Polite Society (2023)

Here's another one I eagerly anticipated, because of director/writer Nida Manzoor's previous work, and loved. British-Pakistani teenager Ria longs to be a martial arts stuntwoman, and she and her friends scheme to rescue Ria's sister from a marriage that Ria thinks is ill-advised. Cartoonish in its action, the movie is exciting and good fun, with Priya Kansara kicking ass as Ria, Ritu Arya as her beautiful sister Lena, and Seraphina Beh and Ella Bruccoleri as Ria's supportive chums Clara and Alba.

Manzoor ably combines comedy, action, adolescent angst, culture differences, female empowerment, and family drama in one entertaining package.

Tom Howe and Shez Manzoor's (brother of Nida) soundtrack can be found on Apple Music and probably elsewhere and it's got the same high energy that I remember from the movie as a whole. And here's a list of the songs, just wonderful.

Howe was last blogged for Professor Marston and the Wonder Women.

Nida Manzoor's mini-series We Are Lady Parts––fleshed out from her short called Lady Parts––about a Muslim female punk band in London, was just terrific, and is the second reason we subscribed to Peacock TV (the first was Girls 5Eva, about a female musical group of a different genre). This is her first feature. It's also Kansara's feature debut after two episodes of Bridgerton as Lady Eaton and a handful of other credits. Arya has 20 credits, including one other feature, and Beh and Bruccoleri have a number of TV credits. Shez Manzoor scored the Lady Parts short (with another sister) before this.

Rotten Tomatoes' well-mannered critics agree with me, averaging 9o%, and its audiences give it a considerate 84. We streamed it on Peacock on May 16. It can also be rented from iTunes/Apple TV, Prime, and Vudu.