Universal Language
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“May all your days be filled with joy and happiness”
Overview
Somewhere between Tehran and Winnipeg – a version of Canada where everyone speaks Farsi – is the stage for Matthew Rankin’s (The Twentieth Century) wildly original comedy Universal Language. In this odd yet familiar world two kids (Rojina Esmaeili and Saba Vahedyousefi) find a sum of money frozen in the winter ice while a tour guide (Pirouz Nemati) wrangles a crowd of increasingly-befuddled tourists through the monuments and historic sites of Winnipeg. Meanwhile, a public servant (Matthew Rankin himself) quits his doldrum Québecois government job to visit his ailing mother. Space, time and personal identities crossfade, interweave and echo in this surreal comedy of misdirection.
Winner: People’s Choice Award
Winner: Bright Horizons Award
“The best movie at Cannes last year... a magnificent film, one that feels warm and familiar even as we realize just how startlingly original it is”
“Delightfully absurdist... odd, funny, and tender.”
“Deeply weird, delightfully strange, inspiringly imaginative and genuinely heartfelt”
Why You Should See This Film
Warm, surreal, funny and delightful to inhabit, Universal Language is one of the most unique films we’ve seen in a long time. In conversation with the Iranian New Wave masters Abbas Kiarostami, Mohsen Makhmalbaf and Jafar Panahi, Matthew Rankin’s cross-cultural sophomore feature blends their ideas, poetics and visual styles with Canadian humour, sensibilities and geography to tell a collection of quirky and unassumingly personal stories. An aesthetic treat that even calls to mind the tableaus of Roy and Wes Anderson with its controlled compositions and vibrant designs, Universal Language must be seen in the theatre – the only true portal to this strange, beautiful world.
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