Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

My third indie movie review with Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) characters (watching the fourth now) was a little disappointing.

The story focuses on a mother-daughter relationship between Pakistani-Canadian Azra, a young queer filmmaker, and her traditional Pakistani mother, Mariam. Azra’s father and Mariam’s husband dies at the beginning of the film. This brings the family back to Pakistan for his funeral.

The film is divided into three time periods – ‘today’ with a 20-something Azra and her mother grieving their loss and struggling to connect, a long-ago segment following young Mariam and Hamsa’s romance and desire to leave Pakistan for Canada, and a final segment, also a time jump backwards, when they finally living in Canada with a pubescent Azra and her brother.

It is a lush, gorgeous film with many Bollywood sequences that created a dreamy feeling one critic describes as the “magic of cinematic escapism.” I just felt a large gap because I am not overly familiar with Bollywood films.

Once upon a time, Mariam was young and had big dreams of leaving Pakistan for her own life, to stretch her wings away from her suffocating traditional parents. Mariam is meeting eligible husbands while falling in love with her friend’s cousin, Hassann. He is quite eligible except he plans to leave Pakistan for his medical studies. Her parents do not approve.

The final segment that felt somewhat stitched awakwardly into the story was a 1990’s era glimpse into the family’s adaptation Canadian culture. Mariam hawks Tupperware, filling each sold item with the highly coveted ‘exotic’ curry. Azra is exploring her sexuality, struggling with being different than her classmates, but embracing her identity. This journey creates a rift with her mother who seemingly wants Azra to make traditional choices.

It is a lovely movie to watch if you soften your gaze and enjoy the lushness. It is not an easy movie to follow – I was quite confused. Not all cultural and generational clashes resolve neatly in 90 minutes. Perhaps this was just a snapshot. Perhaps it was not meant for white Western audiences.

This may be just me, but the actress playing both Azra and young Mariam was a little uncomfortable rather than bold. Azra was very close to her father so to see that actress falling in love with her father was disconcerting.

I realize I am supposed to love this movie, but I don’t. I understand its cultural and cinematic significance. But I didn’t feel it.

Still, I think it is incredibly important that we engage art created from views outside of our own. This film was not poorly made or conceived, it just didn’t resonate with me. And that’s okay. I will probably watch it again to see if time adjusts my point of view. I confused the time frames so now that’s clear, I can watch again.

The film began a limited arthouse run on June 20.