Trans drama, ‘Unicorns,’ comes up little bit short
Despite the title, there’s nothing particularly unique about “Unicorns.” It lacks depth, offers easy solutions to complex issues and introduces types more than flesh-and-blood characters. But it does offer a couple of soulful performances from rising stars Ben Hardy and Jason Patel as unlikely lovers facing an uphill battle in quest of happiness. Whether that’s enough to sustain a nearly two-hour movie is open to debate.
It doesn’t help that the story takes a while to advance its central theme of opposites attracting. But once directors Sally El Hosaini and James Krishna Floyd finally find their footing, it becomes much easier to take a rooting interest in whether the planets will align for Hardy’s downtrodden single dad, Luke, and Patel’s vivacious drag queen, Aysha.
They meet after Luke takes a wrong turn on the way to the loo in a London eatery specializing in Indian cuisine and backroom drag shows starring the most stunning “Gaysian” performers in town. Chief among them is the alluring and seductive Aysha, whose swiveling hips and barely there costume are too much for a hunky auto mechanic like Luke to resist.
They magically meet after Aysha’s act, take a stroll outside and share an electrifying kiss. The twist is that sweet, naive Luke is convinced Aysha is cisgender. Surprise! When Luke finally realizes he’s just Frenched a dude, he’s unable to contain his anger and revulsion. That’s the end of that, right? Luke certainly thinks so. But as hard as he tries, he can’t get Aysha out of his mind. Those thoughts intensify when she drops by unannounced at the Essex garage owned by Luke’s dad.
She needs someone to shuttle her to gigs and is willing to pay Luke enough to enable him to fulfill his promise to take his 5-year-old son, Jamie (Taylor Sullivan), to Disneyland in Paris. What ensues is very much a queer incarnation of “Driving Miss Daisy,” as Aysha’s sexy charm tempers Luke’s prejudice to the point he is falling in love.
Patel is as superb at portraying the vamp as Hardy is at displaying Luke’s growing discomfort with his attraction to Aysha. What will the neighbors say? But the heart wants what it wants. And once Aysha starts establishing a motherly interest in Jamie, Luke’s a goner. To a degree, so was I. The two leads exhibit lots of chemistry, and both are unbelievably attractive. But after the pair consummate their relationship, the movie, written by Floyd, has nowhere to go.
So, Floyd concocts a shocking, and utterly preposterous third-act obstacle for the two men to conquer just in time for the end credits. The contrivances are of the eye-rolling variety, and in most instances would signal the death knell. But Hardy and Patel sell it to the max, including the swoon-worthy climax.
It’s enough to save the picture, but there’s no escaping a plethora of missed pursuits, most notably of how Aysha’s straight-laced South Asian family back in Manchester, where he’s still known as Ashiq, would react if he brought a male lover home to dinner. We get a taste of that repressive home life, but not nearly enough, which is frustrating because what we do witness provides the movie with its most poignant moments.
I also would have preferred more of Luke attempting to assimilate into Aysha’s circle of fellow queens and a more in-depth exploration of this tight-knit community. This coterie not only lends color to Luke’s otherwise drab existence but also forces him to confront his initial unease toward their uninhibited flamboyance, authentically conveyed under the tutelage of Muslim drag queen Asifa Lahore, who serves as a consultant on the film. Again, these few glimpses generate the same dynamism as Ashiq’s life in Manchester. They are the insights that intrigue us, not the rote sex scenes we’ve seen dozens of times before.
It’s almost as if Hosaini and Floyd didn’t realize the potential that was just one or two rewrites away. What’s here is perfectly sufficient, but you can’t help wondering just how much greater it might have been. And that, excuse the expression, is a drag.
Movie review
Unicorns
Rated: Not rated
Cast: Ben Hardy, Jason Patel and Taylor Sullivan
Directors: Sally El Hosaini and James Krishna Floyd
Writer: James Krishna Floyd
Runtime: 112 minutes
Where: In theaters July 18 (limited) before going wider July 25
Grade: B-
