By: Michelle Young, Opinions Editor
This Place (2022), directed by v.t. nayani and written by women of colour, weaves together the stories of two women as they find themselves and one another. We are first introduced to Kawenniióhstha (Devery Jacobs), who is of Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) and Iranian descent, and on a journey to connect with her father. Then, we meet Malai (Priya Guns), who is Tamil, and struggling to come to terms with her father’s declining health.
The protagonists are fully fleshed-out individuals who want to ground and find themselves. They hold a beautiful romantic tension, while simultaneously portraying a deep sense of grief. Though the film is presented as a queer love story, it’s that and so much more. Kawenniióhstha and Malai confront difficult conversations about colonialism, identity, and their own biases. Their stories and identities are juxtaposed against one another to grapple with how “this country has given and taken so much.”
While Kawenniióhstha was “rooted” to her land by her mother, Malai’s parents fled the civil war in Sri Lanka. Against the backdrop of the 1990 Kanesatake Resistance — where a “proposed expansion” was built on Kanien’kehá:ka burial ground — Kanien’kehá:ka people had to fight for their land, while Malai’s family found solace in Aterón:to (Toronto).
My family immigrated to Canada, too, so I deeply related to Malai’s conversations around home and being unable to return home. Conversely, This Place also tackles the wounds Canada has imposed on Indigenous peoples, and Kanien’kehá:ka people, specifically. The grief these women hold while trying to come to terms with how their parents failed them and protected them was intricately beautiful, because I could understand how this grief came to be, too.
The majority of the film moves its plot with dialogue, and while the pacing improves near the latter end of the movie, I would have preferred more moments of silent action. The dialogue was stiff at times, so moments where the characters found one another by stolen glances and quiet affection were the times when the actors shined best.
I appreciated that Kawenniióhstha and Malai were unapologetically queer — from the moment they laid eyes on one another, you knew they had it bad. It was refreshing to watch their relationship unfold and take its course without the hurdles of internalized homophobia. When the world was crashing around them, they found solace in one another.
This Place is a wonderful conversation around positionality, immigration, and racialization in Canada. It pokes at the audience to examine what it means to be an immigrant on stolen lands and an Indigenous person on land that’s been colonized. A hidden gem in the world of film, the story hits the heart and is bound to resonate with many.
This Place had its theatrical release in Vancouver on July 7. Watch it at a select cinema near you.
