Mubi Monday: Shiva Baby (2020)

There is often comedy gold to be mined from a situation in which a character has to survive some kind of event that just seems to be filling up with misfortunes and moments of fate conspiring against them. And that's exactly the kind of embarrassment pile-up that makes up the plot of Shiva Baby.

Rachel Sennott plays Danielle, a young Jewish woman who has to do her duty of appearing with her parents at a shiva (a Jewish ritual for mourning the dead that begins immediately after the funeral). Danielle and her parents run through some potential answers to questions she may be asked, about her education and career path, and things start to feel awkward when she sees that an ex-girlfriend, Maya (Molly Gordon), is also in attendance. Then she is introduced to Max (Danny Deferrari), a man she already knows intimately. Which makes things much more awkward when Max's wife, Kim (Dianna Agron), arrives. Can Danielle get through the day with her sanity intact?

Written and directed by Emma Seligman, expanding her short from a few years previously (which also had Sennott in the lead role), Shiva Baby is worth seeing, and worth praising, for a number of reasons. It balances the central Jewish way of life for the main characters with the many pressures that all young people go through at one time or another. Figuring out relationships, finding ways to make money while also studying, even picking the right course to hopefully lead you to some better prospects in your career choices. All of these things are difficult enough, but all can feel even more difficult to deal with when you're also being scrutinised by parents who are presenting you to everyone around them at a large gathering.

Almost a one-location film for the duration, Seligman uses this to her advantage, using the confines of the shiva, the bustle of people, and the atmosphere (that mix of solemnity and socialising that happens at these things) to keep you empathising with Danielle as she starts to feel trapped.

The script isn't really surprising, but Seligman allows one or two moments to play out nicely without having characters explicitly state the words they really want to say. The conversations may be strained, but they remain just about civil enough, even as the body language says something very different.

Although Seligman deserves to be recognised for her work here, she's lucky to have captured what is almost certainly a star-making turn from Sennott, who is simply fantastic for every minute that she's onscreen (and she's in onscreen for pretty much the entire 77-minute runtime). Constantly scrambling for the right thing to say that will allow her to get away from many of the people around her, Sennott is a nervous ball of energy, and she never feels unnatural or unrealistic. Gordon is also very good in her role, and works well with Sennott, while Deferrari and Agron lend capable support as they provide more problematic moments for our lead. Fred Melamed and Polly Draper are Danielle's parents, and both are quite excellent.

Despite the great work here, it's almost impossible for Shiva Baby to feel fresh or vital. It's still very much worth your time, but it's far from essential viewing. I hope you enjoy it when you do give it a watch though, and I look forward to seeing Sennott in many more movies.

7/10

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDm
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews

Mubi Monday: The Family (2013)

A fairly low-key film from writer-director Luc Besson (who worked on the script with Michael Caleo, adapting the source material by Tonino Benacquista), The Family works surprisingly well, especially when you think of some of the other choices Robert De Niro has made in the field of comedy, and even more so when you think of those roles he has taken that spoof his own image. The bonus here is that things aren't played for laughs, it's just funny to see these people so quickly resort to the only way they know how to deal with things, despite having to lay low and not bring any attention to themselves.

De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer are the parents, and Dianna Agron and John D'Leo are their teenage children. They've just moved into a new home in France, a move that we find out is yet another in a long succession of attempts to successfully relocate them. The man overseeing their new life is Robert Stansfield (Tommy Lee Jones), exasperated by the fact that these people can't seem to appreciate what has been done for them in ongoing attempts to stop them from being killed. After an initial day of getting used to things, everyone soon starts to make the new situation work to their benefit, which isn't necessarily the best way to blend in and keep a low profile.

What The Family does so well is to take a little bit of time to see the main characters start to put their plans in place. There's always the threat of anger and violence, from the very beginning, but the comedy comes from seeing these people forced into biding their time, until they know they have all of the pieces in place to make whatever move they have had in mind since the start. There's also a plot strand about certain dangerous types finding out where their enemies are now living, of course, and things lead to a predictable finale, but the fun here is in the journey.

Besson and Caleo have put together a decent script, taking the time to show the main strength and weakness of each member of the family, which helps the pacing and really draws you in as it all heads towards a perilous third act. There are also plenty of nods, with Pfeiffer and De Niro respectfully drawing on some of their most famous roles, and one sequence concerning a local film screening is a brilliant meta highlight.

The cast are fantastic, across the board. Because nobody plays it for laughs, the material plays to their strengths. As well as the big names in the lead roles, who don't just give great performances but also work brilliantly alongside one another, both Agron and D'Leo are superb and believable as the teens who have their own ways of dealing with the standard pitfalls of high school life. Jones may only be in a handful of scenes, but he's as good as ever in a role that suits that air of blatant exasperation he can do better than so many others.

Okay, there's no film made on this subject yet that has topped My Blue Heaven (yeah, don't believe me, just go and rewatch it), but this is a pleasant surprise that I haven't heard too many other people recommend over the past few years. So I am recommending it now.

7/10

You can buy the disc here.
Americans can buy it here.