I rented this one blindly based on good review scores and I went in thinking it was going to be a snarky hipster film about Hindu teens. But I got my Shiva wrong… this isn’t about the Hindu deity but about the Jewish funereal ritual. Well, woops and good for me regardless since it was still a pleasant surprise.

Shiva Baby is about a college girl who is a little lost in her career goals who spends some of her time taking money from her sugar daddy. When she missed the funeral for a person she vaguely remembers, she goes to the shiva with her parents. And runs into her her very married-with-children sugar daddy. And a whole lot of nattering nosy family and friends.

This movie is knowingly filmed and scored like a horror movie. A horror movie for either the socially awkward or the introverts… or both. I certainly had my skin crawling to get away from the pecking and prodding from the people at the party. Trying to butt into her life, their constant endless prattle going and going and going. It’s enough to make an introvert implode (because exploding would be too showy).

The film score is a deliberate atonal peck at instruments, intending to get under your skin. The film is a comedy technically and the attempts to play as horror meant as humor. And it IS funny… but you still want to crawl out of your skin if this level of family and social dynamics is enough to drive you into a closet.

But, that said, I did laugh or mentally applaud when she’d break away from the mob or stand up for herself. And it’s additionally interesting that she’s not a particularly good person… just the protagonist of the film so you want to side with her regardless.

This is worth checking out, even with (or maybe due to) its very short running time. It still works well enough as a cringe comedy to work on that level. And otherwise it’s a fun exercise in genre and a good warped coming of age (or perhaps standing up for yourself) sort of film.

Score: 83