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‘Universal Language’ Director Matthew Rankin on Making a Comedy Without Borders for His Canadian Oscar Entry
Matthew Rankin and his 'Universal Language' co-writers on mixing Kiarostami and Winnipeg absurdity for Canada's foreign language Oscar entry.
Set in an alternate Great White North where Tim Hortons coffee shops are Persian tea houses and the principal language is Farsi (but Quebec is still French, because of course it is), Rankin’s film gently imagines a world without cinematic borders: an absurdist but warm-hearted vision that has disoriented and delighted festival audiences since its premiere in the Director’s Fortnight section at Cannes. “Universal Language” was a decade-long project for the trio, with roots tracing back to Rankin and Nemati’s time shooting “propaganda films” for Canada’s national parks. Drawing comparisons to other transnational oddities like Jim Jarmusch’s “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai” and Takeshi Kitano’s “Brother,” the trio see their own feature in the same tradition of fusing far-flung cinematic influences.
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