Review by H. T. Davey

Shiva Baby (2021)

★★★★

Director: Emma Seligman

Have you ever felt trapped in a claustrophobic space? So tight that you start to feel sick to the stomach, start to sweat and freak out thinking you are so trapped you could faint? Well, Shiva Baby is a movie which encompasses this in the form of a day long shiva.

We follow Danielle, a young twenty something year old as she attends a distant family relatives funeral along side her mother, father, and ex-girlfriend in attendance. Upon arrival she is met with questions and interrogations by her extended Jewish family members about her time in college and future job prospects, which starts to make Danielle uncomfortable and repelled. This is only the beginning of a claustrophobic day when her sugar daddy surprisingly attends with his wife and new baby. Ahem, Danielle is blindsided by this revelation and thus begins a downward spiral of mayhem, missing phones, tension, intense violin music and the very real threat of losing control.

Shiva Baby is a movie primarily about insecurity. This insecurity comes into play with the role of sexuality and how each character understands these and how they function in life with it. Danielle uses her sexuality to strengthen her self-worth. However, her sense of self-worth starts to crumble through the events of the movie. Her self-worth becomes questioned as her insecurity becomes weakened. We see this tension come into play with the use of lighting. To help secure the feeling of claustrophobia, lighting is used over each character to symbolise their incoming and growing anxieties. This lighting goes from white, to yellow, then orange and then changes to a bright red when things become too much. A well done move to make the viewers understand this deep anxiety.

This movie is primarily a drama; however, it has a funny and well written script, written by the director of this film, Emma Seligman. The comedy hits even harder by the perfect comedic timing of the actors, in particular Rachel Sennott, who played Danielle. Shiva Baby shines very bright with its well-chosen actors which makes this story unforgettable with its relatable moments and human stories.

H. T. Davey Reviews

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