Following his Guy Maddin-influenced debut The Twentieth Century, Matthew Rankin has returned five years later with his follow-up. Universal Language, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and soon heads to TIFF, NYFF, and Fantastic Fest, marks quite an aesthetic pivot for the director, employing an Abbas-Kiarostami-meets-Wes-Anderson approach in telling a unique, Winnipeg-set tale. Now set for a February 2025 release from Oscilloscope, the first trailer has arrived.
Here’s the synopsis: “In a mysterious and surreal interzone somewhere between Tehran and Winnipeg, the lives of multiple characters interweave with each other in surprising and mysterious ways. Gradeschoolers Negin and Nazgol find a sum of money frozen in the winter ice and try to claim it. Meanwhile, Massoud leads a group of increasingly-befuddled tourists through the monuments and historic sites of Winnipeg. Matthew quits his meaningless job in a Québecois government office and sets out upon an enigmatic journey to visit his mother. Space, time and personal identities crossfade, interweave and echo into a surreal comedy of misdirection.”
Rory O’Connor said in his review, “Contrary to that exciting bustle of ideas, Universal Language‘s aesthetics are some of the most controlled in Rankin’s work. The film features diorama-like compositions that will call to mind both Wes and Roy Anders(s)on––a nice mix of the Texan’s sweet and the Swede’s dour––but any risk of twee is offset by the film’s naturalism and warmth: for all its surrealism, the world of Universal Language feels lived-in, and those lives feel consequential. It’s like nothing I’ve seen in Cannes this year.”
See the trailer below.
The post First Trailer for Matthew Rankin’s Cannes Standout Universal Language first appeared on The Film Stage.
