Lenguaje Universal

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.

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.

This very unusual film by Matthew RANKIN is being entered by Canada into the race for the OSCAR for Best International Film and has already made it onto the shortlist for this award.

The interwoven stories are set in snow-covered Canada (in Quebec and Winnipeg) and tell of bizarre characters who experience very unusual things. No more should be revealed at this point, as this film thrives on its satirical bizarreness. We can reveal that the characters appear almost exclusively speak Persian, and the whole thing takes place against a very monotonous city backdrop. In Persian, UNE LANGUE UNIVERSELLE probably means THE SONG OF THE TURKEY. And a turkey is not entirely unimportant for the course of the plot.

The film is definitely something special and can be interpreted in many different ways. A story about migrants, problems of people from Iran in a bizarre setting or even a nightmare of a homeland where the familiar French is no longer spoken: all of these interpretations are conceivable and certainly many more. In any case, you experience a magically transfigured film that shows everything familiar in a new and satirically transfigured light. But above all, these are very human stories that bring a smile to the audience's face despite the icy cold of the snowy landscapes shown.

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.

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.