Between the Temples Gave Me a Headache

Last night, I went to the Kendall Square Cinema to see Between the Temples starring Jason Schwartzman and Carol Kane. 

Aside from not wanting to spend a Saturday night at home, I was primarily curious about the movie because it is rare to see Kane in a lead role. Then again it is rare to see any woman over the age of 70 in a lead role in a film. 

For has her part, Kane has kept plenty busy over the past two decades in supporting roles such as Madame Morrible in the Broadway production of Wicked, as well as roles on The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and now in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. It has been nearly 50 years since Kane received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in Hester Street. But I will always remember her best from her time on Taxi playing Simcha Gravas opposite the late Andy Kaufman's Latka Gravas. 

I was also curious about the plot which revolved around a retired music teacher played by Kane being taught bat mitzvah lessons by a cantor played by Schwartzman who was one of her former students. Unfortunately, in this case my curiosity got the better of me.

Between the Temples gave me a headache and I felt like tearing out my eyeballs. I came this close to walking out of a movie theatre for the first time in my life. Between the Temples is best described as a cross between A Woman Under the Influence (which I saw this past May), The Graduate and Harold and Maude only without any of the charm. The only saving grace was that the film was under two hours and ended mercifully. 

I can understand Benjamin Braddock being seduced by Mrs. Robinson and can understand Harold Chasen falling in love with Maude Chardin. However, I do not get Schwartzman's Ben Gottlieb falling for Kane's Carla O'Connor. She is as abrasive to him as everyone else in his life. Throw in director Nathan Silver's futile impression of John Cassavetes' directorial style and you've got one mess of a movie. I wish I had stayed home.