Shiva Baby (2020)
Country: US/CAN
Technical: col/2.35:1 77m
Director: Emma Seligman
Cast: Rachel Sennott, Danny Deferrari, Molly Gordon
Synopsis:
A Jewish girl at crisis point in her career attends a post-funerary buffet with her parents and emotionally short-circuits when she meets both the sugar daddy she has just been screwing and her former girlfriend.
Review:
Seligman mines all sorts of material from the clash between strict Jewish family event and deeply personal adolescent disempowerment. In so doing she turns what could have been an Altman-esque (or Allen-esque) comedy into something more visceral and of the moment: the phenomenon of 'sugaring' among America's student body (to help fund their education), the fluid sexual identity of contemporary adolescents, the ongoing conservatism of socio-religious groups. It is an impressive feat of ensemble direction, with Danielle almost constantly in shot within cramped, crowded interiors; multiple planes of action and a subjective sound mix align the audience with her mounting sense of panic, while a modernist pizzicato soundtrack out of The Shining provides wry counterpoint to the bland overlapping dialogue. An exhausting but enriching experience, it will rarely make you laugh out loud, but rather spend an hour and a quarter with your hand over your mouth.
Country: US/CAN
Technical: col/2.35:1 77m
Director: Emma Seligman
Cast: Rachel Sennott, Danny Deferrari, Molly Gordon
Synopsis:
A Jewish girl at crisis point in her career attends a post-funerary buffet with her parents and emotionally short-circuits when she meets both the sugar daddy she has just been screwing and her former girlfriend.
Review:
Seligman mines all sorts of material from the clash between strict Jewish family event and deeply personal adolescent disempowerment. In so doing she turns what could have been an Altman-esque (or Allen-esque) comedy into something more visceral and of the moment: the phenomenon of 'sugaring' among America's student body (to help fund their education), the fluid sexual identity of contemporary adolescents, the ongoing conservatism of socio-religious groups. It is an impressive feat of ensemble direction, with Danielle almost constantly in shot within cramped, crowded interiors; multiple planes of action and a subjective sound mix align the audience with her mounting sense of panic, while a modernist pizzicato soundtrack out of The Shining provides wry counterpoint to the bland overlapping dialogue. An exhausting but enriching experience, it will rarely make you laugh out loud, but rather spend an hour and a quarter with your hand over your mouth.
Country: US/CAN
Technical: col/2.35:1 77m
Director: Emma Seligman
Cast: Rachel Sennott, Danny Deferrari, Molly Gordon
Synopsis:
A Jewish girl at crisis point in her career attends a post-funerary buffet with her parents and emotionally short-circuits when she meets both the sugar daddy she has just been screwing and her former girlfriend.
Review:
Seligman mines all sorts of material from the clash between strict Jewish family event and deeply personal adolescent disempowerment. In so doing she turns what could have been an Altman-esque (or Allen-esque) comedy into something more visceral and of the moment: the phenomenon of 'sugaring' among America's student body (to help fund their education), the fluid sexual identity of contemporary adolescents, the ongoing conservatism of socio-religious groups. It is an impressive feat of ensemble direction, with Danielle almost constantly in shot within cramped, crowded interiors; multiple planes of action and a subjective sound mix align the audience with her mounting sense of panic, while a modernist pizzicato soundtrack out of The Shining provides wry counterpoint to the bland overlapping dialogue. An exhausting but enriching experience, it will rarely make you laugh out loud, but rather spend an hour and a quarter with your hand over your mouth.