Une Langue Universelle

In a city blending contemporary Manitoba and 1990s Tehran, two girls, a tour guide and a bureaucrat cross paths. Matthew Rankin brings to bear his love for Winnipeg and Iranian cinema in a charming and original tribute to both.

Two enterprising young girls try to free a banknote frozen in ice, a tour guide leads a perplexed group around a wintry city and a government worker sets off on a homeward trek. Modern-day Winnipeg, Canada, meets 1990s Tehran, Iran, in Matthew Rankin’s absurd and honest sophomore feature, Une langue universelle.

In this delightfully strange and blended city, the local language of Farsi can be found on Tim Hortons signs, the Kleenex Repository is a familiar landmark and a long-lost briefcase on a bench has been demarcated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Canadian filmmaker evokes the art direction of Wes Anderson while simultaneously drawing upon the poetics of the Iranian New Wave, as is Rankin’s love for the auteurs of Iranian cinema.

Une langue universelle joins an oeuvre of sometimes offbeat but always heartfelt tributes to Winnipeg including Rankin’s comedic short Municipal Relaxation Module (2022). It’s a privilege to be let into the endlessly creative mind of Winnipeg-born Rankin, who co-stars as a Farsi-speaking deadpan bureaucrat.

– Oliva Popp

Trailer

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