Before seeing Universal Language, I'd heard people compare writer/director Matthew Rankin's latest absurdist comedy (which he ...

Matthew Rankin’s second feature is something of an anomaly on this year’s Oscar shortlist for International Feature Film. For one thing, it takes place in a world that doesn’t actually exist, positing ...

Rarely has a film synthesized a director’s career inspirations and personal history in more aesthetically unique and drolly entertaining fashion as director Matthew Rankin’s Universal Language. The ...

Take this four-star tour of a Winnipeg that may never exist. The stony, terse comedy “Universal Language” has all the wind, snow and monotony one might envision in Manitoba, especially for those ...

There’s a scene partway through Matthew Rankin’s Universal Language that is a triumph of visual filmmaking. One of the protagonists, Matthew (aka Matheiu), played by the director himself, is arranging ...

Matthew Rankin’s “Universal Language” is likely the first story to take place in its setting: an alternate Winnipeg, Canada, where the Persian language is dominant, wild turkeys freely roam the ...

Director Matthew Rankin talks to IndieWire about the fine art of faking snow, even in Winnipeg. In “Universal Language,” two girls look for the means to liberate a huge bill frozen in ice; an intrepid ...

The new movie "Universal Language" draws a line between two very different cities - one East and one West. The Eastern city is Tehran - Iran's storied capital with thousands of years of history and a ...

A lightly satirical and surrealist comedy imagines the snowy Canadian city in the style of the Iranian New Wave. By Alissa Wilkinson When you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film ...