Matt And Mara

Mara attempts to maintain her composure as Matt unexpectedly interrupts her university poetry class; an old friend and now a successful writer, he’s recently returned to Toronto. This proves to be just the first of many disruptions, as their reconnection forces them to navigate an uncategorisable bond at once solid, deep-rooted and mercurial, where tenderness and affection coexist with envy, gaslighting and frustration. Like Kazik Radwanski’s previous films, MATT AND MARA tracks the intimate and messy reverberations of relationships and selves in flux, reuniting him with a never-better Deragh Campbell—who communicates Mara’s uncertainties and inconsistencies both through dialogue and wordlessly—and a kinetic but precisely calibrated Matt Johnson. While hewing closest to Mara, the film also finds the filmmaker working on an increasingly broad canvas, as Mara’s interactions with her husband Samir (Mounir Al Shami), infant daughter, friends and colleagues steadily reveal more about her doubts and convictions. Shot and edited with quiet confidence and a keen grasp of space that reflects the lean, collaborative means of its production, MATT AND MARA is Radwanski’s richest and most moving film to date. (Jesse Cumming)

In the presence of Kazik Radwanski.

Kazik Radwanski: ASSAULT (2007, K), PRINCESS MARGARET BLVD. (2008, K), OUT IN THAT DEEP BLUE SEA (2009, K), GREEN CRAYONS (2010, K), TOWER (2012) HOW HEAVY THIS HAMMER (2015), SCAFFOLD (2017, K), ANNE AT 13,000 FT (2019)