Sister Midnight, 2025.
Written and Directed by Karan Kandhari.
Starring Radhika Apte, Ashok Pathak, Chhaya Kadam, Smita Tambe, Navya Sawant, Dev Raaz, Chaitanya Solankar, Suhaas Ahuja, Masashi Fujimoto, and Daemian Greaves.
SYNOPSIS:
A genre-bending comedy about a frustrated and misanthropic newlywed who discovers certain feral impulses that land her in unlikely situations.
What begins as a deadpan comedic take on an arranged marriage in Mumbai gradually transitions into something far weirder and practically impossible to categorize or box into a genre. Such audacious pivots are generally rewarding, typically because Sister Midnight writer/director Karan Kandhari (drawing influence from Wes Anderson) presents the marital bickering and the subsequent surrealist aspects within that same dry presentation, which also gives lead Radhika Apte more freedom to stand out while playing out her character’s eccentric mood and behavior swings. The excellent performance also goes beyond that, as she gives numerous amusing reactions to stop-motion animated beings (I’d rather not spoil), serving as an equally funny and enigmatic reminder of her questionable actions.
That’s a vague takeaway, but the oddball turns of Sister Midnight should be left for the viewer to discover. To clarify, the film is also compelling even before that shift, as Radhika Apte’s Uma is no ordinary arranged wife. She speaks her mind unfiltered in such a manner that would make most of the usually conservative arranged marriage husbands either frustrated or insecure that their sailor’s mouth would never be able to top hers. At one point, she tells someone off by suggesting that they “go **** a shovel”, while continually pushing back against whatever is traditionally expected of her gender role and behavior.
It’s also not that her husband, Gopal (Ashok Pathak), is irrationally angry, abusive, offensive, or particularly nasty in any way; he is also somewhat helpless, pretending to go out drinking with “the guys” only to reveal that he is alone. He also goes far out of his way to avoid any sexual intimacy with Uma, not solely as a sign of respect that they barely know each other (they were childhood friends for a while when they were eight), but more because he is endlessly awkward at relationships, period. Gopal also works throughout the day, leaving Uma at home to do mundane tasks such as cooking, which she has no idea how to do and no real desire to learn, even if the neighbors try giving lessons.
Suddenly, illness befalls Uma, and that’s all that should be said. This illness (in addition to taking an evening job) keeps Uma out late at night, dabbling in supernatural characteristics, but without the film ever explicitly placing that label on it. Whether one wants to refer to the movie inside that sub-genre would be a matter of perspective.
Nevertheless, such curious nighttime adventures are exquisitely framed by cinematographer Sverre Sørdal, stunningly using shadows and silhouettes. The daytime photography of Mumbai is also appealing, walking a line between a cluttered messiness similar to her claustrophobic shack-like home and something with much more space and surface-level freedom. Again, the stop-motion animation flourishes add another layer of visual flair and quirkiness that fits how off-the-rails this experience becomes. The Americanized soundtrack also goes against expectations, adding some liveliness to the proceedings.
However, since pushing the boundaries of weirdness, somewhat still in service of a character study centered on identity, role, and personal fulfillment, there isn’t much room for Sister Midnight to resonate emotionally or for these dynamics to feel complex. During the latter stretch, it threatens to get lost in that weirdness entirely, but generally stays afloat due to the committed expressive turn from Radhika Apte, whether she is slinging around insult retorts or reacting to the madness around her and behavior consuming her.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association, Critics Choice Association, and Online Film Critics Society. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews and follow my BlueSky or Letterboxd
