Movies Like Between the Temples (2024)

Staff & contributors

Chasing the feel of watching Between the Temples ? Here are the movies we recommend you watch right after.

Many movies try to be nostalgic, but few have come as close as Between the Temples. Directed by Nathan Silver, it channels classics like The Graduate, Harold and Maude, and early Woody Allen dramedies without trying too hard. It has the grain, patina, and camera movements of 60s and 70s movies, and its central love story--though not quite shocking now--might’ve been subversive then. But more than just a pleasant trip to the past, Between the Temples is a reassuring film about the deep and healing bond two people can forge amidst grief and loneliness. It also tackles faith and tradition without being preachy or stifling. Many scenes can feel overwhelming, but the moments after feel cathartic, even if—as in religion and as in life—they rarely give you a sure answer.

, 2024

One thing about director Sean Baker’s movies is that everything is rooted in class. Anora might charm as a romance, delight as a comedy, and dazzle as a realistic look into sex work, but at the end of the day, it’s a movie about labor, specifically exploitation labor, making the movie as painfully realistic as it is hopelessly romantic. It’s like the anti-Pretty Woman in that way. There’s no doubt it will have the same cultural impact (it’s already starting heated discourses on the internet) and will be remembered for just as long. The heated performances, breathtaking cinematography, and subtly hilarious script are all bonuses to this gem of a film.

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance

Actor: Aleksey Serebryakov, Darya Ekamasova, Ella Rubin, Ivy Wolk, Karren Karagulian, Lindsey Normington, Luna Sofía Miranda, Mark Eydelshteyn, Masha Zhak, Mickey O'Hagan, Mikey Madison, Ross Brodar, Vache Tovmasyan, Yura Borisov

Director: Sean Baker

Rating: R