Shiva Baby

Set mostly in real time, 'Shiva Baby (2020)' focuses on a young woman whose life seems to spiral out of control when she bumps into her sugar daddy at a shiva. It's basically an exercise in controlled chaos. With its claustrophobic atmosphere, creepy soundtrack and uncomfortably relatable cringe, the picture basically feels like a panic attack on screen. In many ways, it actually tells its tales using tropes of the horror genre. It swaps jump-scares for awkward confrontations, monsters for judgmental relatives and blood and guts for unattainable expectations. It's not scary, as such, but it certainly gets under your skin, eking as much suspense from its central situation as possible. It puts you in the position of its protagonist, bombarded with passive aggressive prying and close calls with the truth. There's almost always an impending sense of doom; devastation seems inevitable. The flick isn't dour, though. It's often quietly funny, its comedy coming purely from its characters and their almost unbearable social situation. There's quite a bit of dramatic irony going on and it works very well. As does the character development in general, which is slight but significant. Every player feels like an actual person, like someone you could (and probably do) actually know, and that's really impressive. Although it arguably peaks quite early and sort of peters out a bit as it approaches its appropriately abrupt ending, the film is a consistently arresting and entertaining experience that alternates between making you laugh and making you cringe. It's interesting, well-written and unique. It's such an impressive feature debut.

This movie definitely exceeded my expectations. If you enjoyed Trey Edward Schultz's "Krisha", and you want another story of a woman at a family gathering with an atmosphere of uncomfortable tension punctuated by a low-key score, but as a comedy, you'll probably really enjoy this movie.

Maintaining a strong sense of energy/tension/discomfort/hilarity for a whole movie IS VERY VERY DIFFICULT and VERY IMPRESSIVE.

From the perspective of the protagonist Danielle everyone else seems to have their lives figured out and her refusal to be honest about her uncertainty of where her life is going leads to plenty of awkward miscommunication and amusing moments. The performers' delivery of the script is great, which is a huge relief, because great scripts, particularly for comedies, can fall flat if the delivery isn't perfectly in-sync with the screenwriter's intent. Plenty of indie comedies with decent scripts lack convincing dialogue delivery.

The tension builds along with the intensity of the score and the suffocating way the shots are composed. The grinning faces of Danielle's elderly relatives are occasionally framed in a way that they appear comically menacing.

I'm always looking for good comedies, which can be hard to come by. This is sincerely the best comedy movie of 2020. EXCELLENT JOB EMMA SELIGMAN I AM NOW A FAN!

Shiva Baby is better than I thought it would be. I'm not going to say I was constantly laughing, far from that, but it definitely has something entertaining about it. Rachel Sennott did a great job playing her character. Watching her lie through her teeth all the time, and that whilst staying very charming (I think she's a real looker to be honest), it had to be done. The story is simple but effective. The funny parts are the older women gossiping in their Jewish way. The cinematography was not bad at all, with some really good shots every now and then. Shiva Baby isn't a long movie, rather too short, but for an indie production it's certainly worth watching.

We need Emma Seligman to direct a thriller/horror movie...like tomorrow. 😱

This was tense, creepy, claustrophobic. It's not one of those comedies that you laugh a lot, it's more about the absurd of the situation, but this was great.

I wasn't expecting to like this this much and this a fantastic debut for Emma. Great acting by all, but especially Rachel Sennott.

Great movie, did not expect to like it that much. Don't be fooled by a comedy tag, it's definitely not a film for everyone. Dark, awkward and cringe it's made for you to feel claustrophobic and anxious (ergo the annoying crying baby). Excellent performance and well executed movie, maybe just don't smoke w while watching, it's pretty intense.