Universal Language

This distinctly odd Canadian movie is a delightful deadpan comedy about the kindness of strangers, and as such a profound film about what constitutes home in a globalized age. In wintery Winnipeg, Massoud (cowriter Pirouz Nemati) conducts a sightseeing tour around the Beige District. Meanwhile two school friends try to find Nazgol’s lost specs in the snow, and Matthew (Matthew Rankin) arrives from Quebec to visit his mother. For reasons which remain obscure everyone here speaks Farsi, and the mise-en-scene will remind cinephiles of Iranian masters like Abbas Kiarostami. None of this should work, but the movie is both very funny and surprisingly poignant.

A gently funny, gently moving, slightly surrealist little comedy that’s aimed at two groups of people: Canadians, specifically but not exclusively those who know Winnipeg, and aficionados of Iranian cinema.

Alissa Wilkinson, New York Times

Universal Language is a magnificent film, one that feels warm and familiar even as we realize just how startlingly original it is.

Bilge Eberi, New York magazine

It’s a film whose magnificence sneaks up on you, delighting in plenty of clever silliness before hitting you with a succession of somber scenes that lay you flat.

Chase Hutchinson, The Wrap