Furious path

When Pulp Fiction was released in 1994, it changed the film industry. Not only was the writing and pacing something that was largely unknown (outside of Tarantino's previous effort, Reservoir Dogs), but being an indy release, instead of something from a major studio (which would never, ever have taken the risk that both the material and the host of "non-bankable stars" presented), made many people inside and outside the industry sit up and take notice. But one of the main factors was the theme of the whole film. This was a gangster flick with realistic dialogue; with people who spoke about goofy, random stuff like real people, rather than always directly contributing to the plot ("You know, like Caine in Kung Fu.") One of the instructors at UCLA's prestigious film school said that the year after Pulp Fiction was released, every single senior project resembled it in at least some way. Now that Everything Everywhere All At Once has turned Hollywood on its ear about absurdist comedies, it's likely that we're going to be seeing many more of them. I don't want to accuse Polite Society of borrowing that approach, as it's probable that the latter film was in production long before EEAAO was released, but I feel pretty safe in thinking that almost everyone in the theater on Tuesday had the former film firmly in mind when writer/director Nida Manzoor's production started blossoming into what it becomes.

And, in truth, the overall premise of the film was much more like RRR, which was more fantastical than absurdist, and you can see Manzoor both mocking and embracing the Pakistani culture that is hers, and demonstrating its distinction from the staid English surroundings, even as teenaged Ria (Priya Kansara) does her best to try to fit in. That is, as long as "fitting in" means she can still embrace her alter ego (The Fury) and eventually let it lead her to her preferred career of stuntwoman, like her idol, Eunice Huthart (a stuntwoman in our "real life.") If that sounds like a great foundation for a comedy, it absolutely is, even without the central plot, which is Ria attempting to save her sister, Lena (Ritu Arya), from what Ria believes will be a disaster of a marriage to what seems like the perfect man. Indeed, I could've seen what might've been just as successful a story simply following Ria around and seeing what she (and The Fury) stumble into in the course of daily life. But that would've been much more like Tarantino and not nearly as much a fantasy as the story turns out to be. Throughout, I had a feeling that Manzoor had simply come up with a story that made her laugh and then did her best to convey that sense of humor to everyone else which, for the most part, she succeeded at.

What also made the film funny in a meta sense is that Kansara did so much work that it was almost a star vehicle for an actor not yet a star (but whom almost certainly should become one.) She was the lead and, in many ways, the whole film, as all of the other characters moved in her orbit and she was the driving force of almost all of the action, whether as angst-ridden teenager Ria or The Fury, who always needed a target upon which to focus her furiousness (much like another hero of yore.) One such target is family friend, Raheela (Nimra Bucha) who did a great job of stealing just a bit of the focus from Kansara, turning what resembled a borderline superhero film into more of a Bond-esque exercise in a battle of wits between the presumed bad guy and the hero who needed a mission in life. Alongside of that and one of the elements that kept the film rooted in some form of reality were Shobu Kapoor and Jeff Mirza, Ria and Lena's mother and father, who did a great job in bit roles trying to come to grips with The Fury while keeping up with the Jones-Nawazes. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Seraphina Beh and Ella Bruccoleri, as Ria's friends, Clara and Alba, as well. The two of them were a constant source of humor in the whole scheme, with Beh especially diving into the absurdist themes of the film and her role with gusto.

It's fair to say that perhaps a bit too much time was left to Ria dwelling in the aforementioned angst, as you can feel her frustration at not being understood, but also feel your own frustration when she kept falling into the most obvious of social obstacles, but that's what happens sometimes when one character is carrying so much weight. I'm engaging in a lot of comparisons to try to explain the film, which is kind of complimentary in its own way, since it was still definitely its own thing, even as much as it resembled so many others, intentionally or not. As a long-time fan of comics and superhero stuff, in general, and firmly burned out on the whole Marvel thing, Polite Society was a welcome reminder of just what these kinds of stories can deliver. Recommended.