Between the Temples
Sony Pictures Classics (2024) Dir. Nathan Silver
A young cantor is on a slippery slope; his wife – a writer of dirty books – died from a fall on the ice a year earlier, and his psychological recovery is going badly, to the point where he finds he can no longer sing. Enter an elderly lady he meets at a bar; she just happens to be his old grammar school music teacher. She decides this is her opportunity to finally get the bat mitvah she missed when she was 13, and enrolls in his class (with a bunch of 11 and 12 year olds). Can he help her with her torah lessons, and can she teach him to live again?
Here in the Balcony, while we certainly watch new films, our specialty is vintage films and classics, of course, but occasionally a movie comes along that’s so charming we feel we have to share to help bring it to an audience that might otherwise overlook it. The plot description above doesn’t really do justice to the warmth and humanity at work in the latest film from Mr. Silver, previously known – if known at all – for ultra-low-budget films about the Jewish faith starring his mom. It’s a dramatic film but one with many, many belly laughs and a cast to die for, including Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore, The Grand Budapest Hotel) as Ben Gottleib, the suffering cantor, and the always-unforgettable Carol Kane as Mrs. O’Connor, the music teacher who longs to embrace her lost Jewishness but can’t give up (decidedly non-kosher) cheeseburgers. The supporting cast is dotted with wonderful character actors; of particular note are Robert Smigel as the golf-cheating Rabbi looking to match the cantor with his recently-dumped daughter (Madeline Weinstein) and the cantor’s two moms, Caroline Aaron and Dolly de Leon, looking to match him up with anybody who’s Jewish (except the music teacher, although one mom is supportive and the other is horrified). The “dates” are a scream. I want to give a special shout-out to de Leon, who is hilarious as the horrified mom and whose charisma and comic timing lights up every scene she’s in, and Miss Weinstein, who not only plays the rabbi’s emotional daughter but in psychological flashbacks, the cantor’s late wife.
Some movies work and become beloved, not just for the story, but because we love these people and want to spend time with them. Between the Temples is one such movie (and don’t worry, it has a villain to hiss, the music teacher’s cranky son. Gotta have one of those). It's one of the best films of the year.
