Unicorns: Earnest and honest as it is warm and sincere

Rob Ryan

⭐⭐⭐1/2

There's a theory I read on twitter a few years ago from a self proclaimed "Fem Boy " who was giving their insight into the mentality of heterosexual men with regards to their conflicting attitudes surrounding women and non masculine presenting men. The basic thesis was that straight guys in some cases are not so much attracted to women per se but are more attracted to femininity and who ever performs it well rather than just the gender of that person alone. I am not sure how much of that theory is shared by modern gender theorists and academics or the court of public opinion but it's a theory that has stuck with me ever since as someone (as heterosexual as it comes) who never considered these aspects of my sexuality before. That theory is more or less the basis for Unicorns which is an uneven but surprisingly nuanced take on a typical LGBT Themed romances.

The story: Luke (Ben Hardy) is a Essex based mechanic who one night stumbles upon a queer south asian night club featuring exotic dancing. He is smitten when he lays his eyes on Aysha (Jason Patel) who unbeknownst to him is a drag queen. Luke and Aysha share a passionate kiss after only having met for less than 5 minutes. It's not until when Luke notices Aysha's Adams apple is when he storms off. When Aysha confronts him as he's about to leave, Luke apologies and drives home. When her driver leaves her for "kissing a white boy in front of everyone". Aysha finds Luke's place of work (by googling his name) and offers him a lucrative deal, £200 for a drive to Birmingham and other parts of the UK along with a certain share of her earnings when performing. Luke who is unsure of how he feels about this person who he kissed reluctantly accepts just so he can raise enough money to take his son to Disney land (though I feel that money would be better spent on saving up for the inflated rent costs in London but whatever)

At this point in the story, the relationship between the charecters is purely a transactional and platonic one. With Luke driving Aysha to her next Venue so she can pay the rent along with conversations about their personal lives during the journeys. By day we learn that Aysha is in fact Ashiq who works at a cosmetic's shop advising customers on the ideal makeup to wear all the while dealing with his conservative family back in Manchester not fully aware of his sexuality or night job. His brother (Michael Karim) pays a visit reminding him of the rumours back home and to be careful. Meanwhile Luke is dealing with the longterm fallout from the custody battle of his son and his ex wife (Hannah Onslow) coming home to spend time with him. With their day to day lives being a challenge for the reasons mentioned, they both find solace in their partnership by night.

This inevitably over time causes the two (especially Luke) to question if a romance could work. "If I was a woman, would you have had sex with me when we first met?" Aysha asks Luke when driving to her apartment. Luke slowly responds with "Yes...but you're not" you would think that this would be as far as a relationship like this would or could ever go, after all, Aysha is only a persona that isn't carried through by day, would Luke be willing to embrace the whole person? Writer-director James Krishna Floyd and co-director Sally El Hosseini are not afraid to let their characters embrace their imperfections, How uncertain they are about themselves, to look from within, to explore possibilities that they would never thought possible. This all culminates in a love scene which is the movie at its most powerfully romantic, where Aysha subtly gives Luke a more fulfilling and wholesome alternative of sex as opposed to the aggressive and dominating way he's accustomed to.

Unicorns is not a perfect film, The movie almost falls into several trappings early on, as it gives you the illusion of presenting another story of a queerphobic person who no longer becomes that any more (which thankfully this isn't) and there is a conflict in the third act that is somewhat contrived and artificially written compared to the rest of the film, one that feels like is placed in there just for an obligatory sad montage along with an unneeded conflict. Also it took me a while to warm to Luke as a character and felt he was a little too aggressive and stereotypical earlier on but once the movie finds its footing, Hardy's performance really works wonders.

Co-star and newcomer Jason Patel is completely glowing as Aysha and incredibly effective as Ashiq, a performance that he carries on his back at every possible turn, a quality about the performances I like is when very little is said, this is true in the film's most powerful scene involving the two sat in a car and starring at each other, a moment so tense in it's dramatic tension that even the use of song helps complement it even further rather than distract from the screen. The film doesn't get everything right but it has heart. It's earnest and honest as it is warm and sincere.

What I appreciated about this film on top of everything else was that it's one of the few films of it's ilk I've seen that doesn't throw labels onto it's characters, or try to provide them with an easy solution to their problems. Luke being straight his whole life only to full head over heals in love over this one person or the persona of said person at least is a surprise to him as it is to us and he's never really sure where that places him the LGBTQIA spectrum and Aysha finally having found her soulmate in the seemingly least likely person possible but conflicted over family ties and has no plans to come out to them, the film doesn't give any clear cut answers to any of it's questions and subjects raised, or to any of the explorations that the characters go through, what they and the film know for certain, is that these two individuals from different backgrounds have fallen madly in love for one another and sometimes that's all that matters. Sometimes that's enough.

Unicorns is out in UK cinemas on July 5th