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In November, the director Saim Sadiq\u2019s provocative melodrama \u201cJoyland\u201d was briefly banned in his home country, Pakistan, for depicting a romance between a married man, Haider, and a dancer, Biba. Western audiences might refer to Biba as a transgender woman, but the film avoids those words. \u201cShe is that,\u201d Haider tells his jilted wife.<\/p>\n
A more common local term is khawaja sira, a gender identity that dates to the 16th century and connotes neither male nor female. This community, whose members often served as advisers in the Mughal Empire, was criminalized under British colonial rule. Long shunned, they scored an important victory in 2018 when Pakistan passed anti-discrimination laws that define gender identity as a \u201ca person\u2019s innermost and individual sense of self as male, female or a blend of both, or neither.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, \u201cJoyland\u201d spurred an outcry in Pakistan, with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting deeming the Cannes prize winner \u201chighly objectionable.\u201d The activist and Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai, one of the film producers, defended it in Variety. The ban was rescinded after three days, then later reinstated in one province.<\/p>\n
Outrage works in the movie\u2019s favor; this polite weepie needs the added spice. While about an unconventional affair, the movie is more interested in suppression and restraint. Sadiq, a sensitive director who occasionally muddles a scene when he gets bashful, focuses on the patriarchy\u2019s impact on men. Here, every man we meet is terrified to become the target of gossip \u2014 a paranoia that sometimes seems to be only in their heads.<\/p>\n
\u201cJoyland\u201d takes its title from a theme park in Lahore. The city\u2019s stone walls barely allow the park\u2019s neon lights to peek out \u2014 Sadiq\u2019s subtle metaphor for how society constrains the colorful shades of human desire. Two brothers live \u200cin a crowded, dimly lit house they share with their father (Salmaan Peerzada), a white-haired bully who believes that men should work and women should bear children. This is fine with the macho eldest son, Saleem (Sohail Sameer), and tolerable to his wife, Nucchi (Sarwat Gilani). But our attention is pulled to the younger, gentler son, Haider (Ali Junejo), and his happily employed wife, Mumtaz (Rasti Farooq, a quiet powerhouse). When Haider acquiesces to his dad\u2019s expectations \u2014 he finds a job, and his wife is forced out of hers \u2014 the entire home\u2019s stability comes tumbling down.<\/p>\n
Haider\u2019s new (secret) job is as a backup dancer to Biba, a ferocious presence played by Alina Khan. Haider is a klutz \u2014 \u201cby the grace of Allah, you\u2019re really terrible,\u201d a director groans \u2014 and the theater\u2019s finances make zero sense. (How can Biba pay six dancers while scrounging for stage time?) Yet, the script, by Sadiq and Maggie Briggs, doesn\u2019t spend enough time backstage to satisfy our curiosity. With Joe Saade\u2019s swirling camerawork, the film\u2019s burlesque scenes are themselves a tease, making us yearn for one more sweaty dance number or another \u201cAll About Eve\u201d-esque zinger that Biba delivers to her rival (Priya Usman Khan).<\/p>\n
We\u2019re meant to be miserable when the movie slinks back to the grim family manor. As those inside increasingly realize that they, too, want to make their own choices, our loyalty turns away from Haider to the women, particularly the daughters-in-law, who are more articulate about and exhausted by the pressures on their behavior. When Farooq and Gilani each get a scene to speak up about their characters\u2019 frustrations, their righteous anger burns a hole through the screen.<\/p>\n
View this article at The New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2018Joyland\u2019 Review: A Target of Gossip: In November, the director Saim Sadiq\u2019s provocative melodrama \u201cJoyland\u201d was briefly banned in his home country, Pakistan, for depicting a romance between a married man, Haider, and a dancer, Biba. Western audiences might refer to Biba as a transgender woman, but the film avoids those words. \u201cShe is that,\u201d
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