Jeff "Jmunney" Malone's Self-Styled "Expert" Thoughts on Movies, TV, Music, and the Rest of Pop Culture
January 24, 2022
Best in Film 2021, Best of 2021, Cinema Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, Bad Trip, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, Best of 2021, Flee, House of Gucci, Malignant, Old, Red Rocket, Shiva Baby, Summer of Soul, Summer of Soul Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised Leave a comment
CREDIT (Clockwise from Top Left): Warner Bros. Pictures, Universal Pictures, Lionsgate, Utopia
These are the movies I loved the most from 2021. There were many others, but these are my favorites. Forthwith are some descriptions of what happens in these movies. Hit me up in the comments if you’d like to know more about what I thought about them!
April 26, 2021
Cinema, Movie Reviews Danny Defararri, Dianna Agron, Emma Seligman, Fred Melamed, Molly Gordon, Polly Draper, Rachel Sennott, Shiva Baby 3 Comments
Shiva Baby (CREDIT: YouTube Screenshot)
Starring: Rachel Sennott, Molly Gordon, Danny Defararri, Polly Draper, Fred Melamed, Dianna Agron
Director: Emma Seligman
Running Time: 77 Minutes
Rating: Unrated
Release Date: April 2, 2021
After watching the very Jewish Shiva Baby, I discovered that its lead, Rachel Sennott, is not Jewish but Italian Catholic. Meanwhile, Dianna Agron, who plays the shiksa wife, is Jewish! But after the initial shock wore off, I realized that this actually wasn’t terribly unbelievable. American Jews and Italian-American Catholics do have some cultural similarities after all, especially if we’re talking about the ones in or around the New York City area. Sennott is from Simsbury, Connecticut, which is fairly close to NYC, while Agron was born in Georgia and raised in Texas and California, so perhaps the real difference is geographical. So much of American cinematic Jewish culture is New York Jewish culture!
Anyway, I enjoy stories about people with taboo jobs who are also just taking care of their lives, you know? And that certainly applies here as Sennott plays Danielle, a soon-to-be college grad who makes extra cash through a sugar daddy app. While attending a shiva with her parents, she runs into one of her clients, and it’s about as awkward as you can possibly imagine! Throw in some bagels, a bunch of nosy aunts and family friends, and a confrontational childhood friend/ex-fling, and that’s Shiva Baby!
Grade: 3-5 Bagels out of 1 Ripped Pair of Tights
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