Polite Society Review
Polite Society is an absolute blast!
Ria (Priya Kansara) is a high schooler obsessed with being a stuntwoman. Her mother and father want her to pursue a more reasonable (in their eyes) career, but she is supported by her sister Lena (Ritu Arya). Lena is living back home, stuck in a rut, having dropped out of art school. Her parents arrange a marriage for Lena with Salim Shah (Akshay Khanna), alongside his mother (Nimra Bucha), and Lena seems to fall for the Doctor. Ria, terrified of losing her sister and convinced that there is some ploy going on to stop Lena from pursuing her craft, teams up with her high school friends to take down Salim and his mother. In the process, though, they stumble across an even more nefarious plan.
Written and directed by Nina Manzoor, Polite Society is a beautiful melting pot of every genre under the sun, coalescing in a fun, funny, mile-a-minute thrill ride that serves up action, sci-fi, bollywood and the best of Britain, all on a silver platter.
The story is, quite frankly, bonkers. And while you’ve undoubtedly seen all of the elements on display before, you’ve probably never seen them arranged together quite like this. The twists and turns start taking you on a journey you think you’ve seen before, but then completely divert you and throw you off guard. Each new development is like a level up; adding more outrageousness, ridiculousness and thrill to the piece.
Priya Kansara is perfect in the lead role. She’s funny, intense, able to carry the action and drama simultaneously. She’s ideally matched with Ritu Arya in the older sister role, who is able to play both the struggling, hip artist and the besotted wife to be. The friend group are also a lot of fun.
One of the best things about this film is just how fun and colourful it is. It pushes the boundaries just enough to make it the perfect combination of believability and fantasy; interspersing physically impossible spinning kicks with deeply believable scenes of the two sisters smashing down burgers at a diner together. Ultimately, the true test of any film like this is how engaged the audience is, and I’ve never been to a non-Marvel or non-Harry Potter franchise screening before that had the audience cheering and clapping in the final act like this.
