SXSW 2020 - I'll Meet You There
SXSWIram Parveen Bilal's I'll Meet You There is a poignant and self-reflective drama that examines racism and religious tradition present in America.
There are two parallel tales examining race throughout I'll Meet You There. The first follows racial tension with Chicago Police Officer Majeed (Faran Tahir) as he goes undercover in his local mosque to gather intel on the members. The second follows religious and societal gender oppression in Majeed's household as his father, Baba (Qavi Khan), comes to visit and influences Majeed's daughter, Dua (Nikita Tewani), into finding solid ground with her faith, while behind closed doors she is exploring herself through dance.
Both elements exploring the multifaceted dynamics of race and tradition are brought together by one central theme: family. Writer-director Iram Parveen Bilal explores this with tremendous weight and depth, continuously questioning such an element and exploring how far one can go to retain their faith while respecting the trajectories of others, which crafts a paradox with interesting and profound consequence.
Actor Faran Tahir takes the lead here with a wonderfully compelling and robust performance. Tahir's range is on show with terrific effect, not only via the actor's emotional depth but his screen presence and emotive delivery strangeness that could very easily drown in excessive emotional fatigue. That being said, the actor's co-leads, Qavi Khan and Nikita Tewani, equally hold their own weight with individual character arcs with unique emotional conundrums and plight.
Nikita Tewani's character, in particular, holds a considerable amount of thematic weight for a role engulfed in emotional trauma and adverse decisions against her family values vs lust of life. The arc of a young rebellious religious woman finding herself and wrestling against her own desires and values offers a distinctive and profound element to see such an integral aspect of a religious coming-of-age story to the forefront of American cinema. Ultimately, this cements Iram Parveen Bilal's I'll Meet You There not only as an engaging and profound story on race in America but a vital captivating story of the multifaceted dynamic of what religion means in the household.
