As in Anderson’s films, Rankin is interested in exploring the reality of his film, a reality full of idiosyncrasies that serve as fertile ground for comedy
Tale
An absurdist triptych of seemingly unrelated stories finds a mysterious point of intersection in this tale set somewhere between Winnipeg and Tehran and Burton CummingsPerformed by The Guess Who. From its cinematography and its usual search for symmetry, static or tracking shot, to its story that revolves around different characters, how their lives intersect and enliven a dialogue that is sometimes polite, sometimes not so much, a Wes Anderson influence runs through Matthew Rankin’s feature film from beginning to end.
With a comedy that is made up of ironic, deadpan and black humour, A Universal Language manages to be hilarious whenever it wants to
An angry teacher who shouts at his students in class, one of whom claims that a turkey stole his glasses; another dresses up as Groucho Marx because he wants to be a comedian; another as a fashionista; a freelance tour guide who chooses strange things for his trip, etc. There are many times when its events border on the absurd or surreal, which enhances the comedy that bathes it but never undermines its goal of thought-provoking depth.
Rankin’s skill manages to evoke a surreal and dreamlike fable, but also an expressive introspective melancholy
Elements and feelings that merge and give life to a special experience between places and times, realities and dreams. For example, in the reality of the film, even though we are in Canada, French, and much less English, seems to be a second language, and Persian appears instead.
The camera is sometimes static from a distance, observing their movement and how it affects the environment rather than focusing on their faces and expressions with close-ups
Everyone talks about it, and the posters and billboards are written on it, making its result something close yet distant, known and unknown intermingled in a new culturally and demographically blind reality. In terms of cinematography, often Anderson-like, more in framing and movement than in color palette, there is a constant willingness to inhabit the spaces where the characters are.
It’s as if the place is as important as the characters to tell the story, and Rankin wants to make sure that we enter it like tourists in a foreign land
And while in terms of names we may know these cities, in the framework of the film and its demographic profile that does not match our knowledge, there may be reasons to enter these spaces.