A Revry original, Unconventional is a really well-liked queer dramedy that feels totally different from the usual stuff. The heart of the story is about two pretty eccentric queer siblings and their partners trying to build a family that doesn't follow the traditional rules. It takes a super raw and unfiltered look at queer life, diving deep into things like mental health, addiction, and how complicated identity and relationships can get. It’s not afraid to get messy or show people at their most vulnerable, and it really pushes boundaries while showing a lot of different queer experiences. The first season has nine episodes, and each one is about a half-hour long. The story centers on Noah, a grad student who’s been struggling for years to wrap up his PhD. He’s been with his husband, Dan, for nine years, and they’ve recently gotten married and moved to Palm Springs. While they're trying to figure out how to start a family and have a baby, they decide to shake things up by in...
The story of the Khans begins around the time of Partition. Arshad Khan’s father, orphaned, comes to the newly formed Pakistan with his siblings. Under the care of relatives, he gets educated, enrolls in the Pakistan Army, gets married and has a brood of children. He is among the few in his social circle to own a video camera, and he records picnics, home parties and festival celebrations. And many of the footage from these home videos is used. We are told how Arshad was sexually abused as a child, leading to anger and self-loathing. As Arshad grows older, he begins to understand that he is gay. He finds love as a teenage which lasts too short. Meanwhile, his father resigns from the Army and launches a string of businesses, some of which work and some of which don’t. The family emigrates to Canada in 1991, but their problems only seem to be beginning. Arshad Khan’s father struggles to make a living, while Arshad Khan battles homophobia and racism, conceals his sexuality from his parents and branches out in the opposite direction in terms of his career. But this cant be kept hidden. Slowly he comes out to his siblings and friends and eventually his parents also find out. But by this time, both his father and mother have gone to the deep end of religion. The story ends with Arshad finding a loving partner and with the death of his father having filled his wish of religious pilgrimage and taking his last breath in his home country of Pakistan.
This documentary is like a meditation on his troubled relationship with his father, given Khan’s identity as a politically active gay Muslim and his father’s turn to an increasingly conservative relationship with Islam. Through the usage of many home videos, interviews with his mother and sister, many hindi film songs and though Arshad's own narration we are deeply involved in this family. It was interesting that the film maker doesn't hesitate to show how his mother still to date doesn't approve of his sexuality. There are times when the home videos – usually of birthday parties – feel a bit repetitive, and Khan’s narration is a tad too deliberate. But these are quibbles in an otherwise well-made documentary that manages to charm you. It does get dark at various places but tries to humour you at places. The film’s straightforward confessional style won’t be everybody’s cup of tea. In 80-minutes, Abu compresses the arc of a man’s entire life’s story — the love, conflict, and final absolution — and lays it bare for the world to see. The story’s details may be specific to the Khan family but Abu’s themes will resonate with anyone who has ever struggled to fit in — and hopefully, even those who haven’t. (6.5/10)
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