Sister Midnight

"Sister Midnight" is fundamentally a social satire that employs elements of dark comedy to critique the redundant rituals and traditions which are often masqueraded or rather endorsed as societal "norms", that everybody has to adhere to.

The messages are delivered with both ingenuity and wit, addressing a wide range of topics; from age old arranged marriages, lack of empathy among community members to pollution, and deeply rooted superstitions.

People who generally appreciate such writings are likely to find it pleasant.

However, it is important to note that some may still perceive the humor as unnecessarily crass, overly stoic, or simply unfunny.

Moreover, the pacing has its problems as it dips randomly, which could lead to growing frustration.

One this is certain, this would not be everyone's cup of tea!

The movie is exactly what its title suggests - Nothing. If the purpose of the movie is to portray the mundane, uneventful life of the protagonist, there are many ways to showcase that than to make the movie itself dreary and mundane. The first exchange of dialogue is after 8 minutes which should put things into perspective.

The newly weds struggle to settle as the wife quickly become disillusioned with the challenges of marital throes. She takes up a janitors job that requires her to work nights, sleeping during the day. She starts growing increasingly sensitive toward sound and unable to keep food down. Thus beginning her transformation which most viewers will miss noticing till they reach the end, those brave souls that do that is. At no point in the movie does the storytelling get any better. The first ten minutes is all that's required to know the pace of the movie which is excruciatingly slow. Even documentaries have more thrill in them than this.

Greetings again from the darkness. London-based Indian artist Karan Kandhari chooses a misfit couple's arranged marriage as the basis for his debut feature film. As writer and director, Kahdhari delivers a psychological comedy that goes a bit dark at times, yet the abundance of creativity and a terrific lead performance keep us anxious to see what happens next.

Uma (Radhika Apte) and Gopat (Ashok Pathak) are obvious misfits as spouses as evidenced by their first night as husband and wife. Uma is eager to consummate the marriage, but Gopat either has no interest or is so intimidated by his assertive and forward-acting bride that he prefers to ignore her - other than asking her, "Why can't you just be normal?" With no sexual activity, and the inability to cook or clean, Uma becomes bored and frustrated, resulting in her proclaiming sarcastically, "I'm a domestic Goddess". This leads her to take 'wife' lessons from her neighbor Sheetal (Chhaya Kadam). It's here where we learn that husbands will eat any dinner if enough chili and salt is added, and more insightfully, "men are dim."

Ms. Apte brings a physicality (as well as deadpan mastery) to her terrific performance and her wide eyes convey much of her thoughts, especially as her transformation takes place. She admits, "This is just how God painted my face", yet as time rolls on, she's clearly not well physically or emotionally. This causes Gopat to step up, while also allowing filmmaker Kandhari to infuse some stop-motion animation as the level of bizarreness jumps. Cinematography from Sverre Sordal and film editing by Napoleon Stratogiannakis perfectly enhance the oddity, as does the choice of music ... including songs by The Stooges, Buddy Holly, Marty Robbins, Howlin' Wolf, and even The Band's "The Weight".

Between the stifling heat and the less-than-elegant accommodations, it's doubtful Mumbai's Tourism Bureau appreciates the setting, but for movie lovers, there is significant entertainment value with this one as it exposes the misery of being trapped. Just be careful with that cookie tin.

Opens in NYC May 16, LA May 23, nationwide May 30.

Sister Midnight, directed by Karan Kandhari and starring Radhika Apte and Ashok Pathak, is a refreshing change from the usual formula of loud, larger-than-life action dramas. This film chooses realism over spectacle and manages to leave a lasting impact through its grounded storytelling.

What truly sets Sister Midnight apart is how it handles serious themes like gender roles, class struggles, and power dynamics. These are portrayed with subtlety and nuance, not with preachiness or melodrama. The film doesn't take sides, it simply reflects the world as it is, through sharp storytelling and strong characters.

While it may not appeal to audiences who prefer mainstream entertainment, Sister Midnight offers something rare: a well-crafted, thought-provoking film that respects its viewers' intelligence.

It's wonderful to see that, for a few years now, genre cinema that isn't made in the USA has managed to revitalize it, sometimes doing nothing more than reappropriating the codes to serve a bigger idea. It occurs to me to quote Antonio Gramsci when he said "The old world is dying and the new world struggles to be born: Now is the time of monsters". Although in all eras there has been room for monstrosities that represented real problems in society, from the Cold War to McCarthyism, today seems to be the culmination of the age of the monster. An era in which metaphors have come full circle and begun to self-ironize. The best contemporary films about monsters are, in fact, about old monsters, those that have never gone away and that, by golly, are still here. Their cinematic existence is endowed with a meta contemplation that finally makes horror cinema a supreme species and language for those of us who perceive the world as it should never have been.