Polite Society (2023) - Movie Reviews
1mon 7d ago by piefed.social/u/Sergio in action_movies@piefed.social from media.piefed.social
Polite Society is a 2023 British martial arts action comedy film written and directed by Nida Manzoor ...
In London, British-Pakistani teen Ria Khan aspires to become a movie stunt performer like her idol, Eunice Huthart. Under an alter ego, "the Fury", Ria creates films of martial arts training with the help of her older sister, Lena, who has dropped out of art school ...
The Khan family is invited to an Eid soirée by Raheela, the leader of Fatima's social circle of Pakistani mothers, at her lavish mansion. ... To Ria's horror, Lena is charmed by Salim and, after a few whirlwind weeks of dating, agrees to marry him and move to Singapore. ... Convinced there must be a more sinister explanation, Ria enlists Clara and Alba's help to spy on Salim. ......
While the structure of Polite Society does not adhere to a specific genre throughout, Manzoor has described portions of it as "a joyful kung fu Bollywood epic".[9] Mansoor also drew from spaghetti westerns, All About Eve, Hong Kong kung-fu films, and the work of Yuen Woo-ping.[9] Additional influences include the 2002 version of Devdas (Ria's dances to Maar Dala at the wedding),[10] the novels of Jane Austen,[11] Jackie Chan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Get Out, Kill Bill (Quentin Tarantino), Mira Nair, Deepa Mehta, and The Slums of Beverly Hills.
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On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 91% based on 176 reviews. The website's critics' consensus reads, "Polite Society throws, kicks, and punches the genre etiquette book out the window to deliver a fun film that blends Bollywood splendor and British wryness."[17] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 75 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[18]
Robbie Collin in the Daily Telegraph described it as “rollicking” and “crafty and fresh” and “all done with infectious pep”, with “the fights themselves – witty, lucid, crunchy, slick” and Kansara a “blatant star-in-the-making”.[19]
BBC Culture's Mohammad Zaheer gave it four stars and wrote that the film was "an action-packed, genre-blending delight that fires on all cylinders" and that "[e]verything – from the writing to the cinematography, the performances, the choreography and the soundtrack – is on point, and it has all the requisite ingredients to be an exhilarating experience for audiences that come along for the ride." He also praised the lack of stereotypes regarding Lena's engagement to Salim.[20]
What an excellent movie. At first it seems like it might just be "Bend it like Beckam" but with karate. But this movie is so much more. This movie takes the lead character's dream seriously, and plays it through to its narrative consequences. At some point you may think: this is crazy, it makes no sense. But really, it makes just as much sense as any action movie out there.
Watched this during the SatMat watch party on Mastodon over the weekend. I think this movie did "okay" at the box office and was well-reviewed by critics. With any luck it'll become a cult film and inspire more movies like it.
Great post!
I added this to my wishlist a few weeks ago, then saw it was scheduled for #SatMat. But due to some memory malfunction, I thought #SatMat was a Twitter watch party, not Masto.
Good to hear you enjoyed it, I'll have to "raw dog" it. (= watch it not in a watch party 😁)
I'd seen it before, it's good for a couple re-watches.
I saw it today thanks to you, and I must say it's one of my many favorite movies. It's every kind of movie combined and it's very funny.