Joyland

Through the course of every year, there are a few movies which I mark as the most anticipated ones. Ever since I first watched the trailer for Joyland, I was intrigued and looking forward to experiencing it. Over the course of time, the film gathered accolades in the festival circuit and was banned in its home country of Pakistan. I finally had the opportunity to watch it last week and I was not disappointed. I do have an issue with the film but that is not regarding its quality . More on that later.

This one is a bold film and the director Saim Safiq must be hailed to have the guts to make this film coming from where he is. The smart thing here is that he does not go about demonizing or critiquing something as sensitive as religion. Rather, he attacks the evil of patriarchy and the devastating effect it can have on a family breaking out from its core till nothing is left. While we mostly have films over here which shows how the women are affected by patriarchy, this film does a wonderful job in portraying that it is equally toxic for the men as it thursts unreal expectation of being a Man right from their birth.

Joyland primarily deals with the joint family headed by the father Rana Amanullah and the family of his two sons - Haider and Salim. Each member of the family has their own dynamic. Everyone tries to fit in but each has their own unrequited wants which they are striving for. Haider is the black sheep of the family who, despite his best efforts, cannot live up to the expectations of his father or of the society. He finally finds his calling after he gets a job as a background dancer at a dance group led by Biba. Biba is a transgender in Pakistan trying to carve a place in the society but is not given a chance. Sparks immediately fly between them when the two misfits meet each other. This relation sets in motion a butterfly effect, the results of which are not pleasant.

The acting is brilliant all across the board and the dialouges and screenplay are both commendable but mature. This film shows a mirror to the audience about the everyday casual wrong-doings happening all around us. We can either turn a blind eye to it or address it .The choice is ours as the audience. No one here is a villain, but just trying to live their life as per the standards set for them and trying to break the glass ceiling one step at a time.

Now, coming to the issue of the film. I think the trailer for this film actually did the film a disservice. This film is no way only about the relation between Biba and Haider. People who have not watched the movie are protesting for all the wrong reasons. This is a far more mature film which addresses issues faced by everyone - right from the youngest member of the family to the eldest one. The best scene in this movie, for me,does not even involve Biba. It is the pre-climax scene which has to be the most tender yet the most telling scene in this movie. It packs a punch and by the time the credit rolls, you realise you just finished watching one of the top films of the year.

This depiction of Pakistan is patriarchal and misogynistic. The almost-70 patriach of the Rana clan rules, while the son of the neighboring widow tries to control his mother. Regardless of education or qualifications, women are supposed to be housewives and bearer of (preferably male) children.

Younger son Haider is in an unconventional arranged marriage. Wife Mumtaz works at a beauty salon, while he stays home and is uncle-parent to his nieces. Being belittled and harassed by his father for not working, he accepts a job suggested by a friend as a backup dancer - to Biba, a trans woman - while telling his family that the job is a theater manager. As someone who has never left his home city of Lahore, he falls in love with this more-worldly woman, and his late-night "work" has his wife suspicious.

By western standards, the production values are erratic, and I may have missed some minor plot points due to that. The acting is believable, and the depiction of life is good (I liked the scene in the "women's car" on mass transit.) The film is daring in the subject matter of trans folk and non-traditional sexuality. I saw this at the Toronto International Film Festival, where in the Q+A the director admitted difficulty in casting Haider, when some actors turned down the role after learning of the story. The title, incidentally, refers not just to the amusement park that plays a minor role, but also to people trying to find their place of happiness.

Joyland is a deep, emotional and quite sad film. The moments of happiness are quite often also wrapped in pain and guilt and the sad moments take the lead in the whole story.

Joyland is a film about a Pakistani man that finds a job as a background dancer in an erotic theatre. The main dancer is trans, who you can see struggles with how she is perceived in society as "not a real woman". The two fall in love which causes problems between the man and his wife. Who live with the father, brother, wife in-law (and their kids), of the man. Who are more conservative.

This film shows the struggles of people who fall out of order in the traditional Pakistani society. Women who want to work although they are married, trans people who are not perceived as the gender they embody no matter what they do and men who don't fit in the masculine stereotype set out by society.

The cinematography and ambience is great in this film. The reason why I gave it a 7 ( although more of an 7,5) was because at times the story felt somewhat slow and boring in a sense, although quite some stuff was happening. I would say over all you should absolutely watch this beautiful film, it will bring you in touch with a world you probably haven't seen before.

Sad that after recieving clearance for release by a special committee formed by PM Shehbaz Sharif, the film #Joyland gets banned by Punjab Government; And that politicians/ adults in Pakistan would be so petty and spiteful as to deny people their fundamental right to live.

The film that's giving the LGBTQ community in Pakistan a voice, has been banned yet again in Pakistan. Can't use personal religious belief to ignore morals that demand equality among all humans. Love is understanding.

Telling people what to do with their body has emerged as a social sickness of the 21st Century. People who cannot change, are telling people not to change. Future isn't something you passively wait for, but something you create yourself.

We have to start making sense as humans. That every human has the right to live is a moral, not a religious issue.

Wiping away sexual taboos in countries where the culture's tolerance for such things is, shall we say, somewhat "limited" can indeed be a slow, painful and difficult process. Such conditions are presented with remarkable candor on a number of fronts in this groundbreaking debut feature from Pakistani writer-director Saim Sadiq, who unflinchingly depicts the frustration that many are feeling in a nation yearning for greater social acceptance and personal freedom when it comes to alternate lifestyles. And this work is certainly commendable for the bold, courageous steps it has taken in this regard. However, these ideas are far from anything new in the world of cinema, and, as I watched this film, I couldn't help but think that the praise that has been heaped on it is somewhat hyped, primarily because of the venue in which the story is set. Don't get me wrong - this is a well-made picture, and I would imagine that the impact it has had on its country of origin is substantial, but I don't believe it's quite on par with the sweeping accolades that have been showered upon it. (Its victory at the Independent Spirit Awards for Best International Film, for example, was an overstatement in my book compared to some of the other nominees.) As a first feature for the filmmaker, it's a fine work that shows a great deal of promise for its creator, who clearly possesses an abundance of talent that I can't wait to see further developed. But there are elements of his craft that could use some further refinement to elevate him to the level of the big leagues (case in point, a conclusion that has been done several times before and almost comes across as trite here). "Joyland" certainly makes a powerful statement that needs to be said (and acted upon), and it does so in a highly capable way, but aspects of it could have been improved upon to make this a truly great film worthy of the honors that have been bestowed upon it.