Shiva Baby: the protagonist of Emma Seligman’s dramedy is certainly a mess to start with, but it’s pure unadulterated cruelty to put her through the day portrayed here. That doesn’t mean, however, that the film is not extremely entertaining. At the cusp of adulthood, she is still trying to figure out who she is and where she fits, a task in no way made any easier by her overbearing parents or her community at large, but one she further complicates with some questionable decisions. Rachel Sennott, as the increasingly stressed-out main character, is hilarious and sad at the same time; Polly Draper and Fred Melamed, as her very Jewish parents, are also very entertaining. Cinematographer Maria Rusche keeps the camera very close to the protagonist, isolating, crowding, and distorting her, which is a great visual representation of her mindset.