Set in the mid-50s, Sometime, Somewhere weaves a gently satirical tragi-comedy in a small Kerala village much like the boyhood roost of director Aravindan. A host of characters, including the communist tailor fond of rousing speeches, the idealistic schoolteacher, the boorish overseer, and adolescents tampering with sex collide at a moment made transitional through the advent of electricity. Tony Rayns noted: "Aravindan's incandescent film is a dream come true: a perfectly plotless movie that is paradoxically crammed with incident. The tyranny of a storyline is kept at bay by spreading the focus around a huge cast; what binds it all together is the unique poetry of the film language, full of unorthodox editing patterns and compositions. Aravindan looks more and more like India's answer to Ozu, but his poetry is less rigorous, more intuitive and possibly even more beautiful."