You have a desire for cinema but do not know what to choose among the theatrical releases? In Premier Rang, Maya Boukella, pop culture journalist at Madmoizelle, recommends a film to be shown. This week, Joyland has become one of the best transgender movies we’ve seen in theaters.
In 2022, we will have had to wait the last second to discover one of (if not the) best film(s) of the year. Like what, with cinema, you must never lose hope.
Released in theaters December 28, joyland has already marked the history of the 7th art because, in addition to its exceptional qualities, it is the very first Pakistani film selected in the Official Selection at Cannes. It’s great, even if, personally, I still don’t understand why he didn’t win the Camera d’Or… But I console myself by remembering that he still won the Un Certain Regard Award as well as QueerPalmvery well deserved.
Masterpiece of writing, marvel of staging, ultra-powerful political fresco and heartbreaking drama that will make your tears flow, joyland is the film to see this week.
In the Pakistani city of Lahore, Haider and his wife live together with his brother’s entire family. In this house where everyone lives under the gaze of othersHaider is summoned by his father to find a job and become a father.
The day he finds a small job as dancer in a cabarethe falls under the spell of Biba, sublime dancer with an exciting personality.
As feelings arise, Haider finds himself torn between the injunctions that weigh on him and the irresistible call for freedom.
A love story… but not only
Before going to see joyland, I read some reviews from viewers about it. It was then that I noticed thata point often came up. “Joyland is presented as a romance but don’t be fooled, the film is not really centered on this love story. »What is he talking about, if not this love story between Haider and Biba? It was driven by curiosity that I went to see the film. And indeed, I understood.
The romance promised by the poster and the synopsis of the film is embodied by Haider, a mute and withdrawn man and by Biba, a transgender woman. But if there’s one character the summary doesn’t mention, it’s Mumtaz, Haider’s wife.
At the crossroads of patriarchal oppression, a fascinating portrait of women
Often, when there is a love story in a film, the characters of cheated on women have little place. They remain relegated to the background. We feel sorry for them, but they remain excluded from the main plot. Saim Sadiq’s film is a snub to this cinematic trope. It is precisely thanks to Mumtazwhich has just as much space on the screen and in the writing as Haider and Biba, that film takes on its full meaning.
Biba and Haider are far from being enemies and rivals. In reality, they are victims of the same macho system. The challenge of joyland is certainly to tell a love story. Only, this one is onlya piece in the great cog of the patriarchy. This great machine who oppresses womenuntil their death, real or symbolicand dictates absurd manly behavior to men,joyland stages it with edifying accuracy. It dissects all aspects of toxic masculinity and shows its deadly consequences through the fate of its characters.
For all these reasons, and others that we want you to discover for yourself, joyland is a great feminist film.
Transidentity is a central issue of feminism
joyland enjoys a stunning photographyeach shot of the film challenging by its beautyof a amazing, daring and heartbreaking storyline as well as an incredibly well written. We remember in particular that of Biba, this woman at the same time strong, intelligent, but also very sensitive and striking.
A sign of great accuracy, the film has the advantage of sparing us scenes of unbearable violence, such as we find in certain films which, under the pretext of “denouncing” the violence of which people are victims queer, only reenact the trauma on screen, like it was a show.
Here, the violence that Biba experiences as a trans woman is outfitwhich does not prevent it from being also shocking than revolting. She nestles in Remarksin some words usedof the laughtersometimes even simple looks, whose director manages to show in a movement of the camera that precisely, they have nothing harmless. With impressive accuracy, the director also evokes society’s obsession with the genitals of trans people in two particularly memorable scenes, one in the dressing rooms, the other in a bedroom.
We won’t tell you more so as not to spoil anything for this sensory, sensual, emotional and political experience that you shouldn’t miss for anything in the world… Good session!
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