Review: Polite Society

 

Polite Society has a very obvious and very fun hook: what if Bollywood, but with fights instead of musical numbers? The fact there's more  - and only slightly less - going on here than that shouldn't put you off, but be warned: if you've seen the (excellent) trailer it might not hurt to dial your expectations down from "flamboyant fist-and-feet-flinging frenzy" to "fiercely funny YA fight flick".

Ria Khan (Priya Kansara) wants to be a stunt woman when she leaves high school. Her big sister Lena (Rita Arya) used to want to be an artist, but now she just mopes around a lot. Ria is not impressed; she's even less impressed when the very single, very eligible Dr. Salim (Akshay Khanna) decides Ria is the one for him.

The fact they met at a party for suitable suitors arranged by his imposing mother Raheela (Nimra Bucha) is just part of the reason why Ria is appalled. Why is her sister throwing away her dreams to be the bride of some - okay, attractive, caring, intelligent doctor who runs a medical clinic in Asia. But for Ria it still doesn't add up. Will her detective work uncover a sinister mystery, or just trash her reputation and leave her an isolated friendless loser?

The (brutal yet acrobatic) fights in Polite Society work like musical numbers: when the characters have feelings that can't be contained, they let them out by belting each other. Writer-director Nida Manzoor pushes each one enjoyably over the top, but keeps them for big moments between main characters: this is not a film where Ria is mowing down bad guys John Wick style.

Where this really packs a punch is with the two sisters. Lena is deftly sketched early on, and then everything we thought we knew about her gets turned on its head as marriage looms. Is she changing herself for a man, or just revealing who she really is? Much of the tension here comes from not being sure  - after all, love does make people do crazy things, and sometimes they work out just fine.

Then again, Ria is such a whirlwind of a character it's difficult to imagine anything standing in her way. She (and Kansara) are the star of the show here by a very wide margin, and considering how perfectly cast everyone else is (a special thumbs up to Shobu Kapoor and Jeff Mirza as the sisters' parents), that's saying a lot.

Kicking arse in every possible way, she's a lead who deserves (and could easily carry) a dozen spin-offs. In a story about the perils of marrying into a family where mother knows best, she's the one sinking her often airborne boots into the idea of settling down - and everything else that gets in her way.

- Anthony Morris

Review: Air

It’s the 80s - boy, is it the 80s - and in the sneaker business third place is last place. This is bad news for Nike, as their basketball shoe division is currently staring at a bronze medal. Basketball “guru” Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) has been brought in by his friend and Nike CEO Phil Knight (Ben Affleck, who also directs) to turn it around, but all his big ideas involve the one thing he can’t have: more money.

 

As far as sponsoring players goes, 18 year-old Michael Jordan is clearly promising in this year's line-up, but when Sonny decides to bet everything on a big gamble to win over the Adidas-loving Jordan and his business manager mother (Viola Davis), first he has to win over Nike before he can take his shot.

 

There’s more small pleasures than big dramas in this true story of sports marketing. The main players are all slightly shabby middle-aged men (admittedly, this may very well be the fanbase for a Michael Jordan story in 2023), who each get one character quirk each: one likes to gamble, one is a sad divorced dad (Jason Bateman), one is a rapid-fire motor-mouth (that'd be Chris Tucker) and so on.

 

As the ending is never in doubt the fun comes from seeing them slowly put the pieces together, and the teamwork angle is the strongest part of the film. Everyone proves to be an integral part of the effort to win over Jordan, and everyone gets a big speech to prove it. Well, everyone but Knight, who Affleck plays as the closest thing here to comedy relief.

 

This is a subdued return to directing for Affleck, and while the small scale helps with the story - these guys really do feel like underdogs - the lack of flash or flair does occasionally dampen the mood a little. This isn't a tale of sports excellence: these are marketing guys putting together a deal, and the winner is money.

 

Jordan himself is kept off camera, but Davis comes on strong as the mother who knows driving a hard bargain is in everyone’s interests – as Sonny says, this is the rare deal where everyone comes out on top.

 

- Anthony Morris