Special Exhibit: SHIVA BABY

Year: 2020

Duration: 1 hour, 18 minutes.

Where to Watch: HBO Max

The very young filmmaker Emma Seligman has given us an impressive feature debut, a simple and concise comedy made with little money and resources, which allows her to highlight her skills as a director and writer.

Shiva Baby started its life as a short film made by Seligman as her student thesis project, With the support of the short's star, Rachel Sennott, the two decided to film the script again, this time expanding it into feature length, allowing them to enrichen the themes explored in the original version.

Sennott character is Danielle, a Jewish college girl whose self-doubts have made her aimless. To please her parents, she attends a Shiva (a traditional Jew mourning after a funeral) for a distant relative she barely even knew, and this simple action becomes an anxiety-ridden couple of hours for Danielle, who has been actively lying to everybody.

She lies to her prying Jewish relatives, most of whom don't even suspect that she's bisexual and had, until recently, a relationship with her best friend Maya (Molly Gordon)... who is also at the shiva. She lies to absolutely everyone, mainly her parents, because she's actually been raising money by being an older man's Sugar Baby.

And surprise! It turns out her Sugar Daddy, Max (Danny Deferrari), is at the shiva too, and Danielle's mother insists on introducing her to him  so that he can help her find an internship. As it always happens when two branches of acquaintances meet, secrets air out, for Danielle has also been lying to Max. Until then, he thought he was giving her money to put her through law school, but Danielle hasn't even decided on her major, and she's instead been passing Maya's achievements as her own.

Cue great consternation. In any case, Max has been keeping a few things hidden from her too, because he is in fact a married man and father to a baby daughter. By the way, those are them just arriving at the house! If things weren't uncomfortable enough, Max's wife (Dianna Agron) is a successful self-made woman who's everything the indecisive Danielle wishes she could be.

The low profile cast (the best-known player would be Fred Melamed as the protagonist's forgetful father) does a great job, though it all revolves around Danielle, and Rachel Sennott makes a wonderful portrayal. Like the director, she's a relative newcomer, whose previous experience centered on stand-up comedy, but I have no doubt she has a brilliant acting career ahead of her. Her embarrassment and anxiety are palpable on her every action, and it's very easy to step into her shoes, because we can all relate with her insecurities, though I suspect anyone who's actually into sexual politics would feel even more identified with her character than I did.

The comedy always lands. Far from being cartoony, it all revolves around realistic situations that could happen to anyone in a family gathering. Though much of it belongs to the classic Jewish style of self-deprecating humor, I think it's made relatable to everyone else, while at the same time maintaining cultural fidelity: the director is a Jew, as is most of the cast. Interestingly, Sennott is not (though she is very convincing as one), while Agron is but she plays the only non-Jewish character in the narrative.

Seligman has as great eye for directing in restricted environments and for making the piece extremely tense despite the inherent comedy, helped by a great musical score by Ariel Marx. She has composed a chilling stringy soundtrack that highlights the horror behind the funny situations, but which is also effective at the more optimistic moments.

Short by feature-length standards, the movie's brisk peace makes if feel even briefer, and it's one of those experiences that leaves you wanting to see more. Which maybe we will, as Seligman is developing a television project related to the film.