Yes, that old story. But even that brief synopsis doesn’t really begin to hint at the singularity – or the delight – of “Between the Temples.” The movie’s grammar – 16mm, improvisational, shot purposeful erratically by Sean Price Williams – is just as antic as its story. In this winningly chaotic comedy, you can almost feel the characters and filmmakers, as one, resisting order and pushing back against convention.

That makes for an experience as volatile and hilarious as it is sweet and profound. That’s particularly due to Schwartzman and Kane who, as a pair with some echoes of Bud Cort and Ruth Gordon in “Harold and Maude,” make for the best canter-elderly bat mitzvah student duo you’ve ever seen, or, more simply, the most memorable on-screen duo of the year.

This is Silver’s ninth feature and possibly his finest. “Between the Temples,” playful, loose and dead set against any moment coming off as too polished or rehearsed, is always very close to falling into shambles. Or maybe it does, perpetually, but has the spirit, or foolhardiness, to keep going. With disaster ever present, “Between the Temples” ambles its way toward a scruffy, endearing magic of its own.

Ben Gottlieb works at a synagogue in upstate New York, but after losing his wife to a freak accident, he’s lost his singing voice and, maybe, his faith. Ben has moved back in with his mother Meira and her meddlesome wife Judith . In the movie’s opening moments, they introduce Ben up with a young woman, a doctor. He doesn’t get that this is a date; he assumes she’s a therapist. When he learns she’s a plastic surgeon, he asks his mom: “Do you think I need work done?”

But the work Ben needs goes deeper than that. “Even my name’s in the past tense,” he sighs. After listlessly sitting through temple alongside Rabbi Bruce , he walks outside and lies down in traffic. Nursing his grief over a mudslide at a bar , he gets into a fight. After Ben gets clocked, the woman who picks him up, having finished her karaoke performance, is Carla . She helps him through a drunken night before they realize she was his music teacher in elementary school. “Little Benny!” she exclaims once the memory returns.

Carla soon appears at the synagogue and tells Ben she wants a bar mitzvah. He doesn’t agree until she persists, but they soon find they fluctuate to some similar wavelength of grief and oddballness. Whether she’s an appropriate age for the coming-of-age ceremony is one question, but it’s also not entirely clear if Carla is even Jewish. While the Torah plays a role in the unfolding friendship, their connection – whether it’s love is hard to say – is only partly related to Judaism. They share stories of their dead spouses over burgers that Ben learns, while chewing, aren’t kosher. Silver films the scene in close-ups of their mouths. What seems clearer, in the script by Silver and C. Mason Wells, is that the two are together finding their way through a hard chapter of life and into another of their own making.

Along the way, there are surreal flourishes, moments of supreme awkwardness and comic high points. One scene, with Carla’s skeptical son and his family at a steak house, is adorned with ridiculously large menus. Silver has apparent affection for filmmakers like Rainer Werner Fassbinder and John Cassavetes, but scenes like that one reminded me of Elaine May.

There is a wonderful feeling in “Between the Temples” that anything can happen at any moment. That’s particularly true in another dinner scene, one sensationally awkward, that brings all the characters together, including the more age-appropriate Gabby , the rabbi’s daughter.

Yet in a movie filled with strange noises and snuffed-out singing voices, nothing sounds as good as the patter between Kane and Schwartzman. The unique rhythm of their voices pushes “Between the Temples,” a film about finding your own faith, to something beautiful. “Music,” Carla says, “is the sound that you make.”

“Between the Temples,” a Sony Pictures Classics release is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for language and some sexual references. Running time: 111 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.

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Strange Darling, 2024.

Directed by JT Mollner.
Starring Willa Fitzgerald, Kyle Gallner, Jason Patric, Giovanni Ribisi, Ed Begley Jr., Barbara Hershey, Steven Michael Quezada, Madisen Beaty, Denise Grayson, Eugenia Kuzmina, Bianca A. Santos, Sheri Foster, Duke Mollner, Andrew John Segal, and Robert Craighead.

SYNOPSIS:

Nothing is what it seems when a twisted one-night stand spirals into a serial killer’s vicious murder spree.

Strange Darling begins by dropping viewers into its nonlinear structure, depicting Willa Fitzgerald’s “The Lady” wounded and on the run from Kyle Gallner’s “The Devil.” That latter nickname comes across as a cheat once director JT Mollner reveals the game being played here. The “everything is not as it seems” aspect also walks the line between a frustrating obviousness and a clever swerve here and there (a lack of crucial information in the opening credits text is an example of a more ingenious method of misdirection that feels fairer to the viewer.)

There is also no denying that, regardless of what is going on between these characters, they are embodied with a ferocious intensity that is all-consuming in a gleefully trashy sense. However, there is also a hollowness to the entire narrative that doesn’t grapple with the psychology of it all, meaning things also spiral into an increasingly sour third act that potentially sets a dangerous precedent. The issue isn’t what Strange Darling is doing since, realistically, anyone is capable of monstrous behavior, but rather how and why it has chosen an ugly core message.

It is virtually impossible to review Strange Darling without at least discussing its subversive concept, a dynamic that, throughout its first act, reveals The Lady to be, well, a strange woman having consented to a rough sexual night in a motel with this mustachioed stranger. The idea planted is that everything seen prior in chapters 3 and 5 is either the result of a disastrous night that has brought out a violent monster in this man or a demented continuation of the role-playing scene in chapter 1. However, there is an argument to be made that the film isn’t hiding what it’s doing that well.

In real-time, the more I write about Strange Darling, the more I want to spoil it; it’s that empty of an exercise. It’s a film built on twists and turns and the hopes that whoever watches it can’t handle the idea of what one of these characters is and what they are doing. It then transforms into something uglier about how we respond to horrific situations in modern times. Yes, this film is about a real serial killer; some of this happened. No, that doesn’t mean it has been presented here in a manner that doesn’t come across as anything other than mindless and exploitative true crime garbage seemingly designed to make someone think twice the next time they decide about what they do when presented with a similar situation in the news or elsewhere.

That’s also not to say there isn’t a point about society’s willingness to jump to conclusions without having any credible evidence or information, but again, this is a film only concerned with cat-and-mouse shock value violence. And yet it would be lying and hypocritical of me to say that Strange Darling, with its explosive performances and slick and neon-soaked 35mm cinematography from Giovanni Ribisi and the back-and-forth pulpy power shifts didn’t grab hold of me. Not to mention, eliciting such a visceral reaction, which it will almost surely do for anyone who watches it, is no small feat.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★

Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com

Directed by Charles Band (Full Moon Productions), Quadrant is a step away from the campy fun he usually represents. Instead, it shows us the dangers of virtual reality. Is virtual reality possible someday? Probably when we are all in the ground. Facing reality takes a lot of effort for me. I don’t think I would like the idea very much. It is bizarre to see a somewhat serious movie. I love Full Moon Productions; they gave us Puppet Master. I even use his films as a background when I write about the man who brought us Gingerdead Man, Evil Bong, and countless others.

Synopsis

The Quadrant helmet allows you to sit in virtual experiences, even death. It makes your worst fears come alive. However; people are stronger in the Quadrant. If they face their fears and win, the fear will be gone. The Quadrant is tested to it’s full ability and fired back when Erin arrives and begins to thirst for the experience, after several sessions. Erin (Shannon Barnes) witnesses the power of death and takes it a bit too far when she starts killing people off in a real world. Creators scramble to get the issue fixed but it is too late, Erin was on her own killing spree. A brand new Jack the Ripper.

Here’s a look at the official poster art.

A History

If you look at Charles Band’s credits, he has been doing this a long time. Dozens if not Hundreds of movies that helped some of us relied on in our dark times, just for a cheap laugh so we can feel better. Quadrant, however, is like a freight train coming right for you. This movie is the real deal when it comes to B-grade film. It confuses me sometimes, knowing that Charles Band can flip a switch and make a somewhat serious movie with a great plot.

The filming locations were excellent. I felt like I was living in the helmet; that’s how much the movie entranced me. It raises the question, “How far do we want to go with science?” Where will the obsession go when we stop paying attention? It tries to bully us into facing our fears and criticisms. But seeing it enough would bore me for sure. How far can you go? Will there be education? Although the movie was great, there were some confusing moments, and it starts with a big scene followed by Erin’s introduction.

In The End

I won’t spoil the movie because if you have seen it once, you’ll see it a few more times. It is enjoyable and exciting. The cast did their best, and the film turned out well. If this movie taught me anything, it’s that I am interested in seeing all the work being put out. With a legendary director, the movie made its mark on me. Charles Band has been an idol since his movies were almost all “straight to video” releases, and I loved finding random movies in the 90’s. It was a much better time.

This movie reminds me of all those moments of happiness I sought out in my darkest areas; it helped me ride the wave after a bad couple of weeks. I survived on Charles Band movies because they irritate people, not out of spite; it’s about being able to enjoy something, even if everyone else thinks you’re weird.

Quadrant will be heading to theaters on April 23 2024