#universal language 2024

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Universal Language (2024), dir. Matthew Rankin

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Unserious Movie Reviews: UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE (2024)

Genre: Absurdist comedy/drama

Rating: G 

Length: 89 minutes

Director: Matthew Rankin

Country: Canada

Language: Farsi (Persian), Canadian French 

***Minor spoilers ahead***

I don’t watch a lot of international films. While I watch most of my Netflix shows with subtitles on, (hooray for audio processing disorder) I tend to get distracted by them when I’m watching a film in another language. But I read a brief synopsis of this film and I was intrigued.

Reader, if you get the chance, you must see this film. Universal Language is one of the most refreshingly original pieces of media I've ever seen.

This film takes place mostly in Winnipeg, where the Tim Hortons locations all have Farsi signage and samovars (a container for boiling water). There is an exhausted French immersion teacher, Mr. Bilodeau, who is disappointed in his unruly students, (one of whom allegedly had his glasses stolen by a turkey) and yearns for his dead ex-wife. Two of his students, Negin and Nazgol, find cash frozen in some ice, and struggle to find a way of extracting it. We see snippets of a guided tour of Winnipeg, but the significance of the places and objects is only appreciated by the tour guide, Massoud. A man named Matthew quits his job with the Quebec government and returns home to Winnipeg to a mother who doesn’t recognize him. These stories all interweave in fascinating ways. 

Universal Language is surreal, whimsical, poignant and absurd. And really funny. The subtitles do not hinder the humour. There is a side character, a man dressed up as a Christmas tree for an unexplained reason. Negin and Nazgol run into him. He asks them for a cigarette, and they don’t have any because they are children. He responds with something like, “My misfortune knows no bounds.” He delivers this line without a trace of irony. During the tour, Massoud points out a suitcase that was abandoned in 1973 at a bus stop. “What’s in the suitcase?” One person asks. “I don’t know,” says Massoud, “but it is believed that whoever left it was waiting for the bus.”

At the end of the film, one of the characters takes the thawed-out cash and returns it to the hole in the ice where it used to be. I have no idea why he does this. I am also not sure what this film was trying to tell me exactly. But it doesn’t matter. This film melted the ice around my heart. (I hadn't heard of the song "These Eyes" by Guess Who until Mr. Bilodeau says that the lyrics him of his ex. Oof. This song is also just a little too relevant for me and my personal life right now.)

I highly recommend that everyone take any chance they get to see this bizarre gem of a film. I myself will keep a lookout for any future works from Matthew Rankin. Dude's a genius, as far as I'm concerned.

9/10.