Shiva Baby

AroView: Writer-Director Emma Seligman proves a talent to watch with this wonderful cringe comedy about a bi-sexual under-graduate who struggles to keep up different versions of herself when she runs into two different lovers at a shiva (Jewish wake) in front of her parents and her prying extended family.

Aided by Rachel Sennott’s note-perfect performance and a dream supporting cast, Seligman’s debut feature makes impressive use of the one location in adapting her 2018 short film of the same name.

“Having grown up in a tight-knit Jewish community herself, Seligman tightly orchestrates it all with loving cultural specificity and nuance, working her satirical muscles to a thrilling extent.” ~Tomris Laffly, Variety

“The style of humor in Shiva Baby can best be described as “sex-positive cringe,” in which the secondhand embarrassment comes less from the sexual situations themselves than our heroine’s collision with polite, conservative society.” ~Katie Rife, The A.V. Club