Uma’s eccentric actions stem primarily from hunger. Hunger to be seen and valued; hunger for connection, friendship, love, and sex; hunger to feel at home in a city that is as strange to her as her spouse and neighbors. Of course, there is literal hunger, too, just not for food (wink, wink). Kandhari turns Mumbai into a spectacular canvas for Uma’s quarter-life crisis, capturing its beautiful locations, sounds, and people to reflect on how they slowly change her. Apte’s unflinching performance is easy to get lost in as the actor herself disappears completely in Uma’s darkly comedic personality. Apte has always been a remarkable performer (check out Monica, O My Darling, Lust Stories, and Raat Akeli Hai on Netflix), but this is easily her career-best performance.
I should admit that Sister Midnight‘s pitch-perfect 90 minutes or so start to crumble after that. The movie goes on for at least 20 minutes longer than it needs to, with the plot losing steam by the end. But it doesn’t take away from what is a refreshing take on South Asian clichés, presented in an aesthetically pleasing manner, with excellent needle drops to boot. The movie, which earned Kandhari a BAFTA nomination this year, is available to rent on various platforms.
Mary Kate Carr: The works of Annabel Monaghan
If you’re in the market for a warm summer romance, you have a lot of good options at your disposal. But might I recommend a book by Annabel Monaghan, who’s one of my favorite romance authors to emerge in the last few years? Monaghan’s writing is both hot and breezy, deceptively simple while still packing a punch, and most of her books are actual, literal summer romances (two even have Summer in the title).
There are a few excellent qualities you’ll always find in an Annabel Monaghan book. One is that there’s no fat that needs to be trimmed—each story is a slim volume that will fit perfectly into your beach bag or carry-on to bring along on your summer adventures. But the light load (physically) and the relatively light subject matter doesn’t mean her novels lack substance. Instead, she strikes the perfect balance of character and relationship development. There’s humor and heart, personal growth and sexual tension.
Another thing Monaghan does well is inject a bit of Hollywood fantasy into her stories without being too unrealistic. It’s clear from her work that the author understands the industry, so that the fame-adjacent plots in books like Nora Goes Off Script and Same Time Next Summer are fun but grounded without ever getting too “inside baseball.” And the plots that do touch Hollywood only do so lightly; the bulk of her tales take place in cozy East Coast beach towns so lovingly observed you can practically feel the sand beneath your toes.
Monaghan’s protagonists are mature—in Nora Goes Off Script and Summer Romance, they’re divorced women with children working their way through grief, loss, and huge transitions and just happen to find love along the way. Great romances tend to weave journeys of self-love into the fabric of finding love with another person. Take Monaghan’s latest, It’s A Love Story, about a former child star who is trying to establish a new career as a film producer. Growing up on television and being raised by a single mother, Jane Jackson developed some real neuroses and people-pleasing habits that still hamper her in her adult life. Getting away from Los Angeles and spending time with her professional nemesis, Dan Finnegan, sets Jane on a path to finally becoming her own person, a worthwhile tale even without the steamy, chemistry-filled romance.
My personal favorite Annabel Monaghan romance remains Nora Goes Off Script, about a Hallmark-esque romance screenwriter whose catastrophic divorce inspires an Oscar-worthy magnum opus. Her encounter with Hollywood dreamboat Leo Vance is a classic Notting Hill-type fantasy, but something about the grounded simplicity with which their story unfolded touched me deeply the first time I read it. It’s about the beauty of second chances, and how, despite the fear of starting over, your next chapter may very well be the best one yet. Summer is a time brimming with possibility, for romance or otherwise. Each of Monaghan’s books captures that perfectly; you can’t go wrong no matter which you choose.
