Review of Shiva Baby, directed by Emma Seligman

If you’re new here, and stumbled upon this blog through the mythical powers of the Internet, welcome! I know a lot of visitors to my website are people who randomly come upon this website through search engines like Google, but I also do have a lot of visitors who come back. Regardless: my name is Ashley, and I started this blog in order to keep track of everything I’m coming across in the world.

About a year ago (at the time of typing this) I quit my job as a professional film critic to explore what was out there in the world when it came to publishing about the movies and books I wanted to see, not just what was popular in the moment. Digital media and working within it can be fun and all, but it can be grinding when you’re just chasing after all the latest trends and clicks for SEO.

I started this blog four years ago, during the pandemic, but never really took it seriously beyond the occasional post here and there about what I was up to. In 2023 I began to realize the impact this blog was having on me, and other people were reaching out about reading it, so I expanded. Once I quit my job, I decided to focus on the blog more while job hunting, as I do make a few pennies here and there from the display ads on the screen.

During my time job hunting, in-between applying to jobs here and there, it happened to coincide with an economic crisis worldwide, which meant I had even more extended time applying to jobs. Because I had all of this newfound free time, I decided to catch up on all of the movies and television shows I’ve been wanting to get to throughout the years, but never felt like I had the free time to get to them.

Shiva Baby is one of those movies. And it came onto Netflix at the perfect time of my unemployment period, as I was hitting a wall when it came to those job applications and wanted some escapism for a bit. So I opened Netflix, saw this had just been added, and pressed play. This post is coming out much later due to my posting schedule (like many months later).

Let’s get into the review! I don’t want to keep you waiting.

At a shiva, a young, disgruntled woman finds herself grappling with the crossroads and difficulties of her life.

Our main character in this one is Danielle, who’s a college senior with some serious problems. While everyone is expecting her to have her life together, she doesn’t. Her parents especially wish she had some direction with where she is going, but instead Danielle secretly has a sugar daddy, named Max. We meet him in the beginning, as she has sex with him before going to the shiva (mourning period) where the rest of the movie takes place.

It’s at her aunt’s house, and already her mother is telling her how to respond to people’s questions. It doesn’t help though that as soon as she arrives, her ex-girlfriend, Maya, is the one she’s being compared to. Maya has the perfect trajectory career-wise and is going to a good law school, which is a contrast to Danielle, who has no idea what she’s doing.

Turns out Max is there too, and Danielle’s mom forces her to talk to him in hopes that one of his family members will bring her on for work. That’s when Danielle finds out he’s married, which shocks her, as he’s been doing this entire sugar baby routine with her for a bit now. When she sees his wife (who’s not Jewish, but is beloved by everyone there) and his newborn baby, it feeds into an insecurity complex.

Danielle rips her tights and injures herself after this revelation, then heads into the bathroom. Despite now knowing what she does, she takes a topless photo and sends it to Max, but when someone tries to use the bathroom, she leaves her phone in there. When she comes out, she cannot stop eyeing Max, his wife, and their kid, and flees the room to help someone clean up puke.

Maya also notices what’s going on, and thinks that Danielle wants his wife Kim and not Danielle. Danielle is then forced into a conversation with Kim, who actually wants to hire her, but she refuses. We also learn Kim actually makes most of the money, which funnels back to Danielle, and Kim notices that Danielle is wearing a bracelet Max actually gave her.

He spills coffee on Danielle right after that, and when Maya tries to have a conversation with Danielle, Max shows up. Maya then exposes the fact her and Danielle dated, but this doesn’t stop Max from trying to see if Danielle is still interested in him. She tries to give him oral sex when they go upstairs, but he leaves, and she has an honest conversation with Maya about how they miss each other.

However, even after kissing, Maya goes to the bathroom and finds the phone. She realizes the truth behind what’s happening with Max, then angrily begins taunting Danielle about it. Danielle is starting to snap, and when she sees Kim with her parents, she messes up and implies Max is cheating on Kim in front of her. Kim asks if she’s dating anyone, but her dad begins embarrassing her.

As everyone comes together to pray, Max and Danielle start talking about ending things. Kim arrives and says it’s time to go home, and Danielle asks her parents to do so too. Turns out Kim had the phone, too, and when she gives it back to Danielle, she breaks a vase and has a mental breakdown in front of everyone.

Her mother says it’s time to leave and uses an older woman as an excuse, and Maya joins them. Maya and Danielle get over what happened earlier, and everyone, including Kim, Max, and their kid, piles into the car. Maya and Danielle hold hands, and the movie ends with them smiling at each other.

Overall Thoughts

I’m not Jewish, so I don’t think I would get some of the smaller references tucked here and there about the culture and what’s going on, but I really genuinely enjoyed this movie a lot. It’s hard to make a movie so tightly woven around one event (the mourning rituals) seem tight and snappy, but this movie flowed quite well throughout.

I was enraptured with what I was watching on the screen, which is always a good sign in the end. Some movies fail to capture my attention fully, as I’m not invested in the characters or plot. This movie had me wanting to know what was happening next, and I could relate to our main character.

If you haven’t watched this already and want to, I really suggest finding it and getting the chance to sit down and enjoy it. I think if you’re into the synopsis, you’ll like it. It’s also a fresh take from a young filmmaker, which is always good to support.

Follow me below on Instagram, Goodreads, and Letterboxd below.