Shiva Baby, a movie about a floundering young woman who feels walls closing in on her while attends a shiva for a family friend, doesn’t sound like an influential, long-tail comedy that would help launch multiple careers. It barely sounds like a comedy at all, at least not the kind that typically does well on the big screen. Maybe that’s why Emma Seligman’s movie turned into a kind of pandemic-era hit in early 2021; though its April opening coincided with the mass reopening of movie theaters in a post-vaccination world, it was simultaneously released on VOD, and became something of a miniature sensation, perfectly evoking the claustrophobic of staying inside while also offering a cautionary tale about the hell of leaving the house. (It even landed inside of the Top 20 of Decider’s Best Movies of 2021 countdown.) Now it’s turned up on Netflix, where it looks a lot starrier than it did four years ago.
At the of its release, the biggest star in Shiva Baby was probably Dianna Agron, because she was on Glee. But she plays a supporting role in the film; the lead belongs to Rachel Sennott, making her feature film debut. (Sennott had another movie at festivals before Shiva, but it didn’t make it to commercial release until later.) Granted, Sennott’s CV still isn’t that long – her most-seen films are probably Bodies Bodies Bodies and Seligman’s Shiva follow-up Bottoms – but Shiva Baby helped establish her as an indie star, priming her for high-profile gigs like acting in Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night (and, coincidentally, impersonated on the real SNL around the same time) and being a key member of Charli XCX’s clique during “Brat Summer.”
In Shiva, Sennott plays Danielle, a bisexual Jewish college senior with a married sugar daddy. The thing is, she doesn’t realize he’s married until he turns up at this shiva with his wife and child, adding further emotional distress and claustrophobic chaos to an already-stressful event. Hilariously, none of this is related to any sense of grief to the deceased, who Danielle barely remembers, if at all. Her unrelated familial pressures, though, are further compounded by the presence of her ex-girlfriend Maya (Molly Gordon), who is bound for law school. Gordon is the other now-famous-ish face in the film; she previously appeared in Booksmart but has since co-written, co-directed, and co-starred in Theater Camp, an indie comedy that garnered a lot of positive attention in 2023, in the same summer as Bottoms. Basically, several of the most promising comedic voices in indie cinema from the past few years can be traced back to Shiva Baby.
That includes Seligman, who seems to take more inspiration from stress-bomb movies like Krisha or Uncut Gems than, say, Bridesmaids. The percussive, string-plucky score and tight framing aren’t the usual visual language of comedy – or more precisely, they’re the language of comedy that might typically be employed for a minute or two at a time, for a specific sequence. Shiva Baby stretches that sensibility taut over 78 minutes, nearly to a snapping point, with overheard-style dialogue just funny enough to keep it rubber-band flexible rather than frayed-rope thin. (That said, anyone looking for Bottoms-style belly laughs will probably be disappointed.)
Seligman will likely make some more ambitious, more memorable movies, as will Sennott. But Shiva Baby will also likely linger in memories because it just throws Sennott a whole feature film, no scene-stealing warm-up necessary, and lets her carry it. Last year she carried a very different type of dramedy with I Used to Be Funny; she’s already had nearly as many genuine lead movie roles as better-known stars like Sydney Sweeney, and will be the lead of an as yet untitled HBO comedy series due sometime in 2025. Appropriate for a movie that found its following at home, Shiva Baby proves that sometimes a star in waiting just needs a modest home.
Jesse Hassenger (@rockmarooned) is a writer living in Brooklyn podcasting at www.sportsalcohol.com. He’s a regular contributor to The A.V. Club, Polygon, and The Week, among others.
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