Matthew Rankin has launched his new movie ‘Universal Language’ and there are really high chances that it might be likened to movies from Canadian writer and director Wes Anderson. Much like Rankin’s latest, the film makes use of sharp tone and humor with an inclination towards a surrealist landscape of Canadian cities. The action scenes also add to the visual appeal of the film making it quite profound.
Rankin, Ila Firouzabadi, and Pirouz Nemati have been able to carve out a strong narrative that completely obliterates any comparison to a Wes Anderson film. The fans of Anderson will enjoy ‘Universal Language’ but there is no denying that the movie is burst with originality and I can even go on record and say that it surpasses Anderson’s works. The progression of the film is perfect because Rankin understands that showing a set of witty scenes followed by bleak ones will help retain the audience’s attention.
Unlike other films, ‘Universal Language’ made its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival 2024, and rather chose to first display at the Director’s Fortnight section. One of the earliest scenes of the movie includes a well highlighted outdoor depiction of a school, where students are shown playing in a class while their teacher (Mani Soleymanlou) is stuck in traffic.
This goes on to show how cinematographer Isabelle Stachtchenko has created the film in a different fashion than the rest of the movies. When the teacher shows up, he starts scolding the children for being silent and asks them about the dreams they have before sending them out individually. This is a fascinating beginning as it is hilarious as well as provides a glimpse into what is to come. In this universe and ours, dreams are indeed difficult to grasp.
As we go through this phase, we meet some of the students in class including Omid (Sobhan Javad) whose glasses, are taken away by one of many turkeys in the movie, he is showing a casting speech. After a hilarious scene with a swing set the two main protagonists Negin(Rojina Esmaeili) and Nazgûl (Saba Vahedyousefi) start off as it is they are frozen in ice on a real note. In their quest to find Omid a new pair of glasses, they free a pair of escaped prisoners, which turns out to be quite a handful.
Likewise, Rankin performs one more role where he is a dweller of a city ready to quit work and head back home after what appears to be a long time away. After a rather comical exit interview in which He is advised to simply state that he had an Okay experience there, he gets on a bus which almost immediately breaks down, He will then spend the bulk of his time slogging through the snow in search of the way back home.
It then evolves into a strange journey embellished with the same commercials of turkeys or the Kleenex store. It is not possible, however, to ignore the associations which are instantly made with Jacques Tati’s detailed film of 1967, PlayTime for this is but one of the facets of the film. Although it presents us with an often bleak and frigid environment, there is a delicate center in Rankin’s film. It is like the ice that these youths want to break through so as to be able to take the money out, the more the film bites, the more treasures it reveals.
In his eyes, Iran is woven into the Canadian tapestry and as part of the people’s fabric. For Rankin it is the little instances that one should take time off to watch out due to the fact they matter.
Though the film is packed with witty and romanticized thoughts, it is the last part of the film that offers the most powerful scenes. The humor never really completely dies, but that’s when the different tonal and emotional shifts start to take place as well. The first time his character goes back to his old home he is living in now is for a scene that has no dialogue and depicts another family that lives there and their happiness. It is more surprisingly, a beautifully rendered moment when he goes there and is sort of invited. Even if the film is designed and edited in a straight comedic style these are the parts where an extreme sense of dramatization comes to the fore.
Notably the climax and the pre climax of the movie in the last series of shots, arrive in a remarkable way much to the anticipation of the viewers. Yet it is without a doubt the movie’s concluding ‘twist’ but has been ARTfully complimented into what Rankin you during the journey of the movie. To be precise, it is the tiniest of things that captivate Rankin in the closing minutes of the film.
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