The Gaysian Invasian: I Can't think Straight

I somehow managed to miss the release date for this first effort film by writer, director and producer Shamim Sarif. I believe that this film and it's sister film The World Unseen were released rather soon after another, with this film being released at a slighter later time. However, this movie was filmed first and while it's exciting and great to have another queer Asian film out, I hate to say, that it is evident that this is a debut film.

Warming Spoilers Follow!

The story takes place in England, between Tala (Lisa Ray) and Leyla (Sheetal Sheth) as two young women of middle eastern and south Asian decent who struggle against traditional views in order to find love. For the most part the story is light, despite such heavy and serious undertones. As a film the movie strives to be both a comedy and a romance with some political commentary thrown in. I understand the need to bring forth the issues that queer women face in their families that are both related to their queerness or their culture but I didn't feel that the film did a good job of managing that in a way that wasn't stilted and was very preachy. For example when Tala and Leyla met, Tala engages Leyla in a rather (I feel) confrontational conversation about Islam (Tala is Muslim) and why her religion doesn't offend her. As a viewer I found that odd and unbelievable, as the conversation was totally unprovoked and way out of line on Tala's part. The dialogue too could have used some help.

As a romance the film fell upon cliche's (really, K.D Lang and Sarah Water's novels prominently displayed and suddenly your sister gets a clue about your "gayness"!?) and while there was some truly sexy scenes and great chemistry between the characters, their was some cringe inducing moments of romance cheese that I could not overlook. A box of roses with a love letter (handwritten, nonetheless) waxing poetic about Tala's yearning for Leyla. Um. No. I read trashy, lesbian fiction all the time, but even that was a bit too much "cheddar" for me.

Another issue I had with the film was the soundtrack. I like and enjoyed the choice of music, but felt that they were too obvious and heavy handed in using the soundtrack to illustrate "important themes" and to compensate for bad scripting. Unfortunately a tactic that was used one time too many throughout the film.

Overall, despite my criticisms, I did enjoy the show. The main actresses worked with what they had and made it work for them. The cliche's and contrived plot did lead to a fluffy, but still fun (if occasionally cringe inducing) movie.