Official Trailer for Matthew Rankin’s ‘Universal Language’ from Canada

Official Trailer for Matthew Rankin’s ‘Universal Language’ from Canada

by Alex Billington
August 22, 2024
Source: YouTube

“A strange odyssey with plenty of riches.” Oscilloscope Labs has revealed the first trailer for an acclaimed, one-of-a-kind film from Canada titled Universal Language, the second feature from Canadian filmmaker Matthew Rankin (after the icy The Twentieth Century). It premiered to rave reviews at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival in the Directors’ Fortnight sidebars – one of the best discoveries of Cannes 2024. Two kids find frozen cash, and try to retrieve it. A tour guide leads confused tourists around Winnipeg sites. A man quits his job, visits his mother. Storylines intertwine surreally as identities blur in a disorienting comedy. Starring Matthew Rankin, Pirouz Nemati, Rojina Esmaeili, Danielle Fichaud, and Sobhan Javadi. Rankin adds: “think of it as cinematic Venn diagramme between Winnipeg, Tehran, Montréal. It’s like a confluence of rivers. Or a Hawaiian pizza. It’s a crazy duck-billed platypus of a movie: one part lonesome Québécois cinéma gris, one part surreal Winnipeg puzzle film, one part Kanoon-style Iranian poetic realism, all three of which reflect and refract through the prism of each other.” Haven’t stopped thinking about it – a must see.

Here’s the first official US trailer for Matthew Rankin’s film Universal Language, from YouTube:

In a mysterious, surreal interzone somewhere between Tehran 🇮🇷 and Winnipeg 🇨🇦, the lives of multiple characters interweave with each other in surprising and mysterious ways. The gradeschoolers Negin and Nazgol find a sum of money frozen in the winter ice and try to acquire 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. Universal Language, also known as Une Langue Universelle in French-Canadian, is directed by acclaimed Canadian filmmaker Matthew Rankin, his second feature film after making The Twentieth Century previously, plus many other shorts. The screenplay is co-written by Ila Firouzabadi, Pirouz Nemati, and Matthew Rankin. Produced by Sylvain Corbeil. This film initially premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival in the Directors’ Fortnight sidebar. Oscilloscope Labs will debut Rankin’s Universal Language in select US theaters starting February 2025 early next year. For more info, visit the official site. Look good?

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