Joyland (Urdu/Punjabi)

I have been hearing of this film for a very long time now. Touted as the first ever film from Pakistan to feature in Cannes festival, it also won the Queer Palme award and has been getting rave reviews almost eevrytime I have read anything about the film. Naturally my curiosity got the better out of me and I can now se why the film is so special. With a very sensitive story, vibrant visuals, a family dynamics that's easy to relate to; the film is a sublime tale of love, loss and coming out in its own unique way. There are no villains per se, except for the social expectations of individuals and how they are supposed to live. Using Haider, as its main protagonist, the film tries to show us the rigidities of our society, in this case gender and sexuality, and the quiet and painful ways in which they manifest.

The story is about a joint family whose younger son is Haider. He is married to Mumtaz, who works in a beauty parlor while he stays home helping his elder brother's wife with chores and managing the brother's four kids. Haider and Mumtaz share a relationship of love and tenderness and open communication, something very defiant to an expected heterosexual couple in Pakistan. Through one of his friends, Haider sees an opportunity for a job. What he doesn't know is that the job is that of a background dancer (one of the six people) that Biba is looking for. Biba is feisty trans female stuck between courting and rebuking the very male gaze that makes trans life unlivable. She wants her life better and before he knows it, Haider is completely drawn into her life. In Biba's presence Haider feels he can be someone true that is not possible at home. Although he is not a dancer at all, Biba does hire him. Over the course he starts falling off her badly. And because of this love, he is able to start to loosen up. Despite his tender love with his wife, he eventually tells her about his real job To his family, he says he is manager of the theatre). He’s so enthralled by Biba’s presence—her beauty, her audacity, her charisma—that he follows her around like a puppy dog, barely anxious about his fellow dancers’ teasing or the possibility of public scandal. His newfound capacity to own up to his desire despite the costs is perfectly understood as one of those delightful things that love makes possible. But this starts tu put a strain on his relationship with Mumtaz, who is now forced to leave her job and become a housewife and also sexually depraved wife. But Haider is someone who has been hiding his true identity from himself and everyone around him. The fact is really queer (gay) come around in a scene when he and Biba are fooling around and he bends over pleading Biba to fuck him and this is when Biba realizes what really is going on here and breaks up with Haider. Back home, with his wife pregnant, Haider and Mumtaz both ar every out of it and we get to see a very very poignant finale.

I had so many emotions while watching the film that it will be almost impossible for me to put those down in words here. Coming from a very smilier cultural background, I could empathize with every single thing that was unfolding in front of me on the screen. While the film presents Haider as gauche, it also suggests that his clumsiness is a result of his inability to express his desire. Eventually he starts to awaken thanks to his love for a person whom he would not have expected to come in his life at all. The film has so many tender moments. Haider’s relationship to Mumtaz is just as multi-dimensional as his love with Biba. He never hides anything from his wife but also can't help getting completely drawn into Biba's world. When Haider comes over to Biba’s place, enchanted but still afraid to kiss her, she berates him for his hesitation. Never has a film paid this sort of attention to the subtleties of love between a man and a trans woman. The way one gesture during sex, at once so small and yet so immense, can cause everything to collapse. (This is the scene I mentioned above). The film doesn't try to portray a rosy picture of love or people or acceptance. There are no bad people here but the society in general. Love between straight men and trans women is impossible, at least in societies like that of Pakistan and the director tries to be as real as possible. Haider may be kind, and he may even rescue Biba from daily indignities, but the shame drilled into him over a lifetime can’t help but radiate outwards in destructive fashion. What further separates this film from many such films is the way it blends gentleness with desire. Its gaze, embodied by numerous point-of-view shots of bodies from afar feels voyeuristic as if you are invading someone's privacy. The film also has string female characters, The two sister in laws share a friendly bond, who are high spirited when alone but need to put up a farce in presence of the patriarchy.

I don't think the director here is trying to make a commentary. He is trying to show us a slice of life of Pakistan society. He is taking us by sensory surprise, and the tale that he tells is funny, forward, and sometimes woundingly sad. The film has everything going for it. Real life trans actor playing the role of Biba is terrific, leavening proceedings when required with suitably diva-esque saltiness, but also revealing the variously layered defense mechanisms required to survive as a trans woman in a broadly unaccepting, sternly patriarchal and religiously bound society. Actors playing Haider and Mumtaz are absolutely terrific. Actually every single person just fits like a glove. Joyland quietly tells us how sustained repression of desire often leads to the destruction of human dignity and results in chaos. t is, above anything else, a vivid and beautifully pitched character study, told with a formidable ensemble of actors, and a script that treats each role with respect and consideration. This film deserves to be seen and I can't recommend this enough. (9/10)