A student sugar baby bumps into her only client - and his wife - at a shiva in this comically uncomfortable film.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 23, 2024

An exhilarating and compassionate film about love, death, loneliness - and the life-affirming importance ofdessert.

| Dec 3, 2021

The choices Danielle makes and the things she says are cringeworthy in the best way.

| Dec 3, 2021

Emma Seligman has infused her film with so much dread, tension and claustrophobia, Shiva Baby is as teeth-grindingly mortifying as anything with a supernatural threat.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 7, 2021

This clever, abrasive debut is a notable achievement for Seligman who has expanded it from an earlier short film. It all feels closely observed, no doubt inspired by real characters, which makes it all the funnier.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 30, 2021

Shiva Baby is an extremely exaggerated version of a certain reality, which is precisely why it's so damn funny.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 16, 2021

The debutant director and NYU film school graduate Emma Seligman, 25, comes bolting out of the gate with this scabrously funny comedy set over the course of one heady afternoon at a highly stressful Jewish shiva (wake) in Brooklyn.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 14, 2021

Could Rachel Sennott be to the bagel what Lauren Bacall was to the cigarette?

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 10, 2021

There's a perceptive twist at the heart of Seligman's sharp and unremittingly funny debut, adapted from her own short film and unfolding in real time.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 10, 2021

There are hints of early Allen of course, but the film to me has more in common with the (also Jewish) Safdi brothers' particular blend of tense and chaotic narratives.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 10, 2021

The movie has the rhythm of farce and Sennott a mastery of deadpan but Seligman packs in more than laughs alone.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 9, 2021

The film is maybe a little callow, but it's an undoubtedly impressive and accomplished debut.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 9, 2021

Wish we got to spend more than 77 mins with these characters.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 8, 2021

A perfectly painted portrait that also makes for sharp social commentary, this just goes to show what you can do with a tiny budget but a huge amount of talent.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 7, 2021

Seligman's script is masterful in building in moments of grim familiarity during scenes where Sennott's twitchy, abrasive energy is perfectly tuned.

| May 2, 2021

What keeps you watching is the way "Shiva Baby" puts us on Danielle's side throughout, even as she's sabotaging herself with further lies and lox.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 12, 2021

In that grasp of twentysomething aimlessness, Sennott and Seligman make Shiva Baby more fulfilling than grazing on a condolences basket.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Apr 9, 2021

Seligman has a deft touch with this zippy material, making "Shiva Baby" a joy to watch as Rachel stumbles from one awkward conversation to the next.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 9, 2021

Sennott is a revelation, and that matters; she carries much of the picture's weight on her face, and its ability to express the mounting levels of stress and deadpan reactions.

| Apr 8, 2021

It's like a feature length anxiety attack... It's not a comforting watch, but if you're in the mood to really be "in a mood," this is a good pick.

| Apr 6, 2021