6 minute read
9:30 p.m
The observer | Friday, april 9, 2021 | ndsmcobserver.com
By RYAN ISRAEL and MARIAH RUSH
Advertisement
senior scene Writers
someone’s died. You’re not really sure who. A fourth cousin? A family friend twice removed? It’s probably a great-great-great-someone, that’s for sure. The thing is, it doesn’t really matter. Your parents, who dragged you unwillingly with the authority of some moral high ground, force you through the doors, and you’re faced with the familiar anxiety of navigating conversations with every relative, work friend, neighbor and long-time dentist that your parents have ever known.
They’re conversations you wish ended before they even began, with questions ranging from, “What are you doing with your life?” and “have you found a job yet?” to the inevitable “Are you seeing anyone?” and those unfortunate offhand comments about your looks — “Wow, have you been eating (enough, everything in sight, etc.)?”
Typically, you find a way through — muddling around conversations, playing nice, taking any opportunity to get out of the fray of people and eventually leaving the tragic (on multiple levels) event unscathed. director and writer emma seligman’s debut feature film, “shiva baby,” takes this all-too-relatable situation and throws in a few major and maybe unrelatable complications. What if the sugar daddy you were semi-conning shows up with his wife and baby (both of whom you were completely unaware of until now) and your parents decide to talk to them? And your ex-girlfriend’s there. Also, you still don’t know what you’re doing after your impending graduation and may have told a few white lies that you do know what you’re doing.
The unfortunate soul in this terrifying situation is danielle, excellently played by comedian, actress and Twitter personality rachel sennott. As a character, danielle is dynamic and engaging, a spot-on depiction of the “still figuring things out” twenty-something. she’s surrounded by loveable, witty and authentic characters — specifically, her parents — who she bounces off of, butts heads with and relies on throughout the film. In one particular scene that is sure to be thrown around the Twitter-sphere, danielle is forced to defend her gender studies-esque major to the quickening, objectively anxiety-inducing, horror-movie score until she finally exclaims, “[Feminism] is not my career! It’s a lens!” nearly all the action in the film takes place in a single location, making it feel like something of a bottle episode. The closed setting keeps everyone close and emphasizes the interaction between the characters, but it’s hard not to want to see these dynamic personalities in other situations. “shiva baby” could easily be the pilot-episode of a new, hour-long dramedy from hbo, and as we write this, they just announced that it kind of will be.
The central emotion running through “shiva baby” is anxiety. The claustrophobia of the film creates a nail-biting tension and on-edge viewing experience akin to that of “Uncut Gems,” but in a more down-to-earth situation and, with it being a shiva and all, more Jewish characters. The anxiety is heightened by Ariel marx’s score, which is reminiscent of horror films in its use of dramatic, building strings and complemented by seligman’s humorous writing, which features excellent comedic conversational dialogue and memorable lines. digging up your own anxieties may not be the most relaxing of movie experiences, but there is something to be said for an independent film combining one of these writers’ (Guess who!) favorite “Glee” alumna (dianna Agron, a real-life russian Jew, beautifully playing the shiksa wife of danielle’s sugar daddy), as well as half of the other writer’s cultural identity and the overwhelming anxiety of being seniors about to be thrust into the real world. maybe, at heart, we are all shiva babies being born into adulthood? or maybe not. maybe we all just have anxiety.
Contact Ryan Israel at risrael1@nd.edu and Mariah Rush at mrush@nd.edu
Starring: Rachel Sennott, Dianna Agron, Molly Gordon Director: Emma Seligman If you liked: “Happiest Season,” “Booksmart,” “Frances Ha”
By JUSTIN GEORGE
scene Writer
david Prior’s “The empty man” hit theaters in october 2020 and despite being a film by 20th century, it received no advertising or fanfare whatsoever, which naturally resulted in the film having a remarkably short theatrical run. There is no logical explanation as to why the film is relevant today. however, “The empty man” has been given new life due to the advent of streaming services and has achieved a kind of underground cult status amongst fans of the horror genre.
“The empty man” features a plot that twists and turns its way across a runtime of just under two and a half hours. The film centers on James (James badge dale), an ex-cop who is trying to solve the mystery of a girl’s disappearance. What starts as a rather standard missing person case quickly becomes a multiple homicide that is related to an urban legend, which James soon discovers is also related to a full-blown cult conspiracy. The cult in question is attempting to summon a supernatural being — the titular empty man. There’s not much else I can tell you about the film without ruining the experience, and I think it’s best to go in knowing as little about the plot as possible. my favorite part of “The empty man” is the part of the movie that presents the empty man as being an urban legend, such as candyman or bloody mary, but with a grain of truth to the story. The rules are simple: If you blow an empty bottle on an empty bridge, the empty man will come. on the first night, you hear him. on the second night, you see him. on the third night, he finds you. This kind of classic urban legend storytelling gives the characters just enough information to wonder if there is any truth to it. of course, as this is a horror film, someone risks it and kicks off the series of events that the film centers around. despite its intimidating runtime and labyrinthine plot, “The empty man” never failed to keep me engaged. The film moves at a good clip and flows very well. The only time I was actively aware of a pacing issue was in the film’s opening prologue, which tells an entirely different story than the main portion of the movie, yet I feel it is a necessary component of “The empty man.” I feel that the film is justified in its runtime; so much happens over the course of the film that part of me wishes Prior had opted for a longer runtime and allowed the story to breathe a bit, embracing the sense of impending doom that the plot is imbued with.
Prior’s direction is the real star of the show, taking a rather confounding plot and weaving it together in such a way that once the credits roll — after the film’s surreal third act — the audience isn’t left baffled, but instead is given a sense of closure. Prior manages to answer all the right questions while also still leaving a few loose ends to maintain the mystery surrounding the events of the film’s plot.
“The empty man” falls within the same investigative sub-genre of horror that “The Wicker man” (1973), “A cure for Wellness” and “videodrome” and excels at capturing everything that makes these kinds of films so engaging. In a few years, I think “The empty man” will start to reach the status of a cult classic and gain the acclaim that it deserves. seek out “The empty man” and strap in for a truly unique horror film you’ll be able to say you saw before it blew up.
Contact Justin George at jgeorge3@nd.edu
Starring: James Badge Dale, Marin Ireland Director: David Prior If you liked: “The Wicked Man” (1973), “A Cure for Wellness, “Se7en”
