Three generations of the Rana family live under the one roof in Lahore. The grandfather rules the roost from his wheelchair. His younger son Haider (Ali Junejo) is out of work and helps out around the house, sharing the load with his sister-in-law. In a cultural surprise, Haider’s wife Mumtaz (Rasti Farooq) has a job at a local beauty salon. But the balance of familial responsibilities is upset when Haider finds well-paid employment, and Mumtaz’s freedom to work is curtailed. And there’s added discomfort when Haider finally reveals the nature of his job: he’s a dancer at an exotic-not-quite-erotic dance theatre, a role for which his self-conscious limbs and hip movements are, at first, quite ill-suited.At the crux of Saim Sadiq’s Joyland are two women, the aforementioned Mumtaz, and Biba (Alina Khan), a transgender woman who Haider is meant to be making look good in her routines. While he resilience isn’t limitless, Biba tends to power on through the discrimination, the workplace gossip and backbiting, and the lack of respect she experiences. And the khwajasira dancer’s attitude attracts Haider’s attention. Meanwhile, at home, Mumtaz is drowning under the toxic masculinity and Haider’s lack of attentiveness, losing her job, her husband, her identity. The insecurity of both women is palpable but it is Farooq’s portrayal of sadness steadily building that pulls the story through to the film’s emotional conclusion.Joe Saade’s cinematography picks stories out of ill-lit night locations and the 4:3 aspect ratio almost invites the film to seen as a television sitcom. The most memorable shot in the film involves an enormous wooden cut-out of Biba being transported on a motorbike with Haider peering out at the road ahead through her crotch; the second best image is the morning after as the sun rises and the cut-out is visible across the neighbourhood.

While the Pakistani government was upset that they reckoned the Film was “glamourising transgenders [and] their love affairs”, perhaps they should instead have been more annoyed that the worst aspects of patriarchal and patrilineal culture were on show to the world. Joyland has been winning awards at film festival, and made it to the Academy Awards Best International Feature Film shortlist, though missed out on a nomination into the final five.

Joyland is being screened in the Queen’s Film Theatre from Friday 24 February until Thursday 2 March.

Enjoyed this review? Why click on the Buy Me a Tea button!