Amrou Al-Kadhi's Layla Brings Audience to Its Knees

Louis Greatorex, Amrou Al-Kadhi and Bilal Hasana. (Stephen Lovekin/Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)

By Veronika Lee Claghorn

The world premiere of Amrou Al-Kadhi's Layla, which kicked off the 40th edition of the Sundance Film Festival at the Egyptian Theatre in Park City, Utah on January 18 felt more like a Charli XCX concert than a film premiere. Safiyya Ingar (The Witcher), who portrays the lead's BFF, sauntered into the theater wearing a spectacular crimson gown and train and accompanied by a motley crew of the UK production. Bedazzled drag queens towered and glowered in platform pumps despite slushy conditions on Main Street. As Sundance Director of Programming Kim Yutani welcomed the audience to the 40th film edition, she remarked that Layla is a film that at its core celebrates freedom. She described it as fun, tender, and flashy, which incidentally also describes its director.

British-Iraqi director (and real-life drag performer) Amrou Al-Kadhi's Layla glitters through the double life of its star, portrayed by Bilal Hasna, the Palestinian-Punjabi actor and playwright who may just have honed the greatest nose contour and highlight since Cardi B. Hasna plays Layla, the protagonist who falls in love with the seemingly dull-in-comparison marketing executive, Max, played by Louis Greatorex. Naturally, Layla's minstrelsy misfit friends in the queer North London scene raise their glue-stick slicked eyebrows at Max's very presence.

As Layla navigates nightlife and all that comes with eating and devouring to the tune of Marina and the Diamonds' Prima Donna Girl, they navigate the complexities of living up to familial standards, introducing a newcomer to a friend group, and the cringe over-enthusiasm of overzealousness of a partner when you are the one shining the brightest. This film is Blur's 1994 hit Girls & Boys come to speeding, raucous life and begging us to ask what societal allegiance - friends, family, or lovers - means the most.

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