X
- 2025
- Oscilloscope Laboratories
- 1 h 29 m
- 2025
- Oscilloscope Laboratories
- 1 h 29 m
Summary In a mysterious and surreal interzone somewhere between Tehran and Winnipeg, the lives of multiple characters interweave with each other in surprising and mysterious ways. Gradeschoolers Negin and Nazgol find a sum of money frozen in the winter ice and try to claim it. Meanwhile, Massoud leads a group of increasingly-befuddled tourists t...
Directed By: Matthew Rankin
Written By: Ila Firouzabadi, Pirouz Nemati, Matthew Rankin
- 2025
- Oscilloscope Laboratories
- 1 h 29 m
- 2025
- Oscilloscope Laboratories
- 1 h 29 m
Universal Language
6.2
Where to Watch
Coming Soon
Not available in your country?
ExpressVPN
Get 3 Extra months free
$6.67/mth
Summary In a mysterious and surreal interzone somewhere between Tehran and Winnipeg, the lives of multiple characters interweave with each other in surprising and mysterious ways. Gradeschoolers Negin and Nazgol find a sum of money frozen in the winter ice and try to claim it. Meanwhile, Massoud leads a group of increasingly-befuddled tourists t...
Directed By: Matthew Rankin
Written By: Ila Firouzabadi, Pirouz Nemati, Matthew Rankin
Where to Watch
Coming Soon
Not available in your country?
ExpressVPN
Get 3 Extra months free
$6.67/mth
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim Based on 24 Critic Reviews
84
92% Positive
22 Reviews
22 Reviews
8% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim Based on 24 Critic Reviews
84
92% Positive
22 Reviews
22 Reviews
8% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Feb 14, 2025
There is no single category that you can slot Rankin’s mix of a wink, a nudge and an embrace into, so we guess “lo-fi masterpiece” will have to do until a better option comes along.
Jan 21, 2025
Universal Language is a film flooded with sorrow and spirit, discombobulating surrealism and comforting sentimentality.
User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 26 User Ratings
6.2
65% Positive
17 Ratings
17 Ratings
12% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
23% Negative
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 26 User Ratings
6.2
65% Positive
17 Ratings
17 Ratings
12% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
23% Negative
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
Mar 25, 2025
It actually takes more than one viewing to even begin to appreciate the wonderful complexities of this film. I just saw it again yesterday and, like the best of cinema, the more you watch Rankin's beautiful fever dream, the better it gets. During this viewing, I was transported right back into the genius of Jacques Tati's PLAYTIME., and experienced a sublime mental double bill.
Report
Mar 11, 2025
‘Universal Language’ owes many of its ideas to Jacques Tati, David Mamet, and Wes Anderson, but its unlikely success in alternating between hilarious absurdity and beautiful poignancy is distinctly its own.
Report
Sep 17, 2024
The story navigates the fine line between community pride and nationalistic zeal, providing lessons for a future while admitting to the existential futility of it all. We can shift our perspective, but every time we do, things stay pretty much the same.
May 25, 2024
Universal Language is first and foremost a testament to the shared artifice of all filmic storytelling, and to the singular realities it’s able to bring alive in turn.
Feb 14, 2025
Rankin seems to be seeking out the universal language of cinema itself. In his own very weird way he manages to find it, turning an everyday place into something momentarily special — which is what all good movies are meant to do.
Sep 8, 2024
Though juxtaposing Canada’s drabness and relative lack of heritage with Iran’s millennia of unbroken tradition brings out the former aspects particularly clearly, Universal Language is aiming beyond mere satire or culture-clash playfulness.
Feb 14, 2025
The oblique nature of the final act might perhaps be justified if the rest of the movie were better. As it is, I kept thinking, “I guess that’s funny, in a way” rather than actually laughing at any of Mr. Rankin’s aggressively whimsical notions.
Feb 23, 2025
Philosophers and metaphysicians are generally quick to agree that we’re all fundamentally connected, both to one another and to everything around us, that there’s a certain universality binding all there is in our existence. But how many of us actually take the time to truly recognize, consider and appreciate this? Maybe this calls for stepping away from our everyday world and immersing ourselves in some sort of alternate version of it to see the inherent connections and the value that lie therein. That’s what writer-actor-director Matthew Rankin so eloquently shows us in his second feature outing, an absurdist fable of seemingly unrelated stories that ultimately tie together to illustrate the bonds that unite us and how we can put them to best use for our collective benefit. This triptych of tall tales tells the stories of a Quebec government worker (Rankin) who quits his job to return home to visit his long-estranged mother in Winnipeg; a part-time tour guide (Pirouz Nemati) who leads small bands of visitors on an excursion of mundane, unimpressive alleged tourist sites in Manitoba’s capital city; and a pair of concerned grade school classmates (Rojina Esmaeili, Saba Vahedyousefi) who try to secure funds to help a friend (Sobhan Javadi) replace his lost eye glasses when they fall off and are quickly pilfered by a crafty. free-roaming wild turkey. The assistance these individuals freely offer to others (and receive from them in kind) to get through the quirky challenges of these bizarre circumstances, in turn, reveals the unspoken “universal language” that binds all of us – our mutual compassion and support for one another, particularly those in need. All of this is set against the backdrop of an alternate version of Canada (where the primary language is Farsi) in winter, providing a fitting setting for wending our way through the cold world that surrounds us. “Universal Language” thus serves up a heartwarming, gentle yet insightful story that reminds us of our innate linkage and the goodwill that we’re all capable of unselfishly extending to one another when warranted, something that, ideally, should come to us as second nature, as it does for the characters in this film. And all of this is nestled into a wealth of hilarious, off-the-wall humor, coming across like a mixture of Monty Python and Federico Fellini. Admittedly, the film’s opening act may seem somewhat disjointed and perhaps even a bit too idiosyncratic for its own good at times, but these issues gradually dissipate as the picture plays out and the pieces of its various story threads begin piecing themselves together, revealing the aforementioned intrinsic connections among us. This delightful indie gem has largely flown below the radar thus far, despite its awards, nominations and rave reception at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, as well as its designation as one of the National Board of Review’s Top 5 International Films of last year. Indeed, at a time when it seems like there’s so much dividing us, it’s gratifying to see a release like this, one that tenderly spotlights more of what binds us than what sets us apart.
Report
Production Company
- Metafilms
Release Date Feb 14, 2025
Duration 1 h 29 m
Awards
Le Gala Quebec Cinema
• 17 Nominations
Canadian Screen Awards, CA
• 6 Wins & 13 Nominations
Montclair Film Festival (MFF)
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
