Polite Society feels like a student film. Let me explain why that's a good thing.
Priya Kansara stars as Ria Khan, a wannabe stuntwoman who calls herself 'The Fury'. Without any support from her parents for her career, she turns to her sister Lena for help with her stunt practice and YouTube channel.
Much to Ria's chagrin, Lena becomes engaged, leaving less time for sisterly activities. What could come across as your average run-of-the-mill jealousy ends up becoming a much bigger issue as Ria discovers her soon-to-be brother-in-law has some sort of vague dastardly plan. She's not sure what it is, but the film details her determination to find that out.
The hightened reality of Polite Society means that any arguments or minor disputes are settled with elaborate martial arts setpieces and video game style boss battle titles.
In a lot of ways it feels like the kind of low budget film you make in the backyard with your friends when you've just watched an Edgar Wright or Quentin Tarantino film for the first time. But there's an earnestness to Polite Society which makes it work.
I've seen films which feel like they're copying what they've seen work elsewhere and are borrowing from established directors and you end up with a mish-mash of better films without any kind of actual filmmaking voice.
Polite Society is the first film from director Nida Manzoor and was born out of a lack of representation for South Asian culture in film and especially action films. From the inception of the idea to it appearing on screen there's this passion that you can feel as an audience member, that Manzoor is excited by this film herself and even moreso she's excited to share it with you.
There are small moments throughout which feel a little amateur, which would normally take me out of a film, but here they just add to the charm and aren't worth shining a light on.
Charming is really the best word to describe this film, whether it's the performance of Priya Kansara, the over the top camp nature of the villain or the choreography of the fight scenes which feel like people behind the scenes basing decisions purely on what they think would be most fun to film.
Normally saying that a film looked like it was fun to make is code for "I have nothing else good to say about this" but here they're able to let the audience in on the fun too for once.
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