Unicorns
Sally El Hosaini and James Krishna Floyd’s romantic drama set in a South Asian club culture deserves to be considered one of the best British films of the year to date.
Jason Patel and Ben Hardy
Image courtesy of Signature Entertainment
For me discovering this fine British film was one of the cinematic surprises of the year. Although its leading actor, Ben Hardy, has appeared in other films and on TV, I have not myself come across him before and I could not have known of his co-star, Jason Patel, because his role here marks his debut. I was familiar with the work of one of its directors, Sally El Hosaini, but for all their sincerity neither My Brother the Devil (2012) nor The Swimmers (2022) struck me as wholly successful. As for James Krishna Floyd, her co- director here and writer of the screenplay, I was familiar with his acting work (he had impressed as a leading player in My Brother the Devil) but with Unicorns he was moving into new territory. Nevertheless, what these talents have combined to give us proves to be one of the most involving love stories of recent years.
I think that this portrayal is so persuasive, so meaningful, that most audiences will respond to it even though the love affair is one between two men. As such, it might be expected that Unicorns would appeal mainly to gay men and that the story it has to tell would amount to no more than a conventional example of gay cinema. The plot line does after all echo other relatively familiar tales. Luke (Ben Hardy) is a 26-year-old mechanic who works in Essex in the garage owned by his father (Grant Davis). Although Luke’s relationship with Emma (Hannah Onslow) has broken up, he is devoted to their five-year-old son Jamie (Taylor Sullivan) who is in his care. He has no particular plans for the future, but then things take a sudden turn quite by chance. Losing his way in the basement of a café he goes through a door and finds himself in a club where he is instantly captivated by the sight of a Muslim dancer on stage. Setting eyes on Aysha he is ready to follow up the desire that he so patently feels and flirtatiously he begins to talk to her. Only then to his total dismay does he realise that Aysha is not a woman but a drag queen, somebody who at his family home in Manchester is a standard male and whose actual name is Ashiq. This is the role played by Jason Patel and, while for Luke it is a real shock to discover that Aysha is actually a man, what upturns his life is his subsequent realisation that his desire is not ultimately diminished by that discovery.
Floyd’s screenplay is tailored so that the connection between Luke and Aysha can convincingly continue and build up (Luke wants to earn extra money so that he can afford to take his young son to Disneyland and Aysha whose dancing in drag has led to being hired for regular party events for gay Muslims needs a replacement driver to get her there and back). This means that enough time passes for the relationship between these two to grow and to be portrayed in a way that recognises the tensions and problems (not least on Luke’s part) as well as the instinctively intimate bond that won't be denied. It is the expression of these feelings in such depth by Hardy and Patel that makes me believe that non-gay audiences will respond as they recognise emotions with which anybody can identify.
There are other aspects to Unicorns too since Floyd also explores Ashiq’s family. They include scenes set in Manchester which introduce us to his sympathetic mother (Nisha Nayar), to the brother (Michael Karim) who seems to have some idea of Ashiq’s life-style and to the father (Ravin J. Ganatra) who might well reject a son whom he discovered to be gay. This may not be new territory but it is handled with unusual insight. Two examples of this are particularly noteworthy: the handling of the complex scene in which Luke and Aysha have sex for the first time and the subtlety with which Patel persuades us that Ashiq is in truth most at ease and most able to express the person he is when he can appear as Aysha. The film gains too from including plot developments which one does not foresee but which ring true.
For all its qualities Unicorns does feel slightly less than perfect. A running time of virtually two hours is longer than one would have anticipated for this kind of material and, while the time taken is often beneficial to giving depth to all of the characters, there are a few occasions when the footage could be tightened to advantage. In contrast to that, when it comes to the film’s final scenes they call out for slightly more detail if they are to be completely persuasive. But these are quibbles. Both Ben Hardy and Jason Patel give performances that can truly be described as remarkable and together they make this not just an outstanding gay movie but a great love story in its own right.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Ben Hardy, Jason Patel, Hannah Onslow, Grant Davis, Val The Brown Queen, Ravin J. Ganatra, Nisha Nayar, Michael Karim, Ali Afzal, Sagar Radia, Harrie Dobby, Saba Shiraz, Jaimie Tank.
Dir Sally El Hosaini and James Krishna Floyd, Pro Philip Herd, Trudie Styler, Celine Rattray, Bill Pohlad, Kim Roth and Christa Workman, Screenplay James Krishna Floyd, Ph David Raedeker, Art Dir Chris Evans-Wilson, Ed Iain Kitching, Music Stuart Earl, Costumes Nirage Mirage.
River Road Entertainment/Maven Screen Media/Chromatic Aberration/Film i Väst/Filmgate Films-Signature Entertainment.
119 mins. UK/USA/Sweden. 2023. UK Rel: 5 July 2024. Cert. 15.
