Release Date – 2nd June 2023, Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 28 minutes, Directors – Mikk Mägi, Oskar Lehemaa

With his grandchildren (Mikk Mägi, Oskar Lehemaa) visiting for the Summer, The Old Man (Mägi) must chase down his escaped cow (Märt Avandi) before it explodes due to not being milked, or is killed by a former milker (Jan Uuspõld)

If A Town Called Panic had a head-on collision with South Park the result would likely look something like The Old Man Movie. A crazed barrage of gloriously silly jokes fusing the crude and the absurd as characters try to live the much-celebrated “milk life!” Characters with clumped-together and loosely-carved looks, speaking with highly cartoonish voices (largely provided by writer-directors Oskar Lehemaa and Mikk Mägi) and simply heightened by the use of stop-motion animation there’s plenty on display which lets you know early on that this is going to be an utterly bonkers ride.

The Old Man (Mägi) lives a quiet life of routine at the top of a small village. Every day he goes into his barn, milks his cow (Märt Avandi) – spraying milk straight from the udder into the jars of paying customer. However, when his three grandchildren Aino (Lehemaa), Mart and Priidik (Mägi) visit from the city for the summer the cow is quickly set loose when they believe their grandfather is abusing it. It’s only in the morning that they’re told that if a cow isn’t milked the milk stores in the udder until it explodes. The group are rushed onto a tractor (minus Mart who’s unknowingly left behind to come up with an invention to get milk from other animals) and power into the forest where they hope to find the cow before it’s too late.

Yet, whilst racing against time the family are also trying to get to the key animal before Old Milker (Jan Uuspõld), not only a villain with a fantastically drawn out evil laugh but also a former milker who encountered this exact problem many years before and has since been more milk than man. Determined not to allow this to happen again he’s set on killing the cow before a disastrous lactopalypse. The gags throughout are fitting to a film with a narrative as silly as this, but it’s clear that the creatives are taking the silliness seriously. Crudity isn’t there just for the sake of crudity (and there’s a fair deal of it in the short 88-minute run-time) and you can see that, amongst the feeling that the filmmakers enjoyed putting the jokes together, there was a seriousness to the scripting process and putting things together for the finished product.

Gags come thick and fast with gradual increments expanding upon certain jokes and points. Stages of jokes acting as continuing yet new points and each getting a response; there are plenty of laughs and giggles to be found here. This is a film designed to be silly and to simply make the audience laugh, and it certainly succeeds in doing so. The madness is made clear from the start and it’s easy to engage with it from the opening prologue of a public information film about milk. Yes, maybe the final 15 minutes may be a bit long-winded, but there’s still plenty to amuse and entertain within the madcap ideas which are spun. Imagine a film which has the word Lactopalypse in the title. The Old Man Movie is that film. And it’s wonderfully bonkers.

Perhaps the maddest animated film since A Town Called Panic, The Old Man Movie: Lactopalypse is a gloriously silly film with plenty of laughs, which themselves have clearly been taken seriously by creatives who appear to have had a great time making this absurd delight.

Release Date – 19th May 2023, Cert – 15, Run-time – 2 hours 58 minutes, Director – Ari Aster

After learning of his mother’s (Patti LuPone) passing Beau (Joaquin Phoenix) must leave his flat to return home as quickly as possible, however along the way his anxiety is the least of his troubles.

For the first hour of writer-director Ari Aster’s Beau Is Afraid we’re firmly in Beau Wassermann’s (Joaquin Phoenix) mind. A realm of anxiety perhaps overemphasising the world around him. The street he lives on, whilst holding street performers and food vendors, houses fights, eye-gougings, knife fights, murders, drive-bys and more, for him it’s a constant source of worry and panic. The early events feel like if a Charlie Kaufman script met a pessimistic Wes Anderson with plenty of bizarre yet enjoyable situations occurring. While it’s easy to see the drama in the fantastical lengths of the central character’s anxiety there’s plenty of opportunity for comedy to be found in the exact same elements.

On discovering that his mother (Patti LuPone) has passed away Beau must risk leaving his flat to get back home as quickly as possible. He’s told on the phone by someone close to her that everyone is waiting for him, the guilt settles in further when he’s told “every minute that we wait adds to the humiliation”. However, it’s a long road to get there with much worse events and happenings than his frequently panicking mind could conjure up. The fantastical nature begins to fade with the feeling of anxiety alongside it (Aster manages to capture anxiety without pushing it on to the audience with worry and tension like in a Safdie brothers feature).

Instead, as Beau finds himself confronting both the world around him and his relationship with his mother – which we briefly see him hesitantly discussing with his therapist (Stephen McKinley Henderson) at the start of the film – we see a handful of flashbacks to his past. It’s such moments, alongside a lengthy not-quite-dream sequence, that provide the film with it’s almost three hour run-time. As a whole it doesn’t feel overly lengthy – although it’s apparent that a good few minutes could be trimmed off from the longer elements, and perhaps some situations altogether – but you do question the relevance of such moments at times, particularly the more they go on. It feels as if the film is trying to say something or get somewhere but is trying to build-up to something so in the distance that it never quite includes the right details.

As Beau progresses on his journey he meets various figures from a family who take him in (played by Amy Smart, Nathan Lane and Kylie Rogers) – a set of events which eventually feel as if they go a bit overboard in the final stages – a set of performing travellers (primarily one played by Hayley Squires) and more. Each section feels different in style and feels as if it drifts away from the initial structuring and direction. Not to say that everything should be like the first hour in Beau’s world of familiarity; although some of the most engaging content lies here. More that things feel as if the more they move away from this the more the film as a whole begins to lose itself.

Elements of strangeness come back into play but they never quite have the same feeling as beforehand and instead leave you slightly baffled as to what is going on. Events are drawn out further in the third act where you’re largely led by slight interest over engagement. There are still certain points to like (Phoenix is, as you would expect, very good in the lead role, particularly in the way his character holds himself) and enough to generally keep you going, however, as mentioned, the events begin to get lost in themselves as things change quite considerably from what has come beforehand; admittedly with some developments. What starts off as an engaging, and rather entertaining, world of chaos and anxiety from the central character’s perspective begins to slide away from itself into something increasingly tangled up and less clear as to where it’s going or what it’s doing.

Starting off with an engaging and creative style Beau Is Afraid begins to lose itself with each new stylistic change and diversion. There may still be interest in where it’s going to go but it’s certainly not always clear as to what it’s trying to say or doing in sequences where the narrative drifts away.

Release Date – 19th May 2023, Cert – PG, Run-time – 1 hour 46 minutes, Director – Kelly Fremon Craig

After moving from the city to the suburbs 11-year-old Margaret (Abby Ryder Fortson) tries to work out who she really is, whilst trying her best to grow up as fast as possible in the wake of adolescence.

“It gets tiring trying so hard all the time, doesn’t it?” Barbara (Rachel McAdams) partially asks herself as she cuddle up to her daughter after a particularly stressful set of events. “Yeah” 11-year-old Margaret (Abby Ryder Fortson) sighs, exhausted from trying to grow up as fast as possible. While all her friends seem to have already had their first period and the exercises she tries to go up a bra size (“I must, I must, I must increase my bust!” she chants) don’t work she’s also trying to work out just who she is. Since moving from New York City to the New Jersey suburbs everything has changed, particularly as she’s on the verge of adolescence.

Director Kelly Fremon Craig’s capturing of the American suburbs gets across the everyday nature of the story at hand. By keeping the events in 1970 (the year Judy Blume’s novel of the same name, on which the film is based, was published) a timelessness – referenced in much of the advertising – is established to the events and feelings brought up throughout. Much of this extends a hand to the audience, old and young (particularly those of Margaret’s age), and brings them in to the various tales which are being told over the course of the year the film covers.

The humour of some of the ideas presented, such as the ways in which Margaret and her friends seem to be in a rush to grow up or the awkwardness of learning about the changing body via a presentation at school, is effectively contrasted with the dramas on display. From the different reactions to first periods to rumours about the girl at school (Isol Young) who started to go through everything much earlier than everyone else. Meanwhile, Barbara worries about making her house look as perfect as possible, the living room goes without any chairs or a sofa for months as she tries to find the right one, while she begins to miss the art which she focused on teaching classes before moving. Yet, perhaps the most emotional point for her is the relationship she has with her parents – who she hasn’t spoken to since they disapproved of her marrying a Jewish man (Benny Safdie). It’s a strand which, helped by the natural subtleties of McAdams’ wonderfully understated performance, sticks the landing every time it’s brought up.

McAdams relationship with Fortson is a frequently touching one, particularly when it comes to the quiet mum-daughter bonding scenes, especially towards the end of the film. There’s a believable bond between the pair which contrasts with the louder, still caring, relationship Margaret has with her grandmother (Kathy Bates) who adores her granddaughter, showing her off when they go to Temple – not knowing that Margaret is trying to work out whether she’s Jewish or Christian. There’s a tenderness to such relationships, especially mum and daughter, marking a clear difference to those which are present at school and elsewhere in Margaret’s life. It’s all part of the nature of growing up which Craig’s film so effectively captures with tones of humour and, most importantly, understanding.

While acknowledging humour and a sense of awkwardness Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is a clearly tender and thoughtful depiction of the everyday trials of growing up from the female perspective. Helped by great performances from Fortson and McAdams it welcomes you in for a rather unique piece of work.

Release Date – 12th May 2023, Cert – 12, Run-time – 2 hours 27 minutes, Directors – Felix van Groeningen, Charlotte Vandermeersch

Over multiple decades growing up separately in the city and countryside childhood friends Pietro (Luca Marinelli) and Bruno (Alessandro Borghi) keep returning to the peace of the Italian alps.

There’s a sense of peace and calm in the silences of The Eight Mountains. The quiet isn’t used to emphasise something which has come beforehand or to make a point, it’s simply used as what it is. Silence. Nothing needs to be said between the two central friends at the heart of the film. They’re happy enough in each other’s company and, assisted by the surroundings of the Italian alps. This isn’t to say that the moments of silence don’t add to anything, at times they feel like moments of deeper reflection within the narrator’s mind.

An adult Pietro (Luca Marinelli) guides us through the events of the film from childhood summers in the countryside where he first meets farmworker Bruno (Allessandro Borghi) to continued meetings in adulthood in the same location (Lupo Barbiero and Cristiano Sassella on childhood duties for the pair respectively). The box-like aspect ratio brings to mind the feeling of old polaroids being looked at, each one continuing the story. The frequent use of Daniel Norgren tracks acting as the one nostalgic record from the holiday cottage taking him further back to those days. Days which span decades of a closely-bonded friendship.

The pair develop distant relationships with the father figures in their lives – eventually leading to a key emotional sequence of discovery in the later stages of the piece. Yet, there’s a close male bond between them creating for a gentle friendship throughout. They may change themselves as they grow up (in a believable, natural way) yet despite time jumps we know they’re the same people thanks to their relationship. After having not seen each other for years they plan to rebuild a house together on the mountains. “This is our summer house, where we’ll see each other every year” Pietro says, almost demanding a promise from his friend. In a similar vein you genuinely believe him when he assures over the phone “I’ll be on my way as fast as I can”.

At two-and-a-half hours you never question the film’s run-time or where it’s going. The pacing, like the central relationship, is relaxed and guides you along with ease as you’re given time to drink in both the stunning surroundings (the natural environment is truly amazing to look at) and the places we see the core pair go in their own lives – largely led by Pietro’s perspective – in the brief gaps between when they next see each other and return to the mountain just up from where Bruno lives and works. Both characters have their wants for where they want life to take them, although occasionally question the course and themselves, adding to the natural progression of life that the film charts.

You stay with it because of just how much you buy into the care and love that Pietro and Bruno have for each other. Brought about through the performances and the scripting of their various meetings over the years there’s a lot to be caught by as the events play out amongst the well-captured scenery and landscapes. The silence in the safety and security of the alps is pure silence marking a true place of escape, yet one where there is confrontation of past relationships with other men in the character’s lives. There are a handful of different male relationships on display, yet the core focus is that of a calm, gentle friendship guiding the film and making for rather moments of genuine profundity throughout.

The central performances mix with the gentleness of The Eight Mountains to make for an engaging depiction of male friendship amongst the effective dramas of the central pairs lives. Like looking back on old photograph memories with stunning scenery it’s a truly compelling piece of work.

Cert – 12, Run-time – 2 hours 30 minutes, Director – James Gunn

In order to save the life of Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), the Guardians pull themselves from loss and fracture to find the data which could save him, leading them to his creator (Chukwudi Iwuji), still intent on creating the perfect animal society.

Come And Get Your Love, Mr Blue Sky, Creep. The latter track, by Radiohead, stands out as a slower, more sombre song in this list and more so in the opening to James Gunn’s Guardians Of The Galaxy trilogy closer. The titular team are in a state of disarray. Lost and fractured while they may have gone up in the universe – now with an HQ based in celestial head Knowhere – their team feels close to disbanding, with arguments and misunderstandings between the group rising.

The effects show most of all when they’re attacked by superpowered Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), seeking to take Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) back to his creator, the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji). After Rocket is injured in the attack the Guardians must pull themselves together to save their friend. With just 48 hours on the clock they need to find the information which could save Rocket from the organisation which funded his creation, stepping close to the High Evolutionary with each event.

It’s as we actually get on to this course that the film properly picks up its pace. The Guardians that many have come to recognise and enjoy over the last nine years are very much still present, but in their initial uncertain state in the opening stages of this particular venture things feel somewhat gradual. We’ve certainly known there to be serious points of drama and personal tragedy in each of the character’s lives, mixed in with the humour and sci-fi action of the films, but with the direct fractures of the relationships dealt with in a serious manner there’s almost a hesitancy to initially engage with them as they appear slightly differently.

Yet, as the narrative develops we’re back to familiar terrain and once engaged you’re very much there for the rest of the ride in true Guardians fashion. While focusing on Rocket in flashbacks to shortly after he was ‘created’ by the High Evolutionary – such scenes working best when dealing with him and his aims to create the perfect society on an alternative to Earth, “be not as you are but as you should be” – writer-director Gunn knows how to involve all of the characters and their various personalities and traits into the rest of the story. Chris Pratt’s Star Lord may still be posed as the captain but this is undeniably a team effort with good performances put in by all, successfully avoiding a tone of saying goodbye to the characters.

Alongside this the world and the various bursts of colour throughout it make a welcome return as the visual style remains strong. Both in terms of make-up and prosthetics and the visual effects throughout. They simply bring to life the various planets and locations which we visit and the action which unfolds within them. Action which manages to have its layer of tension alongside the entertainment factor, especially in the third act and the climactic set-pieces which occur as part of it when the present day take of the villain is put more into focus, after having largely been progressed towards in the build-up with other people (such as Gwendoline Christie’s returning Ayesha from Vol. 2 and Poulter’s otherwise sidelined Adam Warlock) doing his work for him.

Yet, this is a film very much about (as the title might suggest) the Guardians Of The Galaxy. There may be turbulence in their relationship to start with, but as the narrative takes form so do they getting back into the swing of things with another engaging, entertaining sci-fi action-adventure. The bond between the cast, and indeed James Gunn who has clearly held these characters close for well beyond the span of these films, pushes the ideas at play as the team once again learn to embrace each other, and themselves. The tagline “once more with feeling” is certainly lived up to, without an overbearing sentimentality and feeling of goodbye wrung dry throughout.

It may take some time to fully engage with the film as it gradually brings the Guardians back together from fracture, but Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3. moves along with effective pace once its narrative arc truly begins. With strong visuals and performances there’s a reason this team are so successful and it’s down to the care and bond that’s put into them, both on fine display here.

Release Date – TBC, Cert – N/A, Run-time – 1 hour 21 minutes, Directors – Nick Read, Ayşe Toprak

After just surviving a shooting, singer Mutlu Kaya turns to a life of activism, trying to combat the rising rates of femicide in Turkey and around the world.

My Name Is Happy makes no hesitation in emphasising just what was taken away from it’s central focus. At the age of 19 Mutlu Kaya was whisked from her small Kurdish town to Istanbul to appear on a major talent show. Her singing received masses of praise and she was ready to go through to the finals. However, much of this was brought to a shuddering halt when the man she turned a proposal down from shot her in the head, claiming if he couldn’t have her no one could, especially the country through their TV.

Mutlu only just survived the shooting, with the bullet permanently lodged in her brain. Directors Nick Read and Ayşe Toprak follow her as she rebuilds herself and takes to the streets to challenge the rising rates of femicide both in Turkey and around the world. Where the film best succeeds is in the fact that it truly does focus on Mutlu. It brings a sense of hope to the proceedings through this. Yes, there may be the elements of emotion from family members, who certainly contribute effectively to the piece through their interview segments, but the focus is largely on Mutlu and how she develops over time.

Taking to social media and interviewing people about femicide on TikTok you can see her passion increase. In hand the film’s does too as it captures her spirit and uses it as something of a driving force, particularly in the final 20-25 minutes when a more personal angle comes through in this already personal portrait. To call back to the lack of hesitancy the film makes sure to deliver its points in the 81 well-paced minutes and proves its effect through a shocked and riled feeling at the closing text. A haunting nature returns, one first present when Mutlu talks about her attacker, referring to him as a “monster”, getting across the still-present fear.

Engagement comes from the interest in both Mutlu’s progression, as occasionally observed and expressed by those around her, and what she has to say. Her opening words (including mention that her name means ‘happy’), and indeed a number of things she says throughout, are particularly striking and bring you in to feel more a part of the piece. There was a point when I thought this review might have largely been made up of quotes, particularly from the early stages of the film, it’s of course these which create the most insight and perhaps the initial engagement with the film. Bringing you in and taking you along for the quickly moving journey, well contained within its short run-time and making sure to get across its points in that time.

Well put together with a good deal of effect throughout its short run-time, My Name Is Happy engages you through its fixed focus on central figure Mutlu, rarely breaking away from her. There’s an interesting piece of work here, largely thanks to the tone of the depictions throughout.

Cert – 12, Run-time – 1 hour 48 minutes, Director – Hettie Macdonald

When a former colleague (Linda Bassett) writes saying she’s in a hospice with cancer, pensioner Harold Fry (Jim Broadbent) decides to walk nearly 500 miles, confronting his own past along the way, to reach her.

“I’m just going to the post box” Harold Fry (Jim Broadbent) assures his wife, Maureen (Penelope Wilton), after receiving a letter from a former colleague that morning. Harold has heard nothing from Queenie Hennessy (Linda Bassett) for years until she reveals that she’s in a hospice, dying from cancer. Thinking over his response he passes the post box, and many others on the way into town, eventually wandering into a petrol station shop and being told by the young woman (Nina Singh) behind the counter that her hope and belief that her aunt would get better when she had cancer helped her along. Determined to do more than just send a letter of condolence Harold sets off there and then on an almost 500 mile journey from south Devon to Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Meanwhile, his wife calls around the house and looks out on the driveway wondering where he’s got to. Her response is less one of worry and more one of frustration, it seems that they’re relationship hasn’t exactly been a close one for some time – cooped up in their rather empty, aside from one or two small decorations, home. As Harold walks (and considering how much walking there is in this film much of it avoids blandness) various elements of his past come to the fore. He says he’s not going to fail his friend again, and occasionally talks about how he believes he failed his son (Earl Cave) who it’s revealed passed away after a drug addiction. In many ways the further he walks the more Harold thinks about his past and the various relationships which have fallen apart throughout it.

These stories are often told through very brief flashbacks amongst everything else, meaning that they never quite have the time they might need causing them to not quite stick the landing. To people of various backgrounds all going through their own troubles. In a film that doesn’t embrace subtlety there are various instances where it’s made clear that even immigrants and gay people have their own personal struggles, but are also kind and helpful towards Harold in his journey without even knowing why he’s travelling. The latter instance scripted and performed as if it’s come straight out of the 1970s (it wouldn’t feel out of place in a Carry On film).

Yet, there’s something about the generally quaint, British tone of the film which keeps it moving. Yes, it might not be overly subtle and might struggle to cover everything it wants to, but there’s a watchable, likable enough nature to it; helped along by Broadbent’s central performance, and indeed Wilton’s turn which effectively lifts up her character’s cut-to moments. It’s something best captured in those aforementioned moments of walking. Harold on his own with his thoughts and determination, “I shall keep walking and she must keep living” he asserts.

There’s something about this tone, and in some parts the mild-mannered nature of the central character, which keeps things moving and creates much of the engagement for the 108 minute run-time. There may be some bumps which are truly revealed in the latter segments as the film stumbles due to not having delved much into the central character’s past beforehand. Yet, things still remain watchable thanks to the restrained British nature of the film, and perhaps the fact that the events themselves kick off very quickly. The tone and central performances are enough to lift things up and help them along through the occasionally bumpy terrain travelled along.

The flashbacks may not quite delve beyond the basics of the central character’s past, causing issues late into the film, but there’s enough to like about The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry’s quaint British tone to make it largely decent enough viewing for the time it’s on.

Cert – PG/ Recommended for ages 6+, Run-time – 1 hour 46 minutes, Director – David Lowery

Soon to be sent to boarding school Wendy (Ever Anderson) fears that she’s growing up, only to be flown, via the magic of pixie dust, to Neverland where Peter Pan (Alexander Molony) takes on anyone who grows up, especially pirate Captain Hook (Jude Law).

David Lowery’s 2016 take on Pete’s Dragon is perhaps the best Disney live-action remake to date. Perhaps it’s because with lesser-seen initial material there was more opportunity to take it in a different direction and do something more fresh than with other features – particularly those inside Disney’s ‘Animated Classics’/ Walt Disney Animation Studios branch and label. Returning with another adaptation in the form of Peter Pan And Wendy Lowery’s fingerprints are very much over the directorial and visual style of the film. There’s a personality to it that comes through a number of times in the generally contained narrative.

Where Lowery’s identity comes through less is in those moments where it feels as if the Disney reins are being pulled in. Not so much as with Guy Ritchie’s Aladdin (where you could feel Ritchie wanting to make a darker film than Disney would allow) but still enough to make something of a clear alternation between director and studio every now and then. Perhaps this is less down to the studio and more down to the fact that there’s a strong familiarity with the story, or in this case rather idea, of Peter Pan meaning that there’s a feeling of safety within the events. While there may be some new interpretations and directions (again, the way the narrative is contained and goes from one event to the next is well-handled and the general flow is effective) as a whole it still has many of the standard, recognisable elements of a story about the boy who never grew up.

However, this, as the title so clearly states, isn’t just the story of Peter Pan. This is Peter Pan and Wendy. Wendy Darling (Ever Anderson) is the push of the film as she fears growing up due to the looming presence of boarding school. On hearing her worries Peter Pan (Alexander Molony) flies in through the window and takes her and her two brothers, John (Joshua Pickering) and Michael (Jacobi Jupe), via the magic of pixie dust (Yara Shahidi is on likable Tinker Bell duty) on a flight to Neverland.

While not always dealing with it there is a more upfront dealing with the idea of growing up here than in other adaptations of this story. Pan doesn’t entirely fear or worry about the prospect, but certainly takes against anyone who dares to do so, especially pirate Captain Hook (Jude Law seemingly having a good time hamming it up as the villain). Whilst surrounded by a world of semi-imagination and the idea of clinging onto childhood ideas – particularly when with the Lost Boys – Wendy herself confronts whether she has already grown up, and what points of childhood she can cling on to (is it really all that bad?).

There are some nice ideas which don’t always entirely come through, largely as we jump back to the pirates and what they’re up to before Pan and co come back in to save the day (with Peter himself not feeling overly present for good chunks of the film’s run-time). These ideas, and indeed simply some of the camerawork and capturing the landscape, are where Lowery (alongside co-writer Toby Halbrooks) shows his style the most and brings an identity to this particular Disney ‘reimagining’ that isn’t as present in many of the others (even if they have turned out to be good). Yet, the familiarity with a number of the key ideas, and the occasional feeling of the, albeit not-as-tightly-held, Disney reins being pulled in dampen the proceedings stopping the film from ever truly taking flight in its world of not growing up and imagination.

David Lowery’s visual style and directorial flair help to bring a feeling of personality to Peter Pan And Wendy, helping to occasionally push the conflicted feelings of not growing up within the latter’s mind. However, a mix of familiarity with the key elements and the feeling of some studio notes or influence cause some points to never truly be given the time they need.

Release Date – 28th April 2023, Cert – 12, Run-time – 1 hour 44 minutes, Director – Nida Manzoor

Teenager Ria (Priya Kansara) believes that her older sister Lena (Ritu Arya) is changing for the worse, and forgetting her passions, as she prepares to marry short-term boyfriend Salim (Akshay Khanna) in a wedding which Ria is determined to stop.

Much of Polite Society’s sharpness comes from its style. The way the fight scenes add explosive bursts of energy to the distinct lines of a colourful British comedy. This is a film with an identity. There are familiar tones and elements (in that aforementioned British vein) but there’s plenty of energy and creativity on display to make for a highly engaging piece of work hopefully on course to become a notable British title.

Teenager Ria (Priya Kansara) aspires to be a stuntwoman, making videos for YouTube displaying her skills. She works with her older sister, art school dropout Lena (Ritu Arya), on these. There’s a great chemistry between the pair as they train and party together while their parents (Shobu Kapoor, Jeff Mirza) are out of the house. However, their bond begins to fade when Lena begins a relationship with wealthy doctor Salim (Akshay Khanna). Ria believes that her sister is becoming a different person, forgetting her art and who she was before the relationship, and when the couple quickly announce their engagement she sets out to break them up. But how can she take down a man who seems so spotless?

Helping her she has best friends Clara (Seraphina Beh) and Alba (Ella Bruccoleri), making for three personalities who truly capture the feeling of an excellent friendship. Not quite the ‘weird’ kids but not amongst the popular crowd they’re slightly at a distance from the other crowds at school. The trio’s performances and chemistry bring about a number of laughs and just a highly enjoyable friendship group to truly liven up the scheming and plan execution on display. The humour comes through with ease thanks to the featured personalities and the clear effort that has gone into the screenplay from writer-director Nida Manzoor; a rapidly rising British talent following on from her acclaimed TV series We Are Lady Parts.

Amongst the humour there’s plenty of action on display. The fight scenes are well choreographed to embrace martial arts films of the past with grounded contexts and settings to allow for the drama to come through. Particularly when it comes to the threat at hand. There are some truly dark moments dotted throughout, especially when it comes to Ria’s interactions with Salim’s mother (Nimra Bucha) who creates genuine tension through her performance. Even if Ria is being constantly disproved with her increasingly dangerous attempts to prove Salim’s disguised intentions the film does a good job of posing Bucha’s Raheela as a consistent antagonist.

The blend of genres all adds to the overall style which the film wears throughout. Everything comes together to create a highly enjoyable piece of work hopefully destined to have legs beyond its initial release. The strong chemistry between the characters helps to heighten the events which take place and connects you more to the action, which itself adds flair to the overall piece feeling a strong part of it even when it might feel (effectively) tonally different. It all comes together to make for a very entertaining film that knows exactly how to work its originality into the narrative to strengthen itself. 2023 is shaping up as an excellent year for British films, and emerging British talent.

Funny, smart and effectively blending influences Polite Society is a highly entertaining piece of work showcasing a great deal of British talent with shedloads of chemistry both in front of and behind the camera.