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SHIVA BABY (2020)

7/8/21 - Shiva Baby (2020) - 7/10

A fantastic immersion in social revulsion and discomfort, as an ill-fated and hapless daughter joins her overbearing parents at a Jewish funerary gathering only to meet her ex-girlfriend, communal crunch, and her sugar daddy. Its tension is prickly and piercing, unending and escalating as the social situations become more and more pointed and precarious. It was clever to use the cloister of humanity and the guillotine of expected conversation to always trap the protagonist and drown her in guilt, pressure, and vexation. The entire script and performances, especially of Rachel Sennott, are tight and splendid.

It’s a juicy, tense and involving dramatic bagel, slathered with rye wit, salacious brine, and caustic uncertainty. It’s a wonderful film, ever so engaging and the most on edge I have been since Uncut Gems.