The premise is fantastic -- bumping into your sugar daddy at a shiva, and there are some really funny moments here. It's well worth a watch, but I feel like it would probably work better as a short.
Expanding out from Emma Seligman's short of the same name (also with lead Rachel Sennott) Shiva Baby is prime cringe and I love it for that. Danielle is a young woman who goes to a family gathering to sit shiva, and there bumps into her sugar daddy (or should it be "john"?), exposing both his lies to him and his to her. But her estranged former best friend and maybe more than that is also there, and it's like her whole sexual history showed up for the event. Throw in some judgmental Jewish love from family and family friends and you have the recipe for high anxiety (in fact, I love the way Seligman shoots the panic attack portion of the film. A lot of people are comparing it to Uncut Gems for its frenetic desperation, but it's more amusing and more touching - a portrait of listlessness and unhappiness ("it's a sad time, everyone feels it" is as much a double-entendre as the title). And when we find Danielle approaching happiness, it's for things that have clearly been denied her. It's a tragedy, really, so why did I laugh so much?
Echoing Panunzios comments slightly, the film is not bad, an uneasy, uncomfortable comedy, but never has a film so obviously been "adapted from a short"
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Panunzio
The premise is fantastic -- bumping into your sugar daddy at a shiva, and there are some really funny moments here. It's well worth a watch, but I feel like it would probably work better as a short.CynInFlicks
Good stuff. So much cringe.Siskoid
Expanding out from Emma Seligman's short of the same name (also with lead Rachel Sennott) Shiva Baby is prime cringe and I love it for that. Danielle is a young woman who goes to a family gathering to sit shiva, and there bumps into her sugar daddy (or should it be "john"?), exposing both his lies to him and his to her. But her estranged former best friend and maybe more than that is also there, and it's like her whole sexual history showed up for the event. Throw in some judgmental Jewish love from family and family friends and you have the recipe for high anxiety (in fact, I love the way Seligman shoots the panic attack portion of the film. A lot of people are comparing it to Uncut Gems for its frenetic desperation, but it's more amusing and more touching - a portrait of listlessness and unhappiness ("it's a sad time, everyone feels it" is as much a double-entendre as the title). And when we find Danielle approaching happiness, it's for things that have clearly been denied her. It's a tragedy, really, so why did I laugh so much?CakeofSugar
Echoing Panunzios comments slightly, the film is not bad, an uneasy, uncomfortable comedy, but never has a film so obviously been "adapted from a short"