Joyland

- Aahel Das

-Soumil

The roots of this movie are deeply embedded into the life and upbringing of director Saim Sadiq in the 90's in Lahore, Pakistan. Living in a patriarchal world for many years obviously had an impact on him, especially on his perception of gender. “I was always the kid who was not masculine enough and was a bit feminine. I was mocked for it. And then, after a while, I just turned around and told myself it doesn’t matter. I became immune to it.” This film was made as an exploration of desire as well as issues of identity. "I think this was my way of finding catharsis for myself," he said. "People say the film is about X, Y or Z, but I made it for myself."

Joyland tells the story of the decadent lives where the dreams of people have been confined in boxes and restricted by the shackles of patriarchy in the most potent way possible. The people are stuck with their monotonous life, fulfilling the only goal of living up to society's standards. But there's still longing, still belief, still hope and perhaps a silent fight for a better life. A fight for an idea. An idea that is freedom. A fight for a life for oneself and not for others...as the character "Biba" in the story says, "Main jo bhi kar raha hu apne liye kar raha hu" (Whatever I'm doing, I'm doing it for myself). Joyland is a story about resilience. Joyland is a story about rebellion. Joyland is a story about revolution. And all rebellions are built on hope.

Joyland follows the story of a family in Lahore where the younger one of the two brothers, Haider, is a homemaker and does the domestic chores along with his sister-in-law, Nuchhi. He is gentle, calm, and submissive. Thus, he's subjected to a lot of questions regarding his "manhood" by the men in his life (mainly his father and brother), who see him as less of a man. 

Contrasting Haider, his wife Mumtaz is a strong-willed, independent and ambitious beautician who doesn't want to be confined by the shallow definition of being just "a mere housewife". The family yearns for the birth of a male child to carry on the family lineage. The elder brother Saleem and his wife Nuchhi's four children are all girls, and the birth of the fourth child was met with shock as the child turned out to be yet another girl.

Amongst this, Haider finds a job at an erotic bar as a background dancer for trans woman Biba. Without mentioning the details of the job, he tells his family about it (although he did tell his wife about it). Met with the newfound joy of Haider's employment, the men of the family force Mumtaz to quit her job, as Haider is the one who is earning now. All that's expected of Mumtaz now is to fulfill the household chores and to birth a boy child. Meanwhile, Haider rather unknowingly gets drawn towards his co-star, Biba. His exploration of his own sexuality gets him to know about the life of Biba and other such trans women. His obsession results in his increasing absence from the household responsibilities. Haider is a compassionate and loving husband. He loves Mumtaz. But he only gets aware of the concept of desire when he gets to know Biba. The desire which is not expected of, the desire which is looked down upon and often times that are told to leave unexplored. Things slowly start to fall apart as the characters struggle to be who they want. The suffocating existence of the characters as they gradually poison each other leads to the impending tragedy. Joyland (or life in a broader sense) reflects a game of chess, as seemingly harmless and inconsequential mistakes throughout the game make way for one final blunder for everything to fall apart. And as the final domino falls, one comes to the striking realisation of how all of it was obscure yet very much visible in plain sight. 

An exceptionally well-made film where the little moments of defiance amongst the struggle shine bright. The use of colours in this film is particularly interesting, as the characters are bound by bland, muddy colours, showing patriarchy's grasp around their neck, but instantly switches to bright neon colours as the characters delve deep and carve out the joy which was never handed out to them. The emotions are very subtly but wonderfully portrayed through the hauntingly beautiful score. "One day you should buy a ticket and find out how big the ocean is and how small you are"...the ocean in this film represents the longing for freedom. Some constantly visit the ocean, some have only got the chance to dip their feet and were never let in completely for the fear of getting wet, and some do not even know about the ocean. Joyland is about love; it's about compassion. Joyland is a humanistic masterpiece, and it makes me wonder how many of us live the idea of life and not life itself, shaped by our environments, living a half-alive existence, not living but only killing time. Joyland made me think, Joyland made me hopeful, and Joyland made me see.