Shiva Baby
UTOPIAEmma Seligman’s directorial debut, Shiva Baby, isn’t a typical comedy. Often more stressful than hilarious, the film will undoubtedly catch unsuspecting audiences off-guard with a bold, nuanced and well-made story about a bisexual woman trying to find her way in the world.
Danielle, the film’s protagonist, played by Rachel Sennott with a steely resolve, is a directionless, soon-to-be college grad. She has a degree in gender studies, but isn’t quite sure what she wants to do with it. In the meantime, she’s a sugar baby, dating older men on the side to make an extra bit of cash – maybe patch up some of her insecurities at the same time.
The majority of the scant, hour-and-seventeen-minute film takes place at a shiva that Danielle attends with her parents. There, she runs into all sorts of awkward trouble, ranging from annoying encounters with pesky family friends to running into her sugar daddy. Seligman, who also wrote the film, has a dark sense of humour. Although labelled a comedy, it has just as much in common with horror films as its categorical peers. A strings-heavy score by Ariel Marx underlines many of the film’s most tense moments – occasionally undermining them instead when overused – and claustrophobic cinematography reminds one of, among other films, Rosemary’s Baby.
It’s hard to appreciate the humour of the film with shredded nerves, but Seligman is clearly a talented writer. Witty one-liners and over-the-top relatives are reminiscent of The Graduate on steroids. The film’s deep themes of aimless young adult behaviour and sexual expression leave viewers with a lot to think about, despite the miniscule runtime.
Seligman is aided in her endeavour by a host of talented actors. Sennott is a standout, conveying the transition from cool composition – at least on the outside – to exasperation with deftness. Polly Draper steals a few of the film’s quieter moments, of which there are not many, while Fred Melamed is reliable as ever in the role of Danielle’s dad, providing a lot of the comic relief. Between Booksmart and now Shiva Baby, Molly Gordon should be getting a lot more attention than she does. Here, she plays the high school girlfriend of Danielle, and she vacillates between prickly and empathetic with ease. Her light touch makes the character far more compelling than she might have appeared on the page, and the scenes between her and Sennott are some of the most enjoyable in the film.
Short, to the point, but sour instead of sweet, Shiva Baby is a rollercoaster of a film, cycling through a variety of genres, moods and feelings with blistering rapidity. It draws on great films of the past, while still remaining completely its own thing. It should be applauded for its portrayal of a bisexual Jewish woman, a character not often seen on-screen, never mind in the leading role. Seligman’s original touch makes hers a name to watch in the coming years. Shiva Baby is a fantastic film that any director would be proud to have under the belt, but Seligman managed to knock it out of the park right from the get-go.
