Editor’s Word: This evaluation was initially printed throughout AFI Fest 2024. Magnet Releasing opens “Sister Midnight” in theaters Friday, Might 23, 2025.
A lady sits alone in a darkish room, staring on the wall in entrance of her. Days go by; the paltry daylight shifts right here and there, her outfit modifications, but her boring demeanor stays. She spills some rice, provides some crops, ultimately makes area for a mop and bucket. On and on and on.
That is an correct abstract of Karan Kandari’s “Sister Midnight,” however one which’s additionally woefully incomplete. The remaining must be saved for seeing it your self, to realize some context for what retains the girl in that room, for the various birds (and the goat), and for the place Chhaya Kadam from “Laapataa Girls” suits in.
Kandhari wrote and directed the movie about Uma (Radhika Apte), a girl who strikes to Mumbai after marrying husband Gopal (Ashok Pathak) and finds her life sucked dry of any and all pleasure. She spends her days largely cooped up of their one-room rowhouse (wall-to-wall with the neighbors), tired of home labor and intimidated by the sprawling metropolis outdoors. She resents Gopal from the second they arrive, losing little time earlier than voicing it aloud and hurling curses at him. As Uma tries to assert her independence, she begins to expertise signs of a mysterious sickness that received’t go away.
Apte, in her decade or so of breakout roles, has turn out to be the type of actor whose title is all however synonymous with intriguing and immaculate work (seeing her face on a nonetheless was all it took for this reporter to immediately conform to a evaluation). She’s working at one other degree in “Sister Midnight,” commanding one solo scene after one other, usually with out dialogue and with bodily motion and comedy. This isn’t the type of movie the place characters have wealthy backstories, pursuits, and even final names, so she and Kandari discover alternative ways to acquaint Uma with the viewers, conveying her frustration, need, confusion, and rage in a full and wonderful exploration of cinema.
With minimal dialogue, Sverre Sørdal’s cinematography turns into one of many movie’s main languages, speaking emotional peaks and valleys in addition to a fair proportion of punchlines. A fast pan to and from Apte’s face telegraphs her state of affairs with most efficacy. The digital camera luxuriates in centering her body, usually staring straight if not simply barely off from the lens — bucking pictures pointers in favor of one thing that matches the movie’s darkish humor. Uma is repeatedly framed with a mixture of mild and shadow, half of her face seen and the opposite obscured; there’s thematic weight to this selection, but additionally: it simply seems to be cool.
The identical goes for Napoleon Stratogiannakis’s enhancing, Shruti Gupte’s manufacturing design, Paul Banks’ music, and extra; “Sister Midnight” quietly rebels in opposition to the arbitrary guidelines of filmmaking to create one thing supremely confident in voice and elegance. The movie is each masterfully unadorned and wholly authentic, steering ahead confidently beneath Kandari’s steerage. It’s a film greatest seen with completely no primer, a scrumptious little journey with a humorous — and human — coronary heart.
Grade: B+
“Sister Midnight” shall be launched by means of Magnolia Photos’ Magnet Releasing on Friday, Might 23, 2025.
Need to keep updated on IndieWire’s movie evaluations and important ideas? Subscribe right here to our newly launched e-newsletter, In Evaluate by David Ehrlich, by which our Chief Movie Critic and Head Opinions Editor rounds up the perfect evaluations, streaming picks, and provides some new musings, all solely accessible to subscribers.