Between the Temples is a 2024 "comedy" directed by Nathan Silver. "Comedy" in quotations because this is really not a 'haha' comedy life American audiences are used to, but a drama with a universal lens of levity and funny *life* moments. There really aren't many examples of this genre in western media, but in many eastern movies and TV shows, this would easily slot into the genre called "Slice of Life". There are so few that the only one that I can think of off the top of my head is the masterpiece novel Cannery Row by John Steinbeck. Undoubtably, this was made with much love and many winks for Jewish audiences, as the punctuated laughter throughout my viewing showed, but underneath that is a very pure, human, down to earth story about the healing power of human connection.
For starters, the dialogue and especially the layered dialogue performances by all the characters throughout the film are so real, it's uncanny at times. We can't help at laugh and cringe at awkward dinner scenes that are so like the ones many of us have been apart of in our lives. The script is tight, and the story flows beautifully, although it might not be clear until the end where the story is going. This is something that is just going to be inherent to the genre because, like life, it's not clear what the story arc is until it's over. The film is also very timeless, as it's based around a small community and makes very infrequent use of technology or modern plot devices. It could as easily have been made in 1980 as in 2024. I have some gripes about the photography of the film, but its undeniable that there is a cozy and timeless feel to the whole movie. Solid acting jobs all around by the entire cast. I'm not sure that anyone particularly stood out beyond the great dialogue writing, but everyone played their part well. In this absolutely charming, down to earth story about human connection, the most stunning moments are often the most mundane -- just moments when the two leads are in on room together, riffing back and forth.
As you can tell, I'm exceptionally charmed by this film, but there are a couple negative things I can note. For one, the choice to use a very dated 90s digital photography setup didn't do much for me. The picture was very noisy, and I'm not sure that any of the film's great qualities would be taken away if a modern 2024 digital photography setup was used. Another thing is that the film is very Jew-centric and therefore non Jewish audiences will inevitably miss a lot of jokes. I knew there were quite a few camera gags that I didn't understand, but the Jewish audience members were howling at. Nonetheless, I still think the underlying film is great. A few genre-specific points as well: it's not quite clear for much of the film as to where the film is going, or even how long the timeline of the film is. Silver does a decent job at re-grounding the audience periodically as to what is happening when, but it can still be a bit confusing due to the way the film is edited. The film purports to be over the course of 3ish weeks, but it could easily have been over the course of a few months. A minor gripe, but still.
As the gap between critical acclaim for this film and audience despair widens, I have to say that I think this is a case of the media not being to the western audience's tastes. That's totally understandable, so if a cozy and somewhat funny human interest story appeals to you, then please please please give Between the Temples a watch!
