‘Polite Society’ Sundance Film Festival Review: A cultural action-adventure complete with martial arts and wire-fu

Written and directed by Nida Manzoor, polite society Stars Priya Kansara (Bridgeton), Ritu Arja (Umbrella Academy) and Nimra Bucha (Disney+ Ms. Marvel). The Focus Features film had its world premiere at the midnight section of the Sundance Film Festival on Friday.

The film opens with Ria (Kansara), a Pakistani teenager in a karate class. She is a purple belt who is serious about honing her skills to become a stuntwoman. She records YouTube videos of her home workouts and recites the line “I am the fury.” Her older sister Lena (Ayra) is an art school that runs around her parents’ house and often helps Ria film her videos. Ria is obsessed with professional stunt woman Eunice Huthart, to whom she often sends e-mails, but never gets a reply.

Ria and her two friends Clara (Seraphina Beh) and Alba (Ella Bruccoleri) attend a private girls’ school where they are constantly bullied by a girl named Kovacs (Shona Babayemi). The bullying reaches a climax until Ria and Kovac’s wire-fu fights begin on school grounds. Ria’s parents, Fatima (Shobu Kapoor) and Rafe (Jeff Mirza), are professionals who expect their daughters to be doctors, lawyers or anything other than artists or stunt performers. After the family attends an Eid Mubarak celebration at the home of Raheela (Bucha), a wealthy member of the Pakistani community, Ria Rich learns that her sister plans to marry Raheela’s wealthy geneticist son, Salim (Akshay Khanna). , to marry. The teenager senses something sinister is going on, but what can she do without proof? Everything in their power to make sure this marriage doesn’t happen.

polite society is a funny story about what happens when families are torn between tradition and modernity, and how to find the balance between the two. Yes, arranged marriages are still an issue in this culture, but Ria finds it strange that Lena falls in love with Salim after only a few weeks. However, it is difficult to judge what is real and what Ria imagines as she is the most unreliable narrator. Although she is right to speculate, her thoughts greatly exaggerate the scenarios. The only thing that makes her claims somewhat plausible is that Lena also feels deep down that something is wrong.

polite societyThe fantastical elements of are told in a disorganized manner just to convey the message about caste systems, religion and reincarnation. This style works for the most part, and it’s easy to appreciate a story that doesn’t follow the straight line but finds creative ways to make a statement about familiar themes. The fact that Ria is capricious adds to the mystery of it all. The story isn’t always coherent, because by the end it feels like I’ve seen two different movies; The big reveal should have come a little earlier in the story, because when the story gets to the reveal, it’s anticlimactic.

Overall, this is a fun film that explores cultural norms, and not conforming to them can be seen as a rude gesture of not conforming. But this is not so much a condemnation of these rules as a criticism of them and why some people choose not to accept these particular rules. It’s always cool to learn new things in a resourceful way without heaping trauma on top of it. The cast is having a good time, especially Bucha, who is fantastic as the story’s villain.

polite society It’s not perfect, but it’s worth a good laugh and a good time.