The movies have been popping off recently. I cannot keep up with all of the releases in the past few weekends, there have been three or four new movies coming out each week, and it is hard to go to the movies more than once or twice a week on a normal weekend, but with Boston and Seneca Seven, it has been even harder to see all of the movies I want to, and if I hear even one good thing about a movie I was not planning on seeing, then I start to get stressed that I might be missing something good! Such a troubled life, I know. To top it all off, this weekend, they also rereleased Episode VI of Star Wars, which is my favorite of the original trilogy. So I started off the weekend by seeing Polite Society, because it fit into my schedule well on Friday.
Polite Society is a story of sisterhood. Ria, the younger sister, is still in high school, and she has aspirations of becoming a stunt woman, which goes against her Pakistani family’s wishes. The older sister, Lena, went off to art school, but she could not quite hack it, so she has returned home, and she is looking for her next step in life. Ria is lower on the totem poll in her school as far as being cool, but she has two best buds that always have her back and help her get into mischief, and when she goes home, Lena helps her make action videos, but this all starts to change when Salim comes into Lena’s life. Salim is a rich bachelor, and his mother is looking to find his perfect match. Lena falls for him, but as their relationship progresses Ria starts digging around, and she finds out some strange stuff about Salim and his family, but Lena does not believe Ria, but Ria is a good sister, and she keeps digging, and it all comes to a head at the wedding.
When I saw the trailer for this movie, I was into it immediately. I still do not know what to classify it as. It was like an action comedy, but the action was very tame. People have compared it to Scot Pilgrim v. the World. It does have that feel because the action is adolescent. There is not a lot of blood, and the action sequences are very arcade-like. They give the last names at the beginning of the fight in bright show time letters. It gives it a very cool fighting feel. The action was a little docile, even for a PG-13 movie, but when they got to the wedding, it was awesome.
One of the first action sequences that stuck out was between Ria and the school bully, and this took place in the library. It was an intense brawl with a ton of crowd support that was multi-level. The girls were wearing their school uniforms when this took place, but the ultimate battle at the end was different. In the last battle, Ria was in her Pakistani wedding garb. This was a beautiful flowing green dress, but it also had some jewelry with it, and the others she was fighting were also dressed in their formal wedding garb. So when she was doing her kicks and cartwheels, it looked amazing
The family has a great relationship in the film. Obviously, the sisters have the closest relationship, and they spend the most time together, but I honestly would have believed that they were actually sisters, that is how good of chemistry the two girls have with each other. Even the moms with their kids have great chemistry. They do an excellent job of showing off the family dynamic that we do not have in America. This movie took place in England, which I somehow missed during the previews, but their accents are ever present throughout, but I love the British accent, so to me, it made the movie even better.
It was also very girl power and culturally centered. The protagonist was a girl who wanted to become a stunt actress, despite her family wanting her to do basically anything else. Her family is Pakistani, so like other stories, her parents made the sacrifice for her, but she wants to chase after her own dream instead of theirs. The same goes for her sister Lena. Lena wanted to be an artist despite her parents, and when she fails, her parents are readily willing to encourage her to do anything else, but Ria still believes in her, because she believes if her older sister can break the mold and become an artist, then she can break the mold and become a stunt actress. So Ria was even more distraught when her sister decided she was just going to move to the other side of the world with Salim.
This is when the movie got really weird. Salim and his mother’s relationship to start with is very close, but in an uncomfortable manner. At fist, Lena does not seem to mind too much, but as their relationship progresses, she slowly starts to see that there is something more going on than she expected, but it does not convince her to not marry Salim. Then Ria does some more research, and she searches Salim’s house, and in the basement, she finds something surprising, but this time, she guards her knowledge, and instead of crying foul like she did the first time, she plots her timing to make more of a splash at the wedding.
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margret was also girl centered. It was the coming-of-age story of a girl, who was moved out of her comfort zone in New York, to the dreaded New Jersey. She had to leave her friends and her grandma behind to start anew. When she got to Jersey, she quickly became initiated with a group of girls, who became her friends, but it did not seem like the leader of the girl crew was quite what Margret was looking for in a friend. The girls are also going through puberty, and they are trying to find themselves all while their bodies are changing, and they have their awkward encounters with boys. It is a very heart-warming story, that will bring tears to your eyes, but it will also make you laugh.
There is also a very strong family connection between Margret and her parents, and her grandma, and everyone performs excellently in this. It would be easy for a younger actress’s performance to not live up to a story that is so revered, but Abby Ryder Fortson delivers a true adolescent depiction, and this is bolstered by Rachel McAdams playing the role of the mom, and the way the two of them play off each other was amazing. The whole family dynamic was incredible, and that is what made the emotion the movie created so palpable. With a lesser cast, there is no way that the emotional pull would have been this strong.
Both Are You There God? It’s Me, Margret, and Polite Society used their main girls as their narrators, but instead of having them give overarching exposition to the audience, they both did something more unique. In Polite Society, Ria was writing emails to her idol, some female stunt women, who was not responding, but she gave her regular updates on her life. Then in the other movie, Margret would pray to god, but not of one specific religion, just some omnipotent being that she hoped would help her, but her prayers were typically about asking god to help her fill her bra. The important thing for a tween.
So got out to the movies, and support female led and told stories! Polite Society should not have to be classified as a female action movie, it should just be an action movie, and the best way to take these modifiers away, is for people to go and see it, so that they make more of them and normalize it. Also, Margret tells a story that is relatable to all. Growing up through the tween stages is something that we all have done, and this Judy Blume adaptation does a great job of showing what it is like in a truly timeless manner. There was also a strong focus on Pakistani culture in Polite Society, and having movies represent all cultures is great, and seeing those films is an amazing way to learn more about other peoples’ culture. I recommend going to see both of these movies. I gave Polite Society 3 Stars and Are You There God? It’s Me, Margret 3.5 Stars.
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