First Darron Aronofsky, then the Safdie Brothers, and now Emma Seligman, there’s something about Jewish directors and creating the most stressful films of the last decade. However, whereas Aronofsky trades in extravagant psychological horrors and the Safdies explore larger than life characters ripe for downfall, Seligman has set her sights on a far more relatable place: an awkward family gathering.
Seligman frames the events of “Shiva Baby” with a tight and claustrophobic perspective, which heightens the inherent anxiety of the events dramatically. For anyone who’s graduated from college within the last two decades, the discussions of “What are you doing with your life?” and “You’re taking classes on that?” will seem horrifyingly familiar. It’s the quiet anxiety of dealing with so many family members with such particular opinions that Seligman captures so perfectly.
However, it would be nothing without Rachel Sennott (“High Maintenance,” “Call Your Mother”) as Danielle. She’s utterly intoxicating and quickly likable. You so badly want her to succeed, to make the right decisions, and yet she and the film pump even more anxiety into watch her stumble. We don’t know how far she’ll fall over the course of just one day, and its Sennott’s fantastic performance that keeps you riveted from start to finish.
Molly Gordon (“Booksmart,” “Animal Kingdom”) and Polly Draper (“Thirtysomething,” “The Big C”) are also excellent. Gordon plays Maya, Danielle’s longtime best friend. Not only does Gordon milk the extensive history between Maya and Danielle throughout the short runtime, but she, like Danielle, provides a frustrating portrait of a drifting 20-something college student. You so badly want her to succeed and help Danielle, and yet she can only do so much.
The same goes for Draper as Danielle’s mother, Debbie. This is not just another “oblivious mother, if only she knew better” type rolls. Debbie is clearly far more in-tune with her daughter than Danielle would like to admit, and the repertoire between the two of them is the heart and soul of the movie.
The dialogue goes off at a rapid-fire pace, and the entire film drips with quotable lines and moments of pure silent dread. You’d be hard pressed to find a film that better captures the feeling of a family gathering, Jewish or not. From the quiet comments that you can’t tell if you’re meant to hear to the claustrophobic packed like sardines nature of everything to the awkward across the room glances, the entire film feels so painfully real, as if we’re plucking 77 minutes directly out of the middle of Danielle’s life.
Much has been made of the horror movie-esque score from Ariel Marx (“The Tale,” “To Dust”), and while it is good, there are moments where it feels like a bit much. Its tempting to critique these moments, which drown out all other sounds and dialogue, as overpowering. Yet, as these few moments almost make you cover your ears as you watch the film, the goal has been achieved and the anxiety has been fully passed on to the viewing world.
If there are any complaints to make about Seligman’s awkwardly hilarious and tense directorial debut, one could make note of the lack of overarching “plot.” Its yet another indie movie that follows a character and less a specific arc structure or character development spreadsheet. Yet something like this is less a complaint and more a preface as to what kind of film this is.
Because at the end
of the day “Shiva Baby” is tense, awkward, and teeth grindingly funny with a
standout central performance and a true sense of realism most veteran
filmmakers cannot achieve. With a full slate of projects lined up in the
future, Seligman has proven herself with one 77-minute directorial debut that
she’s got a bright future ahead of her. 4.5/5
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