Une langue universelle

This brilliant gem of film traces the the interacting lives of a group of children trying to find some money to help a schoolmate and a son returning for his mother's birthday. T The film establishes a unique and somewhat surreal fantasy universe, where most residents speak Farsi and have Iranian descent. The setting, characterized by graveyards alongside highways, empty malls, and rural bars, evokes a sense of emptiness and isolation reminiscent of the show "Northern Exposure" after developers arrived in the town. Like "Northern Exposure," "Universal Language" centers around the central decency and humanity of its characters. The film's peculiarity lies in its exceptional use of cuts, shots, and color, which prevents it from becoming cloying. Instead, it serves as an earnest exploration of memory and responsibility.

The film takes place in an alternate surreal reality where English doesn't exist, Winnipeg's native language is for some reason Persian of all languages and Tim Horton's sells tea instead of coffee. No reason to explain why, the start credits are already in Persian, enter a world of subtle absurdities. But this is not a foreign movie, there's not much else about Iran or Iranians (the plot/trailer are misleading), it's supposed to be ordinary Winnipeggers. The rest is just a lovely universal human story mixed with alternative facts and made up history.

For the big fans of absurd humour such as myself, the sense of humour is impeccable. Matched with visually interesting filming locations, like large patterned cement buildings akin of 50s futuristic worlds, good music and good performances. You might need to be Quebecois to appreciate how funny the Quebec bits are.

Universal Language is an intriguing film that tells three stories set in Winnipeg, Canada. A government worker in Quebec leaves his job and heads for home to see the mother he left years ago. A tour guide shows the curious tourist attractions of Winnipeg in the most bizarre of the three stories. Finally, two children try and rescue a large bill frozen in ice so that a school friend can buy much needed glasses.

All three of these stories on the surface sound naturalistic, but director Mathew Rankin has a few tricks up his sleeve.

For instance, all of these stories take place in the Iranian communities of Winnipeg. Are there Iranians in Canada? Yes, according to Wikipedia, .8% of Canadians are of Iranian descent. That means about eight in one thousand. However, Universal Language takes place in a world where nearly half of the country (or at least nearly half of Winnipeg) is Iranian. Signs are in both French and Farsi (strangely, none in English). Also, while I don't know much about money in either Canada or Iran, I doubt if either country has Edgar Allan Poe on its currency (although they should).

This summary sounds like a weird comedy in the Guy Maddin tradition, and some of Universal Language has that vibe. However, there is a serious side to the film. The story with the children trying to rescue a bill from ice recalls the children focused Iranian films Children of Heaven and The White Balloon. Like those film, the story has an earnest quality to it even with the bizarre touches (like the butcher hot to show his turkey decapitating saw to the children).

Finally, I must mention the reunion between the government worker and his mother. The film concludes with a sadness that I had not expected.

Universal Language is not a film for everyone. I was the only viewer of the four in the theater to find the film funny. The other three did not seem to "get" the film. That is too bad. Universal Language is a film that deserves more recognition than it has received.

For its creativity, inventiveness, soundtrack, boldness, unique humor, cast, and sociolinguistic vision, it's a yes. For the film's length, contextual setup, and a few redundancies, it's less so. Excellent directing technique and a brilliant idea in how the characters are written in one of the film's final scenes (a remarkable process) and its significance up to the end. One shouldn't go into this movie expecting a linear narrative. That said, this aspect doesn't truly detract from the quality of the plot. A beautiful progression from Rankin as a director since his film The Twentieth Century. A few common elements between these two productions (dreamlike quality, kitsch...) are already beginning to define what will become his personal signature over time.

UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE is an oddball comedy that at first seems like something from the French "theatre of the absurd" of 100 years ago. One character is a tour guide in Winnipeg, a really dull town, especially in the dead of winter. It's fun to watch him try to make something interesting out of things like a dried-up fountain in the courtyard of a virtually deserted shopping mall, or a briefcase left at a bus stop in the 1970s. And there's the lady whose job is to promote the use of Kleenex. She goes to funerals giving out Kleenexes and encouraging people to cry. She herself collects her tears. In her closet, she has several jars of tears with labels on them indicating the years they were shed. There's a bingo parlor where the prizes are crates of Kleenex. Or the schoolboy who wants to be a comedian and goes around dressed and made up like Groucho Marx. And, of course, a turkey alleged to have won an avian beauty contest, who steals a boy's glasses. There are many other threads of the story that are all seemingly unrelated. I decided early on not to try to make sense of it and just see what happens next. I believe that that is the right strategy to take watching this movie. Amazingly it all comes together at the end to make a rather sweet and heartfelt story. It's in French and Farsi with English subtitles. Wisely clocking in at slightly less than an hour and a half, it's a delicate film with something to say about Love.