By Rachel Levin, Copy Editor
Emma Seligman’s directorial debut, “Shiva Baby,” came out Apr. 2 and immediately established itself as a strange and shocking film. Although it achieved what it set out to—a claustrophobic clashing of different generations centering on a mentally unstable college student—I simply didn’t like it.
Danielle (Rachel Sennott) is a college student in New York City, sugaring—having sex with older men for money, like a sugar baby—and at a loss for plans after she graduates. Early on the film, she is called back home for the shiva—a sort of reception after the funeral to honor the dead—of a relative she can barely remember. The one-room film builds in its anxiety as one thing after another goes wrong for Dany, until she has collapsed on the floor in tears.
I went into “Shiva Baby” fully expecting to like it. As a Jewish bisexual woman, a film about a Jewish bisexual woman should be right up my alley. But throughout the experience all I felt was stress, frustration and no resolve. I did not like the ex-girlfriend character, Maya (Molly Gordon), who the film eventually portrayed as Dany’s love interest, as she was rude throughout the whole film, nor did I particularly like Dany’s parents. It seemed like Seligman kept introducing characters to build conflict and comedy, then resolved the conflict by forgetting about the characters. Dany’s mood grew worse as she continued to be overwhelmed, and it worked—I certainly felt overwhelmed—but that feeling never stopped. There was never any work-through of feelings, no heartfelt discussions that took the scene to another place. It was just the same stressful argument over and over until I felt like turning the TV off in frustration.
Now, perhaps that’s what Seligman wanted. It was, in her own words, based on personal experience, and perhaps the disaster part that results in no result except for sensory overload is true to life. On that front, I have to commend her. But I didn’t like it. It was almost too personal, too stereotypically Jewish, too uncomfortable, too rambling. I don’t want to watch someone’s misery at one party for an hour and a half for her to be only slightly less miserable at the end. That’s all that it was. Dany had no character arc, nor did anyone else. They did not learn anything, they did not teach me anything. The movie gave me nothing more to think about beyond my annoyance with Maya. I came away feeling like I wasted time. That is not a good film.
Of course, this is my opinion on a film that felt so strongly personal to me. I could smell this movie, the feeling of going over to a distant relatives house and having too many people touch you until you feel like you can’t breathe. And to be fair, I was on the edge of my seat. Perhaps if I hadn’t been in such a similar life situation to Dany I would have liked it better. Emma Seligman portrayed an uncomfortable experience so well that I hated watching it. Like I mentioned, I commend her art for accomplishing her goal, but, like I also said, I would not watch it again.
