[Shiva Download 720p Movies
Christel Malden
MJL: Of course, at a shiva, the main color is going to be black. Emma and I spoke about it a lot. We as the consumer, think of black as one color. There are many, many different shades of black. There are warmer blacks, there are cooler blacks, and depending even upon the type of fabric, black absorbs light or reflects light.
When you put black in front of the lens, it becomes such a dark void, and you can lose a lot of definition from the silhouette of the character. I was really conscious about making sure that the texture and the pattern of whatever costume piece I was using really was the defining point that could help bring more interest into making it black, but interesting.
If you go into an Ultra-Orthodox (or any other) shiva and expect this level of buried sexual tension, you will likely be disappointed. Otherwise, the drab, quiet scenes of mourners drinking coffee in two-story homes in Hendon, and trudging through the chilly London streets in long coats and wigs paint a fair picture of Ultra-Orthodox people carrying out Jewish grief rituals.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Earning raves from critics and audiences alike, Shiva Baby subverted coming-of-age tropes with witty deadpan tension and a horror-like atmosphere. The film takes place in the course of one 'shiva' (a Jewish period of mourning after a funeral) as Rachel Sennott's Danielle confronts old and present lovers. Filled with anxiety-inducing scenes, the aimless heroine is further continuously interrogated about her life choices by one annoying relative after the other.
In addition to redefining its genre, Shiva Baby has also been praised for its authentic and sensitive portrayal of its Jewish bisexual protagonist. The realistic nature of the situational humor definitely makes debutant writer-director Emma Seligman a talent to watch out for. For fans who finish this film seeking for similar entertainment, they'll be in luck, as this tone is replicated in a number of other recent titles.
Based on the novel of the same name, The Diary Of A Teenage Girl tells the story of a 15-year-old girl (played Bel Powley) who shares a strained relationship with her mother (played by Kristen Wiig). This bond only worsens after she ends up getting sexually active with her mother's boyfriend (played by Alexander Skarsgard).
The film attempts to explore such a sensitive situation from the eyes of its naive heroine. Even though she struggles with several insecurities, the titular "teenage girl" triumphantly ends up finding the meaning of her life.
Olivia Wilde's directorial debut Booksmart stars Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever as two academically bright students who decide to have one first and last night of "breaking rules" as they graduate from high school. As they let loose to have the time of their lives, an unexpected trail of misadventures is set in motion.
Booksmart seems to walk in the footsteps of previous mature teenage comedies like Superbad but it has enough freshness to stand on its own. The grounded performances of its aforementioned leads further add a sense of authenticity to their characters.
August: Osage County makes for a perfect watch for all those who are interested in dysfunctional family dramas. Featuring a top-class ensemble led by Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts, the tragicomedy opens with the disappearance of a family patriarch. The tragic event compels the rest of the extended family to grieve together. But driving back to the familial house brings back traumatic memories and chaos ensues for all of the members, old and young.
Bolstered by Tracy Letts' sharp dialogue, the film is a bittersweet tribute to old age and troubled family relationships. The emphasis on realistic drama makes the film amusingly funny in one scene and painfully mellow in the other.
Written and directed by comedian Bo Burnham, Eighth Grade offers insights into the trials and tribulations of adolescence from a post-millennial perspective. In the world of eighth-grader Elsie Fisher's Kayla, growing up doesn't just mean fitting in school but also staying relevant on social media.
Eighth Grade relies on teenage drama and satire to convey how technology is making teenagers only more alienated from the real world. Some of Eighth Grade's sensitive scenes also touch upon Kayla's relationship with her supportive father as well as her school seniors whom she desperately seeks to impress.
Thunder Road is a noteworthy one-man effort by Jim Cummings who serves as writer, director, producer, as well as lead actor. The film follows a melancholic premise of a mentally troubled police officer who's coping with the death of his mother and a recent divorce.
Cummings seems to give his all in his incredibly moving performance with the critically-acclaimed opening scene unleashing his dramatic prowess. His character Jim Arnauld delivers a heartfelt eulogy for his mother while talking about her favorite Bruce Springsteen song (the film's namesake). It's a highly engaging opening that instantly draws in audiences from the very beginning.
Paul Munsky (played by Daniel Diemer) is a typical school jock who harbors feelings for his classmate Aster Flores (Alexxis Lemire) in Netflix's The Half of It. Unable to win her over, he relies on the introverted teen Ellie Chu to write poetic love letters under his name.
As this web of lies is put in place, Aster indeed starts reciprocating to Munsky's efforts. This is when the plot thickens, as Ellie herself had been secretly in love with the same girl. Through tender and heartfelt characters and situational humor, The Half of It acts as a slightly more nuanced teenage romance compared to similar Netflix originals.
When it comes to claustrophobic family get-togethers, Get Out should definitely be on the list. The satirical horror features Daniel Kaluuya as a young African-American man who visits the family of his white girlfriend (played by Allison Williams). However, strange observations and an awkward luncheon imply that a larger racial conspiracy is brewing within this household.
Ultimately, the film culminates in a final act filled with unexpected surprises. Subverting many horror tropes at once, Jordan Peele's debut was noted as a cult favorite by many, establishing Peele as a major force in screenwriting and direction.
The Miseducation of Cameron Post is a teen drama that seems to follow a more brutally honest approach rather than sugarcoating hard truths. The titular heroine (played by Chloe Grace-Mortez) is a lesbian teenager who is sent to a gay conversion therapy center in the 1990s.
Befriended like-minded rebellious teens, Cameron Post and her friends wait for their eventual freedom. Apart from the usual coming-of-age elements, the film also empathetically explores themes such as loss of innocence and homophobia.
Earning a Golden Globe nomination for her performance, Hailee Steinfield starred in The Edge of Seventeen as a teenager who's grieving the death of her father. If this wasn't enough, she is also stressed by high-school situations like her best friend falling for her older brother. All of this pressure leads to a personal crisis as the protagonist struggles to find mental solace.
The Edge of Seventeen takes inspiration from several predecessors in the "teenage angst" genre and reinterprets it to suit a younger audience. As for Steinfeld, the film is a great indicator of the maturity she has attained as an actress.
In The Big Chill, a group of old school friends reunites for the funeral of another one of their peers. This leads to a week-look reunion as the adults recount their past and analyze their present. Secrets are unearthed and wounds are opened with the story encapsulating all the ways humans can change with time.
The film follows Danielle (Rachel Sennott), a bisexual recent university graduate, as she navigates a shiva (a traditional Jewish funeral). Against the backdrop of the religious ritual, she stumbles into a range of unexpected and unwelcome encounters: a suspicious mother, inquisitive aunts full of life advice and her sugar daddy and an ex-girlfriend. The film is a perceptive exploration of post-collegiate malaise, sexual identity, faith and the absolute horror that is an intimate family gathering.
I showed scenes from Krisha to every department head on Shiva, including our composer, Ariel Marx. When she asked me to send her references, this was the only film score that I could think of. Everything else was Yiddish Klezmer music.
I included this on a list of films I asked Rachel Sennott to watch before shooting. It was an odd assortment of sexual coming of age/insecurity/addiction movies that also included Palo Alto, Fish Tank and Shame.
2020 was a tough year for movies. Though there was no shortage of great films, the pandemic left most major releases with two unpleasant options: bite the bullet and go straight to the streamers, or delay the release until theatrical exhibition becomes a reality again. If there was one major silver lining to this disruption in exhibition, it was the relative leveling of the playing field. When films are released in theaters (especially by major theatrical chains), the films that have the greatest mass appeal are given emphasis over movies that are more niche. This changes (to an extent) when the release is on a streamer. Suddenly, audiences could log onto HBO Max, see a new mass-appeal blockbuster like Birds of Prey (2020), scroll a few films over, and see Shiva Baby (2020), a low-budget panic attack tailor-made for queer millennials, Jews, art-house lovers, and cringe-comedy devotees.
Regardless of the pandemic, audiences would have noticed Shiva Baby writer/director Emma Seligman -- at least at some point. Her film is so richly textured, impeccably crafted, and expertly performed that critics were destined to eat it up like fresh kugel and blintzes. The movie is also crowd-pleasing, effortlessly engaging despite (no, because of) its alignment with two frequently stigmatized cultural lenses: Shiva Baby is very queer and very Jewish. Despite the jaw-dropping list of innovators and ground-breakers in the film industry who are LGBTQ+ and/or Jewish, those subjects have been long neglected by the silver screen (though this has changed slightly in recent years). When either demographic is depicted in a non-derogatory fashion, it is almost exclusively through noble suffering. Shiva Baby upsets this trend, dealing with its queer and Jewish themes casually.
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