout the film.

The shining beacon was the rabbi's daughter, played by Madeline Weinstein, who is quite beautiful and wasn't given enough to do. If you had her or someone closer to this cantor's age as the bat mitzvah student, that may have worked as a romantic comedy.

There's nothing to recommend this movie on.

In bizarre dramedy "Between The Temples" Jewish cantor Jason Schwartzman is deep in debilitating depression following his wife's accidental death a year+ prior. Attempts to help by his mums (Dolly De Leon & Caroline Aaron) & Rabbi (Robert Smigei - great) focus on getting him dating again, but they all fail... til his quirky old music teacher Carol Kane has him teach her in preparation for her Bat Mitzvah (!). Director Nathan Silver applies a deliberately low-budget look & feel throughout, while the screenplay he co-wrote with C Mason Wells swings from dreary specifics of Jewish religious customs to explicit filth talk to oddly-toned May / Sept love. It is a STRANGE movie.

To be fair, I couldn't even get to the end before I walked out of the cinema.

It was described as an uplifting, heartfelt comedy. It's anything but. It looks like it was shot on somebody's home 8mm camera and the lead acting is either dreadful (my belief) or gifted (of you are a Palm Dor critic). His long retired former music teacher does manage to lift the mood a little bit even then, her eccentricity is a little too hard to believe. Overall, I was left feeling that was almost two hours of my life in not getting back. Could have been worse though, I might have stayed until the end when the lost time would have been even more, lol!

My wife has had a series of poor experiences with movies in which Jason Schwartzman appears. Because of that, we tend to give his movies a pass. Still, given the subject matter of this movie, we buried our concerns and saw it on streaming last night. The fact that I had a Prime credit that covered the cost helped.

To sum it up, we weren't disappointed. Schwartzman was Schwartzman, the movie was vapid and disjointed, and, in spite of the cost of renting it, I still wanted my money back!

I won't go into the specifics of the movie, as we had forgotten about it almost as soon as it ended. Basically, it was man loses wife, can't do his job, meets an older someone from his past who reinvigorates him. His family doesn't like this person, his co-worker, who is trying to set up his daughter with the guy is disgusted with it, and we have no idea if he ends up with the older woman in the end. Nor did we care!

Add in the fact that his mother is living with (married to?) another woman, psychiatrists who seem to have gone into the profession because they needed one, and it's obvious to me why the movie didn't last very long in the theaters, landing in the bargain basement of streaming services.