Sep 10

Sep 10 TIFF 2020 film review: 'Shiva Baby'

Rachel Sennott in ‘Shiva Baby’ (Image courtesy of TIFF).

Imagine the most awkward party you've ever gone to - and the comedy 'Shiva Baby' (screening during the 45th Toronto International Film Festival) is a thousand times more agonizingly uncomfortable.

In short: College student Danielle (Rachel Sennott) is paying her way through school by working as an escort, when she runs into her sugar daddy and a bitter ex-girlfriend at a Jewish funeral service. Polly Draper, Molly Gordon and Fred Melamed also star.

Danielle can't throw a rock without hitting someone she's either trying to avoid or actively lying to. The party itself is the culmination of so many deceptions Danielle has accumulated throughout college. The surface appeal of 'Shiva' is admittedly the low-stakes sadistic fun of watching a twentysomething squirm while trapped at a funeral. The story doesn't have to be at a funeral - it's just the cherry-on-top simply because everything Danielle deals with is set against the delightfully inappropriate backdrop of a funeral.

This comedy's secret weapon is Danielle's perfectly meddling mother Debbie (Polly Draper). She simply cannot resist prodding Danielle with a volley of unsolicited critiques and remarks about her daughter's entire life, from her career prospects to her disapproval of Danielle's relationship with Maya (Gordon). Draper threads the needle as a mother who is equal parts cloying and concerned - but never outright annoying because, at the heart of all her comments, is the genuine love of a mother for her daughter.

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At its core, 'Shiva' forces Danielle to face the mountain of lies she's told herself and her loved ones, and ponder the life she's leading. She's utterly uncertain about everything in her life - from her relationships to her college major. The party is essentially the chaos of Danielle's life in general distilled into one afternoon. The story finds Danielle at a critical crossroads in her life - but she doesn't have a firm grasp on what post-college life looks like for her. And the lies she tells everyone else belies her insecurities about her life.

The one frustration of 'Shiva' is the urge to just want Danielle to leave the funeral - because it's hard not to empathize with the pure cringe of Danielle's position. The movie doesn't make a strong case why, as the situation becomes increasingly awkward for her, Danielle doesn't just leave. When she first arrives at the shiva, Danielle arrives late and doesn't even know who died.

Final verdict: Writer-director Emma Seligman has concocted a wince-inducing, nightmarish scenario of internalized awkwardness that completely empathizes with Danielle's increasing dread and embarrassment.