Pink Slips

Although LGBT characters are gradually, more and more, showing up in TV and movies, it remains uncommon for a film of anything but the smallest scale to revolve around an LGBT protagonist. Go back 15 years or so, and it's basically unheard of, outside of a some (often tragic) passion project for the film festival circuit. Which is what makes Touch of Pink such a rare thing.

Made in 2004, Touch of Pink is the story of Alim, a young gay man with a complicated heritage. He lives in London, was raised in Toronto, was born in Kenya... and has never come out to his devoutly Muslim parents. When his mother comes for a visit, he feels the pressure of hiding his true relationship with his live-in boyfriend Giles, especially when she is constantly pushing to set him up.  His confidant in this trying situation? The imaginary friend/guardian angel/ghost of actor Cary Grant, who's always there to comfort and encourage Alim.

Movies that star an LGBT character may be rare, but so are movies starring a character of Middle Eastern heritage. The Venn diagram of the two might be this movie. It's almost becoming a cliche that "representation matters," but it really does, and there's a lot in this movie that shows why. In just 90 minutes, this movie is able to present a lot of emotional struggles: coming out, being less religious in a devoutly religious family, living an ocean away from your parents (for good and ill), and more. This is at times a silly, Birdcage-esque comedy, but you feel that writer-director Ian Iqbal Rashid had a more personal connection to this and was really trying to put his story on screen.

That said, while the movie is definitely novel, it's not exactly memorable. Though many of the ingredients to the story are different, the result is a parade of coming out rom-com parts that evaporates like mental cotton candy as soon as the end credits roll. It never pulls very hard on your heartstrings -- which would be fine, except that it also never rises to being laugh out loud funny.

The most distinct element of it, the one part that might leave a lasting impression, also doesn't gel particularly well with the whole. That's Kyle MacLachlan's performance as Cary Grant. It's a scenery-chewing impersonation of the classic actor that's pretty hammy, but also pretty fun. But it's also completely unexamined how a grown man has clung to an imaginary friend for so long. The "why Cary Grant?" of it all is left basically to subtext. The movie just seems not to want to get into any of this for risk of approaching anything too serious.

On the one hand, it's nice that an LGBT movie isn't a dark tale of repression, oppression, and suicidal thoughts. On the other hand... there really just isn't much to this movie. It's a forgettable C-, better as a curiosity than an actual viewing experience.