Shiva Baby (2021)

Emma Seligman’s directorial debut, adapted from her 2018 short of the same name, is one of the best films of 2021. It’s only seventy-seven minutes long, and yet you feel like you’ve been absolutely put through the ringer by its conclusion. The film opens with our protagonist of sorts, Danielle (an astonishing performance by Rachel Sennot) having sex with her ‘sugar daddy’ in his enormous apartment. Afterwards, she asks him for something inaudible, and he hands her a wad of cash, stating that he really cares for her. Danielle then leaves; she has a Jewish funeral service to attend with her family. And that service is where we stay for the rest of the film. She bumps into Maya, a girl there is clearly some history with, and the script and movement of the camera throughout the service ensure that us as the audience are desperate to find out what’s going on there. And, then, the kicker; Danielle spots her sugar daddy also at the service, having no clue that he was going to be there. That’s more or less the set up, and Shiva Baby plays out almost like a horror movie; there’s a high-pitched string score throughout that sounds like it’s been lifted directly from The Witch (2015) as you squirm in your seat through every forced conversational engagement Danielle is squeezed into as she battles through this nightmare. The performances are flawless, and as Danielle, Sennot drags you into her turmoil making you feel every disaster as painfully as she does. She loses her phone at one point, having just sent lewd pictures to said sugar daddy just as his wife (of whom she knew nothing) turns up beside him, and you just want to disappear into the floor beneath you. There’s no escape from the claustrophobia of the camera, or indeed the script. There’s plenty of heart in this though; it’s a coming of age film of sorts and tackles issues of being a teenage girl of Jewish decent in this day and age, especially in situations like this when your life doesn’t quite coincide with the full commitment and sacrificial demands of your perhaps lapsed religion. Funny, charming, and utterly harrowing at times, Shiva Baby is a stunning piece of emotional film making. 8.7/10