Between the Temples is a cringe dramedy about Ben(Jason Schwartzman) a widowed cantor who, in his grief, can no longer sing. He reconnects with his grade school music teacher Carla(Carol Kane) when she wants to get a late-in-life bat mitzvah. The two develop a connection the walks the line between friendship and romance.
Schwartzman has always been an incredible if inconsistent talent, typically when directors don't know what to do with him which seems to be the case here, he struggles. The performance is a reflection of the overall film which is tonally inconsistent. Schwartzman careens from dark melancholy to farce with little fluidity. It's just too disjointed to make the kind of impact it seems its intended to. Kane fairs better and its a delight to see her in this meaty of a role in the third act of her career. The two have wonderful chemistry and its a shame because a lot of the conflict and the cringe impede on what's naturally happening between the two.
Visually the film is inappropriate, cinematographer Sean Price Williams deploys his patented style, hand-held, washed out, and grainy(which he's used to great affect in previous features notably Listen Up Philip another Schwartzman vehicle) it not only doesn't work here it's distracting and seems to work against the film itself. It feels forced, almost like an indie dramedy cliché. Co-writer/director Nathan Silver fails to manage the tone and seems unsure of what the film is, taking wildly big swings but maintaining no emotional continuity. The production, overall, is a mess held together primarily by the talents of its two leads.
Worth a watch for Kane, otherwise overly plotted and under developed.
Currently available to rent on most VOD platforms.
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