150 Word Review: 'Shiva, Baby' (2021)
Make yourself a plate
This 77-minute-long comedy is also a nail-biting thriller about a young college woman navigating the shiva of a distant relative attended by her smothering parents, an ex-girlfriend, a married man who pays her for sex, and a small army of weight-obsessed yentas. She’s trapped in a house full of emotional terrorists. It took me two hours to watch Shiva Baby because I kept pausing it so I could get up and walk around, breathe, and shake off the anxiety.
As Danielle, Rachel Sennott is awkward perfection. Is she likable? No. Am I likable? Not always. Her Danielle is a relatable mix of fragile and defiant, a woman torn between eating all the bagels and none of the bagels. Written and directed by Emma Seligman, Shiva, Baby is a claustrophobic cringefest that is almost unbearable until Seligman pulls off a surprise, warmhearted ending: the dead can’t forgive, but the living can.
Retro 150 Word Review: ‘Bottoms’ (2023)
it has never not amused me that the Extremely Jewish main character of this movie is played by the gentile Rachel Sennott and the Perfect Shiksa Princess is played by the Jewish Dianna Agron.
go fig.