Unicorns film review: Ben Hardy in era-defining LGBTQ romance

Unicorns is an era-defining LGBTQ film

Jul 4, 2024 - 08:32

Unicorns film review: Ben Hardy in era-defining LGBTQ romance

The new Unicorns film is a brave new role for former EastEnders actor Ben Hardy (Photo: Signature-Entertainment; TIFF)

Unicorns starring Ben Hardy is in cinemas now. Review and star rating: ★★★★

A single dad with a young son meets an Asian drag queen and questions everything about his identity. Unicorns, this year’s biggest independent British LGBTQ film, explores queer representation in a way that feels thoroughly and thrillingly fresh.

Sexuality is no longer about being either gay or straight: there is a huge rise in people defining as bisexual as well as ‘pansexual’, when you are attracted to the individual rather than the gender. Unicorns writer and director James Krishna Floyd has lived this life; formerly identifying as straight he now says he’s sexually fluid.

Floyd achieves a decent balance between playful rom-com and worthier discussions about how it feels growing up when your family unit doesn’t understand a shred of you

His lived experience has helped create one of the most fresh pieces of LGBTQ representation in film, examining the world of working class bisexuality and the ‘Gaysian’ drag queen culture that pervades many parts of the UK. Many closeted Asian men travel across Britain to parties with drag queens in order to explore their identity while remaining anonymous.

Floyd and co-director Sally El Hosaini’s chaotic vision of one of these parties, where the camera is purposefully moving too fast for you to properly work out where you are or what’s going on, is a beautiful homage to a fascinating queer sub culture, getting across how overwhelming these events must feel for attendees.

It’s also incredibly sexy. Ben Hardy, who plays Luke, and newcomer Jason Patel, who plays Aysha, fizz with chemistry. They convey the moments when fear and shame almost derail them and then the opposite, when thinking takes a back seat and lust and desire wins out.

Floyd and El Hosaini keep the intimacy to brief but key moments, achieving a decent balance between a playful rom-com and worthier discussions about underrepresented communities and how it feels growing up when your family unit doesn’t understand a shred of you.

Occasionally there’s a heavy-handedness to the direction, not in key scenes but more with minor characters. But it’s a small quibble in a era-defining indie. Well done to Ben Hardy, who has done some Hollywood movies, for being brave enough to take this incredibly of-the-moment story on.

Unicorns is in selected cinemas from today