Jason Schwartzman and Carol Kane are a magnificent double act in Nathan Silver's thoughtful take on grief and faith, which sees a cantor in crisis reunite with his childhood music teacher.
Ben (Schwartzman), a young widower reeling from the sudden death of his wife, lives at home with his meddling mothers who not-so-subtly push him to start dipping a toe back into the dating scene. As a cantor at the local synagogue, suddenly a sense of purpose and unexpected connection shows up in the form of Carla (Kane), his septuagenarian elementary school music teacher who yearns to become his bat mitzvah student. While he initially baulks at the idea, Carla's off-kilter yet refreshing takes on the world prove to be the shake-up he needs to start participating in his own life. Their work studying Torah morphs into a friendship that begins to bleed into the personal as they find surprising solace in each other's presence.
