Directing: B
Acting: B+
Writing: B
Cinematography: C-
Editing: B

Between the Temples is very strong out of the gate, opening with a scene of unusually effective cleverness and wit. We immediately meet Ben Gottlieb (Jason Schwartzman), hearing from his two moms (Caroline Aaron and Dolly De Leon) that they think it’s time he see a doctor. As soon as Ben says he’s open to it, the doorbell rings, and we’re meeting the doctor in question. After she asks him to touch her face, we’re still thinking she must be some kind of “free spirit” therapist or something. The meaning of what we’re seeing becomes clearly something we weren’t expecting very quickly, and for a moment we’re thinking, Wait. What?

It’s very unusual to say this, but this is actually a good kind of “Wait, what?” It’s an expertly delivered misdirect, a kind of opening punch line that sets up an expectation for the entire film. And then the film doesn’t quite live up to that expectation, and never achieves the same kind of precise execution again.

We quickly learn that Ben lost his wife to a tragic, freak accident about a year ago, and is still struggling to move on. He’s the cantor at his synagogue, and has a lifetime of singing experience, but still can’t get himself to sing again. By wild chance, he runs into his music teacher from elementary school (Carol Kane), now asking him to call her Carla. And Carla, who is half Jewish, imposes on Ben’s bat mitzvah class and says she wants to have one because she never got to as a kid.

As a premise, this is all very compelling, with solid performances all around. Jason Schwartzman is alternately sweet and heartbreaking as someone slowly moving out of his grief. Carol Kane is always a welcome presence, although her Carla is a little more difficult to pin down. She’s also a widow, and perhaps is just looking for some company. Carla and Ben’s relationship blossoms into something that skirts the edges of romance.

I may very well have enjoyed this story more, if it were not for cinematographer Sean Price Williams, who makes what I found to be frustratingly distracting choices at every turn. Between the Temples is wall-to-wall with quick zooms, wildly shaky handheld cameras, and off-puttingly tight close-ups, often of people putting food into their mouths. There must have been some intention behind all this, but damned if I could figure out what it was. In practice, it felt like a cinematographer making whatever choice inspired him at the moment, with no connecting overall vision. I tired of it very quickly.

That aside, the cast is wonderful. It’s nice to see a movie in which a same-sex couple is completely incidental. Caroline Aaron is arguably a bit typecast, but still delightful, as Ben’s fretful Jewish mother. Dolly De Leon, as the other mom who converted to Judaism upon her entry into the family, is much the opposite: between this and Ghostlight and Triangle of Sadness, there’s no telling what kind of part she’ll pay next. Madeline Weinstein is perfectly cast as Gabby, the rabbi’s daughter who is also “a complete mess” and nudged into the direction of Ben. Matthew Shear is effective in just the two scenes he shows up in, as Carla’s careless and insensitive son.

There’s something about Nathan Silver’s direction, all these shaky scenes with a lot of rambling mumbles of characters speaking over each other. It’s like “mumblecore” as directed by Robert Altman. I tried, and failed, to identify a clear purpose in this style of filmmaking. I like that Silver leaves us in the end with an ambiguity as to whether Ben and Carla’s connection indeed has any element of romance. Or, at least, whether it’s requited. There’s a big family dinner scene near the end that is one of the most awkward things I have ever sat through.

I guess you could say Between the Temples is less “will they or won’t they” than it is “are they or aren’t they,” but it touches on certain romantic comedy tropes in an effectively subversive way. Some might leave this movie feeling great, and others may leave feeling ambivalent. I had the rare experience of sitting in a space squarely between those two things.

*It’s like* Harold and Maude *if Harold were older, Maude were younger, and both were sad and lonely instead of just morbid.*

Overall: B