In his latest slice-of-life drama, indie director Kazik Radwanski walks us through a charmingly messy love triangle between two old friends and a faltering marriage.
Radwanski, considered a pioneer of the New Canadian Cinema movement, is known for crafting intimate character studies marked by a loose, semi-improvised style. That breezy approach is on full display in Matt and Mara, which finds the director reteaming with his muse, actress Deragh Campbell.
Campbell stars as Mara, a dissatisfied creative writing professor struggling to connect with her aloof musician husband Samir (Mounir al Shami). When her old pal Matt (Matt Johnson), now a successful author, breezes back into her life, their easy rapport reawakens a sense of possibility in Mara.
As the two chummily amble through the streets of Toronto, we witness the push and pull of their undefined relationship set against the stagnancy of Mara’s domestic life. While light on plot, the film brims with awkward tensions and unspoken questions about these characters’ desires and motivations.
Propelled by naturalistic performances and dialog, Matt and Mara offers an intimate peek into the emotional gray areas that often linger after the thrill of new love fades. So lace up your walking shoes, and let’s take an ambling stroll to see where this unexpected reunion takes our restless protagonists.
Digging into Murky Emotional Depth
Beneath its breezy exterior, Matt and Mara explores the murky waters where platonic affection and romantic possibility meet. The naturalistic performances and semi-improvised dialogue give the film a loose, observational tone, inviting us into the messy complexities of human connection.
At its core, the movie examines the charged tension between Matt and Mara’s intuitive bond and her increasingly lifeless marriage. Are the two long lost soulmates who never got their timing right? Or is Matt’s intoxicating presence a distraction keeping Mara from addressing issues closer to home?
The film allows these questions to linger in all their uncomfortable ambiguity. We witness Mara’s fleeting temptation to pursue an undefined flirtation on the heels of her failing relationship. But Radwanski refuses easy answers, instead sitting with the characters’ halting attempts to articulate half-formed desires shrouded in guilt and uncertainty.
While some may crave more closure, the film’s slice-of-life approach prizes emotional truth over plot. Mara and Matt’s awkward dance speaks to universal struggles in navigating the blurred lines between friendship and romance – those tangled “what ifs” that can reopen long after we think they’re sealed for good.
Lighting Up the Screen
At the heart of Matt and Mara lies the captivating chemistry between its two talented leads. Deragh Campbell brings her trademark emotional authenticity to the role of Mara, crafting a prickly yet sympathetic portrait of a woman thrust into an enticing yet ethically dubious situation. Meanwhile, Matt Johnson leans into his character’s boyish bravado, serving as the freewheeling yang to Campbell’s more guarded yin.
Campbell notably workshopped her role with Radwanski, and that collaborative spirit comes through in her richly layered performance. With subtle gestures and glances, she conveys both the playful thrill and undercurrent of anxiety triggered by Matt’s return. We can feel Mara’s growing frustration within her marriage, even as she grapples with guilt for indulging an outside flirtation. Throughout the film, Campbell balances inner turmoil with a sympathetic humanity.
As her rascally foil, Johnson brings a winning charm to the entitled but good-natured Matt. Beneath his cocksure swagger, we catch glimpses of his lingering immaturity and transparent need for validation – catnip for the creatively stifled Mara. The two play off each other with an easy, improvisational rhythm, underscored by a mutual vulnerability.
Together, Campbell and Johnson breathe life into the story’s central will-they-won’t-they tension, serving up an ambiguous emotional brew that consistently compels. Their compelling give-and-take keeps us invested through the story’s wanderings into life’s gray areas.
Keeping It Real
True to its slice-of-life approach, Matt and Mara employs an understated visual style and improvisational dialogue that highlight naturalism over flash.
Cinematographer Nikolay Michaylov captures the story’s breezy rhythms with unfussy camerawork that simply keeps pace with the meandering characters. We follow the pair on long walks and drives, the subtle push-ins on faces and two-shots subtly echoing their growing closeness. Meanwhile,editor Ajla Odobašić smoothly knits together the semi-improvised exchanges with an invisible touch.
The scenes unfold with the loose, wandering feel of actual conversations. Credit goes to screenwriters Deragh Campbell and Matt Johnson, who helped shape much of the dialogue through on-set improvisation. Their words dance and overlap with an off-the-cuff wit that stays just the right side of overly written.
As Matt and Mara banter about relationships, music, writing and everything in between, we feel like innocent bystanders ease-dropping on a fascinatingly complex bond. The natural chemistry between Campbell and Johnson fuels their rambling discourses, which often say as much in what’s left unsaid.
The breezy filmmaking style trusts the audience to read between the lines, avoiding the temptation to overexplain. Instead Radwanski and company leave space for life’s messy edges to breathe, crafting an authentic mood of uncertainty. Like peeking through a window at real people figuring life out in real time, we’re simply invited to watch it all unfold.
Going with the Flow
As a slice-of-life character study, Matt and Mara pointedly avoids familiar narrative beats in favor of mirroring the organic rhythms of actual lived experience. We enter Mara’s world just as her long-dormant friendship with Matt reemerges, and we exit just as abruptly once their brief season of reconnection comes to an uneasy rest.
Within this compact timeline, there are no clear heroic arcs or cathartic closure – only the natural ebbs and flows between two complicated people navigating the gap between who they were and who they want to become. Their non-committal waltz leaves us, like them, suspended in ambiguity.
The film’s final moments capture this perfectly. In the backseat of Matt’s car, Mara seems on the verge of either consummating or ending their flirtation for good. But just then, Matt’s phone buzzes with a new dating prospect. As Mara processes this, Radwanski cuts abruptly to black, leaving the moment’s meaning tantalizingly open-ended.
Some have criticized this resistance to tidy resolution. But the film is less concerned with plot than with creating a true-to-life portrait of how people and relationships evolve organically – or don’t. Mara’s desire for change remains at a slow simmer rather than reaching a dramatic boil. But that is how growth often unfolds in real life – through tentative steps rather than leaps. By leaving its questions hanging, Matt and Mara invites us to reflect on our own simmering transitions – the subtle changes hiding under life’s surface.
Drawing Us In
With its keen observations and morally ambiguous characters, Matt and Mara pulls us into the unpredictable currents of complex interpersonal relationships. While some may yearn for tidier resolutions, the film’s great strength lies in its willingness to sit with the messiness of real life.
At its best, the movie insightfully explores the tension between our desire for passion and our need for stability. Mara grapples with a growing alienation from her husband just as a new possibility emerges in Matt’s gust of freewheeling charm. Their chemistry kindles hopes for a romantic fusion, even as we sense Mara may simply crave the creative and emotional spark Matt represents.
For those who have treasured past friendships blurred by the faint glimmer of unrealized potential, the story will undoubtedly resonate. Radwanski and his very human protagonists invite us to reflect on our own stories – those chapters left unfinished between the neat beginnings and ends.
While secondary characters admittedly feel underdeveloped, the film’s loose narrative approach stays true to life’s beautiful messiness. Rather than stage dramatic showdowns, Radwanski patiently steeps us in the uncertainty between Mara, Matt and Samir. Their wary dance of guarded attraction and repressed tensions reveals the director’s deep understanding of human nature.
By giving his actors space to improvise within the chaos, Radwanski unearths relatable truths. Matt and Mara celebrates the heart’s unwillingness to be confined by the roles we adopt. Through every restless glance and awkward silence, we sense Mara straining against the tidy boxes of wife, mother, teacher. Like all caged birds, she yearns for skies unknown.
This graceful meditation on life’s irresolution may not satisfy those seeking clear messages or firm takeaways. But for the adventurous, its sensitivity to the poetry of human frailty offers rich rewards. Like the most enduring songs, it leaves us with more riffs to unravel long after the final notes fade.
The Review
Matt and Mara
Poetic yet grounded, Matt and Mara casts an empathetic gaze on the restlessness lurking beneath life’s placid surfaces. Kazik Radwanski deftly helms this slippery drama of reconnection and repression starring two captivating leads. For those tired of pat resolutions, the story’s tender insights into love’s vagaries offer cinematic soul food
PROS
- Strong lead performances from Deragh Campbell and Matt Johnson
- Naturalistic improvisational dialogue
- Intimate, low-key visual style
- Insightful exploration of complex relationships
- Messy emotional authenticity and moral ambiguity
- Resonant examination of rekindling old connections
- Open-ended conclusion embraces life's irresolution
CONS
- Underdeveloped secondary characters
- Meandering slice-of-life approach lacks narrative drive
- Ambiguous ending may dissatisfy some viewers
- Low-key minimalist style could bore certain audiences
