Funny Boy

You like it or hate it... the director is an international fame and loved her other works esp Water which was also nominated for Oscar ....this movie is based on a book by Shyam Selvadurai.. it is a coming-of-age story of a boy in 1970s Sri Lanka amidst uprisings, tensions between Tamils and Sinhalese, ethnic riots... although, author stated that it is not really his biography but it does appear as his personal narrative when I read about him.. but disappointed with the middle-of-the-road and 1980s style direction, performances are average too... a multitask watch...

Many aspects of this film are fascinating, like the scenery and location shots. Cannot speak to the 'Tamil' voice/accent issue which is of concern to many. I did read that there has been a lot of voice dubbing which would explain why, at times, the spoken English(unsubtitled) is difficult to understand. The meat market scene is presented without appropriate context. I found the scenes where the main character was jumped back and forth in age to be annoying rather that developmental. However, the film does seem to capture well the trauma of being caught up in ethnic/religious disputes.

Arjun is Tamil boy who realises he's gay in a country that criminalises people like him. The movie follows his life from childhood to young manhood, set in Sri Lanka during the ethnic war that resulted in somewhere between 100,000 and 150,000 deaths, and one million Tamils migrating to India, Canada, and other countries. The story is one damn thing after another. The messiness, almost incoherence of the script, mimics this, but also distances us from the characters, who become objects moved around by events that they don't and can't control. Arjun's relationship with Shean doesn't free either of them, it's at best a brief time of mutual joy which can't resist the politics surrounding it. The acting is uniformly very good, helping us Westerners understand a culture so different and yet oddly similar to our own. I get the impression that Mehta had a clear vision of what she wanted, and it wasn't a neatly structured plot tied up with a neat bow of a resolution. I think she also wanted to show how avoiding politics is no defence. The movie was engaging despite itself, the kind that tosses up half-recalled scenes when you least expect them. Worth watching, even if only to get a vague notion of what it's like to live in a different society than your own. I read a number of attacks on this movie, all of which focused on two points, and which all betrayed that the critics had political axes to grind. Pity.

Prolific Indian filmmaker Deepa Mehta's latest achievement is a tender coming of age gay story with a strong political backdrop. Set in late 70's-early 80's it depicts the horrors of racial prejudice against members of a Tamil community in the awakening of the civil war in Sri Lanka. The narrative focuses on the development and sexual arise of a young boy, who since his early ages demonstrates his interest in the feminine universe, as well as a courageous expressiveness of his true personality. As a kid he battled bullying in school and prejudice at home, while his parents are engaged in the political conflicts; as a young man he discovered the fascination of American/British pop culture, while developing his first romance with a lonely richer boy; As the crisis intensifies and most of his community are threatened and attacked, they plan a escape to Canada, interfering somehow in the boy's sudden process of figuring out his identity and place in the world. The director unveils social, political, gender and cultural issues seen through Arjie's boyhood and varied experiences with a world he doesn't belong to. It's only at the moments of intimacy and entertainment provided by his encounters with his boyfriend, and the acceptance found on his aunt's approach that bring him a sense of ease. Canada's Official entry for the Best International Film at the 2021 Oscars, Mehta composes an affecting, lively and free-spirited, historically accurate and family-friendly LGBTQ tale.

I just watched this film, and I enjoyed it so much I rushed here to give it my rating - My decided rating usually reflects the overall IMDb score. Therefore, I was surprised to find a 5.5 score. However, I saw that one person gave Funny Boy a 1-star rating based on the fact the language spoken was incorrect. Seriously? This film does not bill itself as a true story; it is a work of fiction set in a location and period of historical significance. But even so, no mature person rates a film based on one flaw. What about cinematography, the plot, the dialogue, the acting, etc. All these things should inform a person's score. Therefore, this film deserves a far better score than what it presently has.