Between the Temples

Between the Temples

Posted on August 22, 2024 at 6:31 pm

B-
Lowest Recommended Age: High School
MPAA Rating: Rated Rated R for language and some sexual references
Profanity: Strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs: Drinking and drunkenness, reference to alcoholism
Diversity Issues: None
Date Released to Theaters: August 23, 2024

We like to pretend otherwise, but humans are very messy. Indeed, that is the reason we love stories; they give us reassurance that in the midst of all the uncertainty, all the mistakes, all the fear, there is some kind of pattern and some kind of meaning. I often quote writer/director Joseph Mankiewicz (“All About Ever”), who famously said that the difference between movies and life is that movies have to make sense.  Well, most of the time. Some movies, instead of creating the illusion that life is less messy, reflect and even relish the mess.

“Between the Temples,” directed and co-written (with C. Mason Wells) by Nathan Silver, is not going to pretend that life or its characters know what they’re doing and we are not going to get the satisfying resolution you might expect. Instead you will see an excellent cast play characters who try to find their way.

Jason Schwartzman plays Ben Gottlieb, a cantor at what appears to be a Conservative synagogue in upstate New York called Temple Sinai. A cantor is the member of the clergy who sings or chants liturgical music, leads the congregation in prayer, and, usually, teaches classes in Jewish practice and theology, often including coaching middle schoolers preparing for bar and bat mitzvahs. He prepares them for the ceremony at age 13, when they are called to read from the Torah for the first time and accept their identity and obligations as Jews.

Singing is central to the job of a cantor, and most of them are thoroughly trained in music. But Ben has been unable to sing since a terrible tragedy over a year before this movie begins. His wife died, and he is now living with his moms, Meira (Caroline Aaron of “Mrs. Maizel”) and Judith (Dolly De Leon of “Triangle of Sadness”). As the film begins, Sinai’s genial rabbi, who likes be called, familiarly, “Rabbi Pete,” (“SNL’s” Robert Smigel) is warmly encouraging, welcoming Ben back to the pulpit. But only a few strangled sounds come out of his mouth and he races out of the sanctuary consumed with shame and fear.

After a brief failed suicide attempt (the truck driver he wanted to run him over ends up giving him a ride), Ben goes to a bar, where he has no idea what to order. The sympathetic bartender offers him a chocolate-y drink called a mudslide. And it is there Ben is befriended by a widowed music teacher named Carla O’Connor (Carol Kane, utterly wonderful).

At first they are too tipsy to realize they know each other, or did know each other. She was Ben’s elementary school music teacher. Her support for his love of singing played a part in his choice of career. When she shows up at Sinai, asking to take bat mitzvah lessons, he is at first reluctant, but her warmth and sincerity lead him to agree and they begin a friendship.

The cinematography has a retro feel, with some oddly chosen and edited near-grotesque close-ups. This adds to a chilliness at the center of the movie that keeps us from engaging fully with the characters, in part because for people who say they take religion seriously, including two members of the clergy, a convert, and a woman who wants to make the commitment to learning to read the Torah for a bat mitzvah, no one seems to pay much attention to the teachings of Judaism. Rabbi Bruce is kind and supportive of Ben but completely swayed by the size of monetary contributions to the temple. We never get a sense that Ben cares about what he is teaching his students or that his commitment to keeping kosher is anything but habit. Most perplexingly, while he makes clear to Carol that a heartfelt speech showing what she has learned is as much a part of a bat mitzvah as reading from the Torah, somehow that completely disappears along with some of the other details of the ceremony and celebration. As far as we can see, Carol only learns the phonetics and melody of the Hebrew and does not even know what she is saying.

In most movies, each detail and character propel the story forward and reinforce the point. But movies like this one amble along in a shaggy fashion, each detail and each excellent performance give us hints of the lives that happen outside the borders of the screen. Some may find that disconcerting but others will appreciate it as a glimpse into relatably zig-zagy lives.

Parents should know that this film has a brief attempted suicide, drinking, drunkenness, and references to alcoholism and a sad offscreen death, and very strong language.

Family discussion: Why couldn’t Ben sing? What do you hope happens to him next?

If you like this, try: “I Heart Huckabee’s,” “Cha Cha Real Smooth,” and “Hey Hey, It’s Esther Blueberger”

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Finally! A Terrific Hallmark Hanukkah Movie!

Finally! A Terrific Hallmark Hanukkah Movie!

Posted on December 13, 2023 at 10:47 pm

Hallmark has justifiably been criticized for its all-white, all-Christmas winter holiday movies, and then it was justifiably criticized for its first attempts at a Hanukkah movies, with problems that ranged from insensitivity and ignorance to outright failures (captioning describing a Hebrew prayer as Yiddish, for example).

Copyright Hallmark 2023

But “Round and Round,” written by Tamar Laddy of “Pretty Little Lies” is one of the best Hallmark movies ever, smart, funny, and romantic, with terrific chemistry between stars Vic Michaelis and Bryan Greenberg. The “Groundhog Day” story of a woman who gets stuck repeating the seventh night of Hanukkah is delightfully self-aware, with clever references to other time loop films and cultural touchstones. And the details of Hanukkah celebrations are grounded in experience and appreciation.

Highly recommended!

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Happy Passover 2022/5782

Happy Passover 2022/5782

Posted on April 15, 2022 at 8:42 am

Have a blessed Passover!  Whether you’re on Zoom or socially distant in person, enjoy the holiday devoted to family, freedom, and courage. Dayanu!

The story of the exodus to freedom is for all ages.

For family viewing: try It’s Passover Grover!, The Prince of Egypt, Rugrats Passover,  and The Ten Commandments

 

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Interview: Michelle J. Li, Costume Designer for Shiva Baby

Interview: Michelle J. Li, Costume Designer for Shiva Baby

Posted on March 28, 2021 at 8:00 am

Copyright Neon Heart 2020
“Shiva Baby” mostly takes place at a reception following a Jewish funeral, which means costume designer Michelle J. Li had to find a way to make a lot of characters dressed in black look distinctive. An except from our interview for the Alliance of Women Film Journalists:

NM: It must be a challenge to do a movie where pretty much everybody is wearing black but you still have to make these characters distinctive and visually interesting.

MJL: Of course, at a shiva, the main color is going to be black. Emma and I spoke about it a lot. We as the consumer, think of black as one color. There are many, many different shades of black. There are warmer blacks, there are cooler blacks, and depending even upon the type of fabric, black absorbs light or reflects light.

When you put black in front of the lens, it becomes such a dark void, and you can lose a lot of definition from the silhouette of the character. I was really conscious about making sure that the texture and the pattern of whatever costume piece I was using really was the defining point that could help bring more interest into making it black, but interesting.

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