Cantor Ben Gottlieb (Jason Schwartzman in a much-deserved lead role) is undergoing a crisis of faith and is ill-prepared when his old grade-school music teacher (Carol Kane, still bringing it at 71)
shows up at his synagogue wishing to become an adult Bat Mitzvah student.

If I had to describe in one word this deceptively sweet, screwball comedy-drama from Nathan Silver, it would be “uncomfortable,” reaching maximum edginess in a family dinner scene toward the end that’s a master class in camerawork, timing and editing. Still, no one does uncomfortable better than Schwartzman, and Kane has never put in a bad performance.

At heart this is a tender, acerbic and honest movie about picking oneself up and recalibrating one’s life goals that deftly evades the sentimentality it could easily have slipped into. It’s engaging because you never know where it’s going next. (111 min)