Sri Lanka of the 70's and 80's. The elegant world of upper class Tamils, a minority group in a largely majority Sinhalese country. At 8, Arjie loves dressing up like a bride and acting out a bridal procession with his girl cousins. When he is discovered by the adults, he wonders why he's being called "funny", a word whose meaning he can't understand, though he knows it's a 'bad' thing. Arjie is taken up by his magnetic aunt Radha, who has just returned from Canada. Radha sees... (Full plot summary below)
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Sri Lanka of the 70's and 80's. The elegant world of upper class Tamils, a minority group in a largely majority Sinhalese country. At 8, Arjie loves dressing up like a bride and acting out a bridal procession with his girl cousins. When he is discovered by the adults, he wonders why he's being called "funny", a word whose meaning he can't understand, though he knows it's a 'bad' thing. Arjie is taken up by his magnetic aunt Radha, who has just returned from Canada. Radha sees that Arjie is gay and is determined to protect him and build his self-worth. But her life gets complicated when she falls in love with Anil, a charismatic Sinhalese man. Their relationship crosses ethnic boundaries in a world that simmers with tensions between the Sinhalese and Tamils. Radha must choose between her family and her lover. Arjie, witnessing his aunt's journey, learns some bitter lessons about what is possible and not in the world. We flash forward to Arjie at 17, at a new school. There, Arjie falls in love with Shehan, a Sinhalese. Meanwhile, the ethnic tension spills over into civil war, during which the family end up fleeing to Canada as refugees. Arjie now is 'free' to pursue his sexual proclivities (homosexuality is still illegal in Sri Lanka). But freedom comes at a price. The price is the preconceptions a white society has about coloured people. On one level, Funny Boy is a coming-of-age love story and on another, a film about oppression of minorities, whether it is race, culture or sexuality.
Leave your thoughts about Funny Boy.
| IndieWireJude DryFunny Boy is a luminous coming-of-age tale seen through the eyes of a relatable yet entirely unique experience. |
| Original-CinLiam LaceyThe urge to find hope in tragedy is as inevitable as the one to recognize shapes in clouds. But Funny Boy leaves an unsettling chasm between this one slender story and the grim history it represents. |
| Los Angeles TimesTracy BrownDirector Deepa Mehta ambitiously juxtaposes a teenage love story with rising political tensions and ethnic violence in a film that is ultimately about thriving and sometimes just surviving as someone deemed “different.” |
| Film ThreatAlex SavelievMehta skillfully navigates both the tender sequences and the more devastating ones. Aided by Howard Shore's rousing musical score, she portrays a beautiful country ripped apart by social violence. Her film serves as an ode to those who either died or were forced into exile for having the courage to express their true identities. |
| The GuardianCath ClarkeIn the end the story is told rather blandly, the edges sentimentally smoothed down. |
| Movie NationRoger MooreFunny Boy is valuable in letting us see this world and this history through different eyes. |
| The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Tina HassanniaThere is so much going on in this film, much of it so rich in detail, that you wonder how better the original material might work as a television series. |
| The New York TimesBen KenigsbergMehta’s elaborate long takes contribute to the general sense of tumult, but the film never fully shakes the sense of stating the obvious. |
| RogerEbert.comRoxana HadadiFunny Boy falters when trying to link together the personal and political, making for a well-intentioned film that never delivers much depth. |
| User ReviewLivtrinityA disappointing film. Does not live up to the novel. The controversy around this movie shed light on some very important points that Deepa Mehta overlooked and that too involves matters that cannot be overlooked. Shameful attempt. |
