Rachel Sennott – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

HOLLAND – Review by Valerie Kalfrin

April 4, 2025April 4, 2025 Valerie Kalfrin gael garcia bernal, Holland, Jude Hill, Matthew Macfadyen, Mimi Cave, nicole kidman, Rachel Sennott

Nicole Kidman has, of late, become known for playing women whose meticulous life hides secrets, from 2024’s Babygirl to the TV series The Perfect Couple, the Amazon Prime film Holland again explores what’s below the surface but in a way that’s more half-baked than satisfying. Set circa the early 1990s in Holland, Michigan )a real-life town with a proud Dutch heritage, authentic windmill, tulip festival, and Klompen dancing), the film teases a lot before tipping its hand, sometimes in frustrating fashion. While it builds some tension, by the closing credits, it feels like a field of tulips before spring: waiting for something to bloom.

Reviews

I USED TO BE FUNNY – Review by Nadine Whitney

June 5, 2024June 5, 2024 Nadine Whitney Ally Pankiw, Caleb Hearon, I Used To Be Funny, Jason Jones, Olga Petsa, Rachel Sennott, Sabrina Jalees

Rachel Sennott has comedy sewn into her core, but that doesn’t preclude her from giving a layered and honest dramatic performance. Her work in the film effortlessly moves from subtle, loud, hilarious, sarcastic, melancholic, frustrated, annoying, and fierce. “She’s traumatised, but she’s funny!” I Used to Be Funny is authentically heartbreaking and hilarious. A triumph for director Ally Pankiw, Rachel Sennott, and indie Canadian cinema.

Reviews

I USED TO BE FUNNY – Review by Clotilde Chinnici

June 1, 2024June 6, 2024 Clotilde Chinnici Ally Pankiw, Caleb Hearon, I Used To Be Funny, Jason Jones, Olga Petsa, Rachel Sennott, Sabrina Jalees

Directed and written by Ally Pankiw, I Used To Be Funny is a promising and fascinating comedy-drama film. Sam (Rachel Sennott) is a stand-up comedian living in Toronto who picked up a job as a nanny to earn a living while continuing her career as a comedian. When the film starts, Sam is struggling with depression and PTSD that have put a stop to her career and impacted her life overall after Brooke (Olga Petsa), the young girl she used to nanny for, goes missing.

Reviews

BOTTOMS – Review by Sherin Nicole

August 19, 2023August 19, 2023 Sherin Nicole ayo edebiri, Bottoms, Emma Seligman, Havana Rose Liu, Marshawn Lynch, Nicholas Galitzine, Rachel Sennott

Now is a good moment for absurdist satire, and I like Bottoms a lot. Why? First of all, Marshawn Lynch is in it. So, it’s already cooking. Speaking of cooking, it stars the versatile and fabulous Ayo Edebiri alongside the movie’s co-writer Rachel Sennott. Imagine a pair of lusty lesbians who dream of getting girls and being ‘qweens’ at their high school. Now imagine the story takes place in a similar world as Heathers.

Reviews

TAHARA – Review by Barbara Goslawski

May 31, 2022May 31, 2022 Barbara Goslawski Daniel Taveras, Madeline Grey DeFreece, Olivia Peace, Rachel Sennott, tahara

Cleverly stylized, Olivia Peace’s impressive debut feature, Tahara is a perceptive variation on the familiar coming-of-age theme. By situating this microcosm of teen types in both a structural and symbolic bubble (think The Breakfast Club but more artistically inventive), she creates a more universal statement. This queer coming-of-age dark comedy becomes more of a meditation on the various types of relationships we find ourselves in – be they social groups, casual relations, or our most intimate connections – and articulates the difficult process necessary to extricate ourselves from the toxic ones.

Reviews

SHIVA BABY – Review by Lois Alter Mark

April 12, 2021April 18, 2021 Lois Alter Mark Fred Melamed, Michelle J. Li, Molly Gordon, Polly Draper, Rachel Sennott, shiva baby

It says so much about Shiva Baby that audiences are calling it a horror movie although there is literally nothing violent or scary about it. What’s terrifying is college senior, Danielle, attending a shiva (a Jewish post-funeral ritual where mourners gather to eat and socialize at the home of the deceased) with her parents, only to be forced to deal with the yentas she grew up with and some unexpected guests including her sugar daddy, Max, and the wife and baby she didn’t know he had. Oh, and, also, her ex-girlfriend, Maya.

Reviews

SHIVA BABY – Review by Valerie Kalfrin

March 26, 2021March 27, 2021 Valerie Kalfrin Fred Melamed, Michelle J. Li, Molly Gordon, Polly Draper, Rachel Sennott, shiva baby

Watching college student Danielle endure a shiva that becomes her personal hell in the comedic drama Shiva Baby will trigger sparks of recognition in anyone who’s lived through similar gauntlets. Weddings, reunions, and even funerals often have that surface interaction with people we haven’t seen in ages and various insecurities underneath.

Interviews

Michelle J. Li on Costuming SHIVA BABY – Nell Minow interviews

March 26, 2021March 27, 2021 Nell Minow Michelle J. Li, Rachel Sennott, shiva baby

Michelle J. Li designed the costumes for Shiva Baby, written and directed by Emma Seligman. It is set at a post-funeral gathering. The main character is Danielle, who arrives with her parents and runs into her ex-girlfriend and her “sugar daddy,” the man she has been sleeping with for gifts and money. He did not tell her he was married and the father of a baby. There are a lot of evasions, revelations, and confrontations, played more for farce than melodrama. In an interview, Li talked about the challenges of keeping distinctive looks for characters who are almost all wearing black and where she found the “expensive” bracelet that is the subject of much discussion in the film.