Film review: Funny Boy (2020)
Funny Boy (2020) Dir. Deepa Mehta © Netflix All Rights Reserved
Set in the lush tropical beauty of Sri Lanka, this new film by Deepa Mehta based on the book by Shyam Selvadurai and chosen as Canada’s Oscar entry for best foreign film, addresses important cultural, sexual and political issues against a background of rising tensions between Tamil and Sinhalese populations. The film opens with a scene of joyful childhood exuberance as a group of young children run along the palm tree-lined shore chasing a train. They are dressed in funny costumes with two dressed as a bride and groom. As their games come to an end and they return to their beautiful sprawling home the adults notice that the groom is a girl and the bride is a boy. Arjie (Arush Nanad) is 8 years old and is the youngest son of a wealthy Tamil extended family who run a posh resort in the capital, Colombo. The fact that he is wearing lipstick and makeup and a veil is fine with his mother, but definitely not with his super-strict father, who begins paying close attention to Arjie’s particular behaviors. What his mother sees as innocent and artistic becomes a focus of his father who comes down hard on the young boy who does not understand what the issue is.
Funny Boy (2020) Dir. Deepa Mehta © Netflix All Rights Reserved
Arjie has an ally in his older aunt Radha (Agam Darshi) who has returned from school in Toronto, sophisticated and liberalized. She encourages his theatrical tendencies under the radar of parental scrutiny. Their conspiratorial activities continue as Radha falls in love with a Sinhalese fellow and Arjie acts as go-between, delivering messages between them. When their extremely conservative family discover this unholy alliance, which threatens the suitable marriage they have arranged, Radha is abruptly shipped off to matrimony and back to Canada with her new husband.
Funny Boy (2020) Dir. Deepa Mehta © Netflix All Rights Reserved
The film cuts to Arjie as a shy teenager (now played by Brandon Ingrahm) who has been sent to a snobby English boarding school, where he is subjected to bullying on account of his ethnicity and lack of athletic abilities. He is befriended by Shehan (Rehan Mudannayake), a handsome Sinhalese classmate. Shehan, not unlike Radha, is way more worldly than Arjie, and opens a whole new world of possibilities to the naif. He invites him to his home which is a palatial and beautiful with stunning interiors and gorgeous grounds and seemingly no family in residence, only a few old servants. In his room Shehan has David Bowie posters and lots of western rock and roll music and a knowingness which overcomes Arjie’s shyness as he is delicately seduced. The scenes of their sexual discovery of each other are sensitive and untroubled in Shehan’s empty house. Of course, this cannot last. Homosexuality is against the law in Sri Lanka to this day. Arjie’s father finds out at the same time that all of their lives are upended by political upheavals.
Funny Boy (2020) Dir. Deepa Mehta © Netflix All Rights Reserved
When the tides of the political turmoil reach a boiling point and terrible sectarian violence breaks out, the whole house of cards comes crashing down for everyone. For those unfamiliar with the history of unrest in Sri Lanka, it will be confusing and possibly distracting. However, it will not diminish the central story being told, the memorable characters who have been created, the sensitive performances, the gorgeousness of the cinematography, the sun-drenched locations and stunning architecture. It is a jewel of a chamber piece.
Available on Netflix.
