Written and directed by Karan Kandhari, a newly arranged marriage. An oddball couple shoved together in a small Mumbai shack with paper-thin walls. Unpredictable Uma does her best to cope with the heat, her total lack of domestic skills, nosy neighbours and her bumbling spouse until the nocturnal world of Bombay and its inhabitants lead her to face her own strange behaviours. Starring: Radhika Apte, Ashok Pathak, Chhaya Kadam, Smita Tambe, Navya Sawant, Dev Raaz and Chaitanya Solankar.
Kicking things off on an unusual note, Karan Kandhari gives audiences a tiny hint of what’s to come but you’d probably never guess quite how odd things are going to get in Sister Midnight. Something to be grateful for as it is a joyous surprise to watch this film take all sorts of weird and wonderful paths. The tone that Kandhari strikes is one with such honesty and bluntness which feels uncommon within this traditional, small community setting. He brings through a feminist edge which is enthralling because Uma (Radhika Apte) is such an unexpectedly intense character.
Kandhari gives Uma such a fervour for not necessarily life but avoidance of boredom and monotony, she’s not willing to be quietly unhappy, and rightly so. It’s almost along similar lines of Nightbitch but with marriage instead of motherhood. One of the qualities that makes Sister Midnight absorbing is how it mixes a darkness with Wes Anderson style comedy. There’s a farcical, silly edge to it which when blended with the intensity and somewhat macabre veins to the story makes for a unique and highly memorable combination.
The Anderson reference particularly comes to mind with the visual stylings of Sister Midnight and how it moves with a lot of quirky personality. The cinematography (by Sverre Sørdal) is terrific and really brings the vibrancy and individuality of Kandhari’s direction to life. There’s a great deal of confidence injected into its story of being clueless and bumbling through newly married life which is again, another excellent contrasted combination. The only weaknesses are in the latter half of the film, the pacing loses a bit of its zip, and the comedy starts to fizzle out.
Although something which absolutely does not fizzle is the performance from Radhika Apte, she is remarkable in this role. You have to imagine she had a blast making Sister Midnight because that’s what it feels like watching her. She gives Uma such a distinctive personality, she’s refreshingly open and entirely unstoppable. Whereas Ashok Pathak’s Gopal is deathly shy but creates this fascinating evolution. The way that Pathak slowly develops this character and brings out the sweetness and care which lies buried beneath his hesitancy is brilliant.
The two of them are superb together and watching their relationship develop in the most messy, strange way is hugely enjoyable. The ensemble behind them is equally great, even the smallest parts all add to Sister Midnight. They really feed into that quirky side to the film, adding in a massive variety of personalities to create different bumps, obstacles or warm moments to the story.
Sister Midnight is striking and unique, it’s built with imagination and creativity to develop a story that’s unexpected and shot with a lot of style. Karan Kandhari injects this film with such an unusual energy, it has the gripping urgency and intensity of a thriller while the story plays out as an odd comedy. Radhika Apte gives an incredible performance, this plot throws a lot of strange challenges at her and she excels at all of them. It’s a delightfully unpredictable and entertaining film.
FilmCarnage.com 