Joyland

am i still invisible? joyland is a layered criticism and narrative on pakistan as a society, wrapped into a visual masterpiece. the inclusion of a trans woman and mujra theatre actually allows critics to dismiss the several underlying plotlines by focusing on one character and having a trans character is simply integral to the story which includes haider's job at the theatre. arguably, haider sees biba as a sort of 3rd gender (neither man, nor woman, a separate something in between) as he battles with his sexuality and confusion. mumtaz is a character with particularly complex relationships and personality. some may say she was depressed from her lack of freedom but others posit that it was due to her husband and whole family's complete disinterest in what she does. one moment that particularly hits close is her final moments where haider does not even notice the disinfectant(?) in her hand. multiple times, she makes this known (i want to run away) and hints at her unhappiness repeatedly, yet no one tries to help her. even after her passing, her brother-in-law is fixated on blaming her behaviour without stopping to think the reasoning behind it. another character that i wish we had more information on was rizwan's mother - she very poignantly criticises her son's motivation for not coming to get her sooner, recognising that he is behaving a certain way to save face. so many aspects of this movie echo less-than-savoury parts of pakistani society. that's probably why so many people have so much to say about it without even watching it. it's important to remember that representation ≠ endorsement, something to mind when thinking of the backdrop of lahore.