Shiva Baby: Sex, Death and A Buffet Table in Strong Debut Feature
By Linda Barnard
Rating B+
You don’t have to be Jewish to delight in the wince-making chaos that unfolds in Shiva Baby, Canadian writer/director Emma Seligman’s debut feature about twenty-something, bisexual college student with a looming quarter-life crisis.
Seligman’s sharply observed dark comedy follows Danielle (Rachel Sennott) who we meet while she’s having unenthusiastic sex with a smarmy older guy Max (Danny Deferrari). She calls him “daddy” and fakes some passion in exchange for the cash she says she needs for law school. She’s not in law school. And her parents pay her bills.
She’s dressed and out the door in a hurry. She’s got to get to a shiva, hectored into attending the Jewish post-funeral mourning ritual by her hovering, well-meaning parents. Played by Polly Draper (Obvious Child) and Fred Melamed (A Serious Man and In A World), they just want to see their underachiever kid succeed and become their version of a happy young adult.
They grate on Danielle but it’s nothing compared to what’s coming for her in the afternoon ahead. She arrives to a house is filled with mourners, a laden buffet table, and the constant buzz of expectations.
“No funny business with Maya,” her mother hisses. Danielle’s high-school flame Maya (Molly Gordon of Booksmart) is there. The relatives and friends are gaga over Maya’s achievements, chiefly her getting into law school. Ouch.
Opinionated and inquisitive aunts and family friends can’t stop pecking at Danielle, demanding to know what kind of nonsense she’s studying at university (she mentions gender studies) and why she’s so skinny.
She has no idea which distant relative’s shiva she’s attending. So she downs wine and makes sarcastic comments while she works to unknot the string of lies she’s told to various people in the room before her cover is blown. It’s not going well.
Could this day get any worse? Why, yes it can. Her sugar daddy Max walks in the door. His cool, blonde, successful shiksa wife (Glee’s Dianna Agron) and their squalling baby are with him, the child Danielle’s parents are insisting she babysit to earn some extra money. But wait, there’s more humiliation to come.
PROUDLY SUPPORTS ORIGINAL-CIN
Bratty Danielle is hard to like. She’s morose, a liar, and deals in snark. But the sharp writing and Sennott’s performance also make her a relatable character, a young woman struggling to figure out who she is and how she can get out of this afternoon in one piece.
The dialogue is often delivered in the half-whispered way of secrets. The small rooms feel increasingly claustrophobic as Danielle tries to get out of conversations and tense situations, her unease heighted by the thudding piano and skittering violins of Ariel Marx’s score.
Seligman’s tight script landed her on Variety’s list of 10 Screenwriters to Watch for 2020. She uses classic Jewish humour and archetypal characters here that echo 1960s comedy albums and TV sitcoms but freshens it with Generation Z angst and a cascade of emotional pileups.
Draper stands out for her new take on the classic sitcom Jewish mother character, a woman who cares about her daughter’s emotional wellbeing, even as she hisses at her to treat the shiva more like a funeral and less like a party.
At 77 minutes, Shiva Baby grew from Seligman’s short film and feels a bit thin as a feature.
Danielle set herself up for her misfortune, but Seligman isn’t in a forgiving mood. She doesn’t let her off the hook, right through an embarrassing final episode. That Danielle finally makes it through the worst day of her life suggests maybe there’s hope for her. And also for the rest of us who’ve survived a spectacularly bad day.
CLICK HERE to watch Bonnie Laufer’s video interview with Shiva Baby director Emma Seligman and star Riche Sennott.
Shiva Baby. Written and directed by Emma Seligman. Starring Rachel Sennott, Polly Draper, Fred Melamed and Dianna Agron. Available at TIFF Bell Lightbox’s Digital Cinema March 26 and in select theatres and digital on demand April 2.