Those who know me, know I like quirky movies. I’ve seen quite a few over the years at the Evans Theatre—Top of the Food Chain, Six String Samurai, Jesus Christ: Vampire Hunter[1]It occurs to me that all three of these were midnight shows., and dozens of others.
Add to the list[2]And pin it to the top, too. Universal Language, which I saw just a few hours ago and wish I could watch again.
It’s winter in Winnipeg. Omid has lost his glasses (they were stolen by a turkey); his school chums Negin and Nazgol, having discovered a 500-Riel banknote embedded in the ice, hope to buy him a new pair. First, though, they have to figure out how to get the money out of the ice.
Matthew, weary of living in Montréal, discards all his possessions—his briefcase, his phone, and the wallet he emptied to buy a one-way ticket—and boards a bus for his hometown, Winnipeg. It’ll soon be his mother’s birthday, and he’s been away from home for too long.
Massoud, meanwhile, leads a guided tour of Winnipeg, which is not—let’s be honest—a tourist destination, especially in February.
These three narratives weave in and out of each other in ways that are amusing, surprising, wry, and sad, and in the end—as is the way in stories—nothing has changed, except everything has. Along the way we encounter a dizzying, almost bewildering set of people and locales:
- a cowboy-hatted turkey vendor who serenades his birds before they encounter the circular saws
- a Tim Hortons across from Louis Riel’s grave
- a florist selling live crocuses
- a lacrimologist with jars full of tears labelled 2002 to 2019
- a long-dry mall fountain where you daren’t loiter
- an ambulatory Christmas tree
- a fantastically symmetrical room in a Québécois office complex
- an abandoned briefcase
- a dazzling (literally) ice dancer
and everywhere, everywhere, everywhere, Winnipeg traffic.
I think this might be my favourite movie of this year’s Evans season. It’s also my favourite movie about Winnipeg, too. There were many, many moments where I thought, No one will believe this.
No one, that is, except people who have spent time in Winnipeg[3]I wondered, several times, how much of the movie anyone not from Manitoba would understand..
I really hope this comes to DVD. I’d very much like my own copy.