Tahara

It’s very funny to me that actress Rachel Sennott starred in two such similar films in 2020. Firstly, there’s Shiva Baby. In Shiva Baby, Sennott plays a young woman who encounters her secret sugar daddy and her female ex at a Jewish funeral in New York. The second film is Tahara. Here, Sennott plays a student attending a Jewish school in New York and kisses her female best friend during a funeral. Talk about type casting. Apparently Rachel Sennott has a face that makes people really want to cast her as someone who kisses girls at New York Jewish funerals.

Tahara follows the aftermath of a funeral on a small group of students attending Hebrew school. Lead among these characters are best friends, Hannah and Carrie. Hannah is interesting in their cute classmate, Tristan. Hannah worries about her kissing ability so she asks Carrie to kiss her to see if Hannah is a good kisser. For Hannah, this means little. But for Carrie, this brings to the surface a lot of per-existing feelings of lesbianism. In addition, Carrie also has to deal with death and the attitudes of her classmates towards this topic which range from theatrical to callous.

The queerness on Tahara is somewhat minimal. The only overly queer character is Carrie and I’m not sure if she is the lead in the film. On Hannah’s part, she seems at best ambivalent about it. She willing kisses Carrie for practice and to impress boys. However, she doesn’t have interest in kissing Carrie just for the sake of kissing. Tahara is an interesting movie because it shows the shifting opinions in the younger generation towards homosexuality. Hannah claims to be supportive and not opposed to the ideal of a female love interest as a way to make herself appear cool. While this shows a progression of attitude, Tahara also shows the still existent anxiety and agony of coming out to your nearest and dearest. Especially when such a person is manipulative and emotionally stunted even more so than regular teens.

Carrie and Hannah’s relationship is the most interesting thing about the film. It’s a rare depiction of a manipulative and potentially abusive friendship. There’s some suggestion that Hannah’s callous behaviour might not be something she grows out of. Instead, her attitude seems like a stable character trait that will only get worse as she gets older and her manipulations more successful. However, the film is perhaps too subtle with it. Most of what Hannah does and her friendship with Carrie doesn’t really go beyond fairly standard teen friendships, unfortunately. Teens just be like that, sometimes.

My main issues with the film is that it does feel like it lacks focus. What was this movie about? Carrie and Hannah’s friendship? Carrie coming to terms with her sexuality? A depiction of how callous teens can be when confronted with death? I’m not entirely sure. There’s also a few subplots from other students which muddy the waters further. In a movie as short as Tahara, I would have liked to see more focus. The film does not lack for ideas. But because of this, it does feel like it lacks a degree of focus.

Tahara feels like more of a proof of concept for the filmmakers and stars than an overall good movie. There’s a lot of potential on display here. The movie feels fresh and youthful. Director Olivia Peace has put her own artistic signature on how the film is directed. Rachel Sennott especially stands out as the star performer. She impressively manages to craft two very different characters between this and Shiva Baby. However, much as there is a lot of talent and potential, I ended Tahara wanting more.

Overall rating: 5.9/10

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