Polite Society

 This review may contain spoilers!

 

Polite Society follows Ria Khan, a young British-Pakistani girl with aspirations of becoming a stuntwoman. Her biggest supporter? Her sister, Lena. But when Lena is locked into an arranged marriage that Ria finds sinister, it is up to our young hero to save her family and prove herself. I was so utterly impressed with this film, it had creativity in spades and I highly doubt I will see another film that really achieves this level of originality in 2023. This film really frames itself as a coming of age story with Ria Khan fighting to prove herself as a stuntwoman, while also negotiating what it means as a young second generation Desi woman to be locked into an arranged marriage. Seeing Ria really learn about her own perspectives and shortcomings is great, but when she finds the strength of character to stand up for her sister and save her the film really shows me how rich the character growth is. The theme work here around arranged marriages, power imbalances in that sort of relationship and the really empowering message around women having power over their own love and their own bodies was so well told. I loved how stunt work in this was so hyper stylized, coming off as more broadly mapped stunt work of the 70s or 80s. But this sort of homage style was perfect because it made the moments with these sorts of fight scenes mean so much more narratively. The first one we get defines Ria as an outcast, the next notable one is when she falls out with Lena and the number of fights had in defense of Lena's freedom were extremely pivotal points.

The soundtrack is a real cultural hit and calls back to a number of beloved Bollywood hits, with Ria's big dance scene immediately being one of the most iconic. I also loved the occassional turns of Western tracks to punctuate the fight sequences or more high octance moments. The score for Polite Society is a real treat too, it has so much variety of character to it. I actually felt like each track wasn't aiming for one broad theme but instead really provided a tapestry of emotion that connected with each scene of the film.

 

Priya Kansara, who played Ria, is an absolutely wonderful protagonist for this with a bit of a manic edge.; I loved watching Kansara grapply between goofy plans to almost crying and breaking down when no one believed her about the true intent of the wedding. Seraphina Beh and Ella Bruccoleri, who played Clara and Alba respectively, took a moment to grow on me but have some fantastic chemistry with Kansara; both of these young performers often step in with their rough wit to lend a scene some great comedic moments. Shona Babayemi, who played Kovacs, really looms and intimidates as the classic school bully; but I loved how Babayemi flipped the script and eased into the friend group in a fitting way. Shobu Kapoor, who played Fatima, really works well as the meek Mum hoping to impress others; in spite of that image I really feel Kapoor did a great job of crafting a genuinely loving connection with her onscreen daughters. Nimra Bucha, who played Raheela, really is having the time of her life in this film; Bucha's overly sinister antagonist performance is such a nice foil for Kansara's protagonist. Jeff Mirza, who played Raff, is entirely funny as the father figure who struggles to read the room; Mirza doesn't have a lot to do here but he's really witty when given the chance. Akshay Khanna, who played Salim Shah, is such a charismatic talent that you aren't for a moment surprised Lena falls for him; yet I also loved how over the top Khanna goes with his mumma's boy underling switch up in the third act.

However, the best performance came from Ritu Arya, who played Lena. This actress has been on the up and coming for a little bit now but at the moment this is probably the best role I've seen in her filmography. When first we meet Lena she is in a really depressive, lonely state. Arya does a great job of portraying someone who is doing the bare minimum to still connect with those she loves while also being quite hollowed out over her own sadness. As the feature progresses we get to see Arya present her character happier as she forms some great onscreen chemistry with Khanna, her onscreen betrothed. You really see the power of feeling loved bring something good out in this character she didn't previously possess. You also get one of the best character conflict scenes between Arya and Kansara when their characters fight over the marriage. It's maybe my favourite scene of the feature and it hits like a ton of bricks emotionally. The latter moments in the film where we move back to a focus on Arya is wonderful because she gets to play to moments like reconciliation and absolute betrayal, reactions that both endear her to the audience and really up the stakes of the wedding storyline. Get yourself a big sis like Lena Khan, Ritu Arya nails it.

The glaring issue with Polite Society for me was how long it took to spiral into it's more sci-fi thriller elements. To be clear I loved the direction the film chose to take but there is very little foreshadowing to get to the exact nature of the Shahs' plans and I think Ria's story and that aspect of the main story could have been blended in nicer. The fact that the comedy of the film also came from some very English cultural dialect, mannerisms and aspects also made this film difficult to enage with at times, chiefly in the first act.

There are moments of wonderful cinematography in this film but I often felt the framing was quite wonky, worse were the number of shots that boasted some quite bad sense of what was in front of the camera as the lighting was horrible. The editing set a stilted pace that slowed an otherwise well told and surefooted script.

This felt as unsettling as Jordan Peele's Get Out while also being one of the more creative and inspired coming of age films I've seen in a long while. I would give Polite Society an 8.5/10.