‘Sister Midnight’ Review: Surreal Indian Comedy Swerves Into Genre Excess
variety.comSiddhant Adlakha Karan Kandhari‘s “Sister Midnight” is a surreal Mumbai fable with an aggressive comedic rhythm. It’s composed by hitting the same few notes ad nauseam, but hitting them exceptionally well and for much longer than one might expect before it eventually runs out of steam.
All the while, Kandhari takes a novel visual approach to the topic of arranged marriage, situating his woebegone couple — his protagonist in particular, a woman who feels trapped — in a realm of strange psychosis.
It’s better than it has any right to be, but not nearly as good as it should be. Uma (Radhika Apte) is brash, acerbic and vulgar.
Unable to cook or manage household expenses, she fulfills very few of the rigid expectations of a new Indian bride. When she arrives at her cramped new one-room apartment with her soft-spoken husband Gopal (Ashok Pathak) — an ostensible stranger — on their wedding night, the awkwardness between them is palpable.
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