One of the sweetest, most endearing films that rightly earns its place as one of my favourite films of the year. Between the Temples is a wacky, disarming comedy with a stellar cast in which the band of character actors blend together and seamlessly overlap. Each of them bumbling through life, misreading situations and people by only hearing what they want to such as, ‘I’m a cantor,’ ‘Oh a cancer, that’s great because I’m an Aquarius.’ It’s difficult to summarise just how wacky, nutty and inadvertently funny this film is without trying too hard.
Jason Schwartzman has all the main stream comedic appeal of Steve Carrell, but his range and depth goes much further. He plays Ben Gotleib, a Jewish cantor in the middle of a crisis of faith, when, like a divine intervention the incomparable Carol Cane appears, and he reconnects with his old music teacher.
Shot on film, this hazy environment is comforting, perhaps offsetting the fast paced and shaky camera changes that keeps the audience on their toes. Following conversation tangents and capturing withered glances is what it’s best at, whilst somehow, pure awkwardness has been baked into the script rather than being overengineered.
Everything about the film heightens real-life awkwardness and wackiness, from oversized menus to horrendous accent impressions. All of it is set against the backdrop of faith – in above, in others, and in oneself to turn things around.
Between the Temples is in UK and Ireland cinemas today, Friday 23rd August
FILM FOR THOUGHT 