‘Joyland’: How Is This Saim Sadiq’s First Feature?

Invoking the dictionary definition of a particular word as an introduction to the topic at hand is, famously, the hoariest of journalistic tropes. Here’s a close second: applying Leo Tolstoy’s thoughts about family, as laid out in “Anna Karenina,” to a discussion about the intricacies of any sort of community. Repeat after me: “All happy families are alike, but every unhappy family….”Although Tolstoy would have a hard time getting his head around the context surrounding “Joyland,” the debut feature by Pakistani filmmaker Saim Sadiq, the tensions between its characters surely would resonate with him. Mr. Sadiq’s film centers on Haider (Ali Junejo) and, to a lesser though still pivotal extent, his wife Mumtaz (Rasti Farooq). The picture takes place in a section of Lahore that is unlikely to be highlighted in a Baedaker guidebook, what with its grime, congestion, and recurring blackouts.The 30-something couple lives with Haider’s domineering father “Abba” (Salman Peerzada), his Type-A brother Saleem (Sohail Sameer), and Saleem’s wife Nucchi (Sarwat Gilani). There are a number of children afoot and, notwithstanding a handsomely sized apartment, space is at a premium: Haider and Mumtaz often share their bed with one of Saleem and Nucchi’s kids. Haider also shares in the domestic duties, as he’s currently unemployed. Mumtaz, in contrast, works at a local beauty salon in which she proves quite handy when adversity strikes. Mumtaz loves her job.Then, Haider lands a job of his own through a friend. Notwithstanding a disastrous audition, he’s taken on as a background dancer for a local erotic theater — not a strip club as we know it in the West, but, rather, a venue that combines karaoke, burlesque, and Bollywood choreography in which the shaking of a clothed woman’s hips is worth any number of G-strings. Sometimes, usually during intermission, a woman of a different sort does the shaking. Enter Biba (Alina Khan), a trans woman of remarkable self-possession.Biba takes a shine to Haider, and enlists him as a dancer for her routine. Haider is eager to tell his family, particularly Abba, that he’s gainfully employed, but as to what the job entails — well, sometimes a lie is preferable to the truth. Claiming to be the manager of the theater, Haider assuages his family’s misgivings about working in a business of considerable disrepute. Abba, though, is impressed with Haider’s salary. Still, let’s keep the nature of this job under wraps. The neighbors and all, don’t you know.The consequences of Haider’s long-awaited employment are, for some in the family, untenable. Given Haider’s new status as breadwinner, Abba and Saleem think it best that Mumtaz now quit her position at the salon, a change in career she isn’t at all keen on pursuing. Haider’s job at the theater has him keeping extreme hours, putting more pressure on Nucchi to tend the family home and putting significant distance between himself and Mumtaz. If a childless marriage wasn’t already putting stress on their relationship, Haider is increasingly enmeshed within Biba’s orbit. Love follows suit. Life, as it is said, happens.How is this only Mr. Sadiq’s debut? Not only did he direct “Joyland” with consummate panache — clearly he’s been paying attention to Wong Kar Wai’s compositional strategies and lustrous color palette — but his screenplay admits to a level of emotional and sociological nuance that is the litmus test for dividing the sensationalism of melodrama from the insinuating truths of art. The ensemble cast is uniformly excellent, the momentum of the film sure, and the humanism at its core incontestable. Is it too early to say that Mr. Sadiq has brought us one of the best films released this year? Not by any means: “Joyland” is a keeper.__________Correction: Saim Sadiq is the director of “Joyland.” His name was misspelled in the bulldog.

‘Joyland’: How Is This Saim Sadiq’s First Feature?

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