It was the first Pakistani film to premiere at the Cannes film festival; the first to make it to the Oscars’ international feature film shortlist. But Joyland, Saim Sadiq’s remarkably accomplished Punjabi and Urdu-language debut, is equally groundbreaking in other ways. At the core of the film is a love triangle, between Haider (Ali Junejo), the gentle son of an overbearing father; his smart, independent wife Mumtaz (Rasti Farooq, terrific) and Biba (Alina Khan), the feisty trans woman dancer who gives him a job. But the picture transcends the tragic romance narrative, to achieve something rather more complex and satisfying.
Richly detailed and superbly acted across the board, the film cast a scathing eye over the rigid social constraints that ensnare anyone who fails to conform. Of the three, Biba is perhaps the most comfortable with her own identity. But then Biba is also the most vulnerable to the hate that spews towards anyone who doesn’t fit the norm. Her defence mechanism is a lacquered layer of ruthlessness. Haider, with his guileless puppy eyes and passivity, is smitten by Biba, but as much by what she represents as who she is. And Mumtaz, reluctantly pregnant and watching helplessly as her freedoms are stripped away, despairs of the future.
Sadiq has a keen eye: a sequence with a towering cardboard cutout of Biba is a show-stopper of an image, but other, smaller details are equally potent.
