BETWEEN THE TEMPLES dir. Nathan Silver
by Sienna Axe and Zac Bentz
1/24/24 @ 3:30 pm, The Ray Theatre
A cantor in a crisis of faith finds his world turned upside down when his grade school music teacher reenters his life as his new adult bat mitzvah student.
(via Sundance)
Sienna: Between the Temples is one kiss away from being the first perfect rom-com of the 2020s. I’ve been waiting for something like this for a long time—something that strikes the perfect balance between being nostalgic and feeling entirely new. In a lot of ways, this feels like everything I’ve been missing about late 20th century cinema. In other ways, it gives me real hope for the future of the medium—something it has in common only with I Saw the TV Glow among the films I’ve seen at Sundance this year. It’s bizarre, it’s awkward, it’s funny, it’s romantic, and I absolutely cannot recommend it enough.
And what a cast! The chemistry between Ben (Jason Schwartzman) and Carla (Carol Kane)—both comedic and romantic—is insane. Both actors shine in rare starring roles; I never want to watch anything without either of them ever again. Dolly De Leon (Judith) and Caroline Aaron (Meira) are pitch-perfect as Ben’s two mothers. Madeline Weinstein (Gabby) is a breathtakingly awkward force of nature. Jason Grisell has a scene-stealing few minutes in the sun as a catholic priest, creating a character so odd and so specific that you can’t help but laugh.
The film is propelled forward by the frenetic energy of its camerawork; the whole room was shocked to learn during the Q&A that the majority of it was shot using only one camera. Quick cuts and sharp zooms are flung left and right, resulting in a pace somewhere between Uncut Gems and an episode of Tim and Eric Awesome Show. The screenplay, bolstered by the actors’ improvisations, never misses a mark. Dialogue overlaps left and right, placing you right in the room and leaving you plenty of blink-and-you’ll-miss-it jokes to catch on future viewings. The grain of the film it was shot on (which looks amazing) just warms the heart; Silver said after the screening that they wanted the film to feel nostalgic, and it truly does look straight out of the 70s. I can easily see myself buying this on Blu-Ray and throwing it on whenever I need to feel warm, whether that’s at a birthday party or on a Tuesday night—an honor usually reserved for the When Harry Met Sallys and Pride & Prejudices of the world. Don’t sleep on this one, folks.
Zac: Harold and Maude meets Shiva Baby. Nathan Silver has done something truly special here, and the very real comparison I just made aside, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like this before. It’s paradoxically indescribable in just how describable it is — It exists in some sort of nebulous, reverse-venn-diagram middle space all its own, despite being steeped in a familiar brand of warmth and timelessness that seems to be having a more than welcome moment right now (see The Holdovers). I absolutely loved it.
As phenomenal as the performances, chemistry, and beautifully intimate Super 16mm cinematography are, the real winners here are the tone, pacing, and sound design, which all work so seamlessly together to create a mood that’s so rooted in dissonance, arrhythmia, and a frenetic, zig-zagging sense of constant forward motion. It moves like a child haphazardly exploring the keys of a piano for the first time, but with the confidence of a professional jazz musician at the top of their game, with sudden camera jolts being accentuated with eerie shofar blurts and a healthy Baumbachian dose of constantly overlapping dialogue and sound. It’s almost impossible to imagine much of this was planned, it moves so naturally, as though it was sort of writing and editing itself in real-time. This is truly a remarkable piece of filmmaking, and I’m so excited to watch it cement its legacy amidst everyone wise enough to hop on its wavelength.
Sundance is always such a breath of fresh air for me, too, because I genuinely forget what it’s like to sit down and watch a new movie with before it hits film Twitter. Oh, man, do I love getting to just like a movie because I like it.
