Cultural melting pots are amazing. Yes the differences between various cultures can lead to violence and tension. But exposure not only makes everything in the world seem less scary, but like Korean Tacos or Curry risotto, sometimes the mixture creates something spectacular. Polite Society could only exist because of Nida Manzoor’s rich cultural experiences, which she’s fused together to make something wholly exciting, original, and just plain badass.
In this Polite Society, our hero is Ria Khan (Priya Kansara), aka “The Fury.” Like all Pakistani British girls, Ria yearns to be a stuntwoman, making decent YouTube videos and writing her hero Eunice Huthart to hopefully get some advice as to how to fulfill her dream. Helping Ria with her vids is her sister Lena (Ritu Arya); though a decent artist, Lena’s dropped out of art school, and is stuck in the mud of life at the moment. Her lifeline comes at an Eid celebration: very single ideal husband material Salim (Akshay Khanna) picks “bad girl” Lena out of the crowd of willing Pakistani women, and slowly turns her into wifey material. While this pleases Lena/Ria’s parents (Shobu Kapoor and Jeff Mirza) and Salim’s mother Raheela (Nimra Bucha), Ria is unhappy at the sudden change in her sister. So Lena and her two best friends Clara (Seraphina Beh) and Alba (Ella Bruccoleri) hatch a plan to expose Salim and get Lena back to her “real” self.
It’s always exciting when you get a strange movie genre fusion that actually works. Everything Everywhere All At Once for example is a science fiction martial arts coming of age family drama that was so good it won Best Picture. Polite Society might have one upped EEAAO, bashing British drama with martial arts flick into movie submission. Ria and Lena are essentially from the lower class in this movie: their life choices have made them social pariahs, compared to Salim’s genetics doctor, and ideal profession for immigrant Pakistani parents. But instead of Ria rebelling by writing anonymous letters to stir up drama, she instead starts throwing punches. Watching Polite Society I could identify beats from costume dramas or martial arts movies, but the strange movie mash-up means we get constant left turns within minutes we don’t see coming. From scene to scene, writer/director Manzoor will further switch from genre to genre to keep the audience guessing. In the first hour, Polite Society’s base is the British drama martial arts movie, but it takes a few minutes or so being a science fiction movie, a western, a high school drama, and a spy thriller. In Nida Manzoor’s sure hands, these switches all fit and make sense with the plot she’s created, making Polite Society constantly surprising any audience member ready to roll with it manic energy.
But the sweet sauce of this film is it’s wonderful generational sense of humor. I fell in love almost immediately, as a Pakistani girl in a hoodie buys a whole chicken and just starts eating it on the street in the most animalistic way possible cause she feels like it, upending EVERY stereotype of that type of character I’ve seen in a movie before. I could have spent hours with Ria, Clara, and Alba making plans, as they bounce off of each other effortlessly (Polite Society 2 should be about Ria’s high school). Ria’s fight isn’t just for her sister; the way she sees it: she’s fighting for societal progress as a whole. There’s a Jane Austen joke that’s so funny I scared my theater I laughed so hard, and Ria’s repeated horror at Lena’s cardigan collection is never not funny. And the main conflict between Priya Kansara’s Ria and Nimra Bucha’s Raheela is essentially veiled modern British Pakistani women fighting older immigrant Pakistani British women, with different ideas on how the world should work and women should take power. That fight escalates to something truly bonkers from both sides, as a real icky darkly funny plot twist leads to Saree filled combat sequences that double as hyper violent dance numbers. Something I’m certain Lahore immigrants and British royalty could never come up with on their own, but only Nida Manzoor’s unique vision from her wonderful cultural influences could make into something so wholly satisfying.
In this part of the UK, it’s time to stop being polite, and start being real. Ok, nothing in Polite Society is like the “Real World,” but one thing is real: Nida Manzoor and her amazing cast, brimming with talent and hopefully a new wave of fascinating actors, storytellers and filmmakers inspired by her. Where Gurinder Chada walked, ran and played football, Nida Manzoor kicks ass and wrestles society to the ground. At this rate, I can’t wait to see who comes next!