Between the Temples: A Quirky and Anarchic Delight
Between the Temples is absurdities, the character of Carol Kane shines through in all her glory, her performance being marked by charming intelligence and the famous oddball passion. This movie is somewhat of a drama owing to how the events unfold in quite a mess which is exciting in a good way, packed with lots of funny humor and there is an unexpected gush of gentleness in the centerpiece even with its odd shape.
She adheres to the plot of the film as noon and is quite old when she decides to have a Bat Mitzvah having previously been a music teacher. What seems like a straightforward premise doesn’t remain that way for long. Instead, it morphs into a rather complex, and probably, extended-length comedy of relationships and atonement. The character creations lend themselves to realism, her comic sense of timing is intact and life threatening, and most of even the ridiculous parts of the movie retain a sense of normalcy.
The viewer is literally hanging by the thread while coping with the freneticism of the film and its disorderly plot development. Not just the director, every adroit storyteller aims for a cliffhanger. As one can see from his works, John Magary is a master of action orientated editing, with incessantly changing hubbub and a constantly wavy, but never interrupted playfulness towards the audience. In the same way Jason Schwartzman or Caroline Aaron or even Dolly De Leon, the casting is one quirky peppered ensemble that makes a good addition to the film since every actor is highly competitive and knows how to keep up even with Kane’s eccentric style.
Although the worst isolation in Friganism can be excessive, perhaps that’s the beauty of it. Well, the film between the temples does not shy away from the use of a narrative structure. It’s a mess. But – the best kind of clutter. It is filled with emotion with a lot of unorthodox humor.
In the essence, the film is about self development and acceptance of all the troubles that every person most likely faces in their daily life, which is quite similar to what Kane’s illustrated personality represents. Most would say such a story would be inappropriate for the screen style of humour, yet with such a wonderfully bizarre set of characters and story that bends humour with sentimentality, Between the Temples brings a smile, if not all is in shape, at least it is very strange cinema.