Universal Language

Tropic Sprockets by Ian Brockway

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From Matthew Rankin (“The Twentieth Century”), “Universal Language” is an absurdist melancholic comedy with its own odd symbols and imagery. It is certainly no chuckle fest, but it is remarkable for being the most curious and most unusual film this year. It was the Canadian nominee for Best International Film at this year’s Oscars.

In an imaginary Winnipeg, a teacher (Mani Soleymanlou) is at his wits end and orders the expulsion of the entire class because student Omid (Sobhan Javadi) is myopic and lost his glasses. The young student blames a gobbling turkey.

A few other students resolve to help Omid. Walking through snow and ice, a girl (Rojina Esmaeili) finds a valuable 500 riel bill frozen in ice. A wacky tour guide Massoud (Pirouz Nemati) offers to help with an axe, but nothing is simple.

A sequence of episodes commence creating a strange and sometimes morose parade.

There is a Kleenex showroom with boxes of tissues presented like a gameshow with a starry-eyed MC. In another, an actual turkey takes a seat on a travel bus. Then a grouchy man in a wheelchair with his face mostly hidden says no one is available to assist the children. There is, supposedly, a gigantic saw that no one can lift or take.

A girl goes to a tea shop for boiling water, but the owner of the shop does not trust her with such hot water. She then travels miles and miles to search for a sharp object to break the ice. She passes building after building designed in The Brutalist style of architecture hardly meeting a soul.

For some unknown reason, there is a man dressed as a Christmas tree who periodically appears throughout the film.

Near the end, a man (director Matthew Rankin) goes to see his cat’s grave.

While the film is very opaque, dry humored and comic bordering on the silly, there is an off kilter and lonely rhythm to the images that carry a distinct poetry. This is not in the mainstream and often goes against expected rhythms but like director Leos Carax (Holy Motors), this is Surrealism through and through.

Write Ian at ianfree11@yahoo.com