Sisterly devotion meets a multitude of movie references in boldly deranged, multi-pop-cultural 'Polite Society'
“Polite Society” - ★ ★ ★ ½
It seems like such a tiny thing, a simple bump in the road, yet it demonstrates the dedication to detail that writer/director Nida Manzoor brings to this merrily manic mashup of cinematic genres titled “Polite Society.”
Near the finale, teenage protagonist Ria Khan (Priya Kansara) and her older sister Lena (Ritu Arya) make a physical (and metaphorical) escape in a stolen car that seems to hit something - a pothole? train tracks? - and keeps going without any acknowledgment from the siblings. When in the history of movie car rides has that small, dismissible bit of realism been utilized?
This little bump may qualify as the most realistic element in “Polite Society,” an irresistibly irreverent, boldly deranged, multi-pop-cultural take on British-Pakistani family values that encompasses martial arts, horror, science fiction, romance, comedy, musicals and more horror.
The chief horror for Ria unfolds as she watches Lena's lifelong dream of becoming an artist evaporate when she meets a drop-dead handsome, wealthy, available London doctor named Salim Shah (Akshay Khanna), on the prowl for a suitable wife who meets the approval of his doting mother Raheela (Nimra Bucha).
If Lena can so easily trade her art for a husband, how can Ria ever hope to achieve her own dream to be a professional stunt performer in a Marvel movie? “Polite Society” opens with Ria recording herself, fumbling through attempts to execute a perfect flying back-kick. (Yes, this does telegraph the ending, but that hardly matters here.)
Ria decides she must go into action to sabotage this romance for Lena's own good. Her high school besties Clara (Seraphina Beh) and Alba (Ella Bruccoleri) eagerly volunteer to help, but even they begin to backtrack their support when now-obsessed Ria plants condoms filled with white hand lotion in Salim's bedroom.
Just when we think “Polite Society” will settle for being a Jane Austentaciously funny twist on romance and sisterly devotion, it shifts into a dark “Get Out” mode, allowing respected Pakistani movie and stage star Bucha to create deliciously demonic expressions taken to cartoon proportions.
“Polite Society” doesn't stop there.
Manzoor, who honed her multicultural comic edge in the limited TV series “We Are Lady Parts” (about a female Muslim punk group), floods her first feature film with a multitude of marvelous movie references - visual, audio and verbal.
“Come with me if you want to live!” Ria utters to Lena. She delivers the line with such authority you would think she created it.
In her first lead role, Kansara impressively commands the screen with an appealing juxtaposition of willful conviction and adolescent impulsiveness. Her Jackie Chan-inspired martial moves serve up a joyous feast for the retina.
Editor Robbie Morrison and cinematographer Ashley Connor provide their own energized visual gymnastics that capture some stunning stunt wire work mixed with expected, but still effective, slow-motion shots.
Manzoor accomplishes something diabolically simple and subversively smart here: She has taken what traditionally would be a male-dominated coming-of-age action comedy and given it a rousing, feminist-Pakistani tweak.
That she also gives us the creepiest depiction of a quintessential mama's boy since Norman Bates in “Psycho” is merely a bonus, like that detailed bump in the road.
Starring: Priya Kansara, Ritu Arya, Ella Bruccoleri, Seraphina Beh, Nimra Bucha
Directed by: Nida Manzoor
Other: A Focus Features theatrical release. Rated PG-13 for language, partial nudity, sexual material, violence. 1 hour, 43 minutes