Shiva Baby (2020) Film Review and Summary
LIGHT 8/10
Everybody has those functions that they are required to go to for some third-party connection but feel completely detached from the sentiment of it. You begin to wander around, looking for outlets to waste time so that you can fulfill a certain amount of presence that is respectable enough to the hosts. You may meet family friends, relatives, distant cousins, or even someone new, but I can assure you that you’ll probably never enter a social scenario with as many landmines as Danielle (Rachel Sennott) does in Shiva Baby (2022).
Audio is what greets our ears before visuals and its the sound of exaggerative pornographic moaning from your’s truly, Danielle. This is what we come to learn is one of many appointments with her “sugar daddy”, Max (Danny Deferrari). Their interaction post-intercourse is as platonic as a romantic relationship could be, Danielle feels no issue with trading kisses but can’t pull herself into giving him a full hug. Their relationship is a business transaction for Danielle, as she has maintained sustenance after graduating high-school through online dating apps where she can find wealthy bachelors just like Max. In what would be deemed a normal relationship by these standards is subsequently discarded when their private and personal lives merge at a Jewish funeral, known as a ‘shiva’.
Danielle arrives separately, but enters the reception alongside her parents, Joel (Fred Melamed) and Debbie (Polly Draper). Debbie begins the cyclical routine of interrogation that every conversation in the film contains when she begins to nag Danielle about whether or not she looks good, as well as to make sure that Danielle doesn’t rekindle any past feelings with Maya (Molly Gordon). Maya and Danielle’s tension is palpable in a conversation where they attempt to outdo the other’s commitment to the shiva, with Maya asking her what her favorite part of the funeral service, that Danielle skipped, was. Following conversations are laced with classic Jewish humor (that I relate to as a Jew), such as an overbearing fixation on weight and the elderly’s obsessive intrusion about the lovelife of those that are a quarter of their age. The gathering was already uncomfortable enough for Danielle, but much to her dismay, Max arrives… and so does his wife and child.
The rest of the film dances around what seems inevitable, but is ultimately gone unsaid. Danielle feels as though she brings little value to a network of people who are lawyers, doctors, rabbis or “girl-bosses”, so reaping the benefits of a sugar daddy is her form of independence. She can pick and choose her business transactions, and while there may be strings attached for her companions, she has always been able to collect her dues. With this shiva though, she is forced to confront the fact that her actions do not stand alone.
This inevitable truth is accentuated by the film’s cinematography that makes this single home feel like a labyrinth. It is incredibly reminiscent of Luis Buñuel’s The Exterminating Angel (1962) in the way that no matter how much Danielle seems to seek privacy and escape social responsibility, she finds herself constantly in arm’s reach of her next inquisitor. Shiva Baby provides an overwhelming sense that the world can revolve around you for better or for worse, sometimes forcing you to seek isolated refuge and other times making you come to terms with conviction.
The casting choices were wonderful. Rachel Sennott constantly fidgets and twitches in an anxious manner that many may unknowingly relate to. Fred Melamed reprises a role as a Jewish patriarchal figure, as he did in A Serious Man (2009), to a tee. Polly Draper perfectly embodies a neurotic, but caring, mother, in the same vein of Allison Janey’s performance in I, Tonya (2017). It’s certainly an ensemble effort and the film’s score emphasizes the plucky tightrope that every character walks with every word that they utter.
In spite of the film’s name and Jewish satire, Shiva Baby is a cinematic experience that anybody can appreciate. It may be an extreme example of what happens when you aren’t true to yourself and others, but it still translates to the fact that white lies will catch up with you. Especially at a shiva.