Culture Watch: Sister Midnight

Written and directed by Karan Kandhari, Sister Midnight gives us the story of Uma (Radhika Apte).

Uma has just married Gopal (Ashok Pathak). It was an arranged marriage - they'd only previously met briefly as children. Uma moves in with Gopal and tries to figure out how to navigate married life in an unfamiliar community.

It's a relatively straightforward jumping off point, but Kandhari takes an ambitious approach and throws a lot of ideas into mix.

The result is a bit of a confusing mess.

On the positive side, Radhika Apte is a compelling performer who holds our attention as her world unravels. There's an interesting use of music - the soundtrack often providing a counterpoint to what's happening on screen. The film gives us a glimpse into aspects of day-to-day life in urban India.

On the negative side, it's really not clear what Kandhari is trying to say with this movie. It feels like some kind of parable about female empowerment and emancipation, but if that was the intention it requires the audience to do a lot of work to join all of the dots.

Regardless, Kandhari seems to be a filmmaker worth watching - this is his first major production. It's always better to have too many ideas than not enough.