Monday 14 June 2021

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

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