TIFF 2024 Reviews: Matt and Mara, All of You

Courtesy of TIFF – Matt Johnson and Deragh Campbell in MATT AND MARA

Two titles at the Toronto International Film Festival I viewed stood out as having similar themes.  What happens when friends discover, or at least finally recognize, a deeper type of love exists?  Both films have very different ways of tackling this notion, even if their conclusions may be similar.

Director Kazik Radwanski knew he had to reunite with actors Deragh Campbell and Matt Johnson after working with them on Anne at 13,000 Ft., a film that premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival.  The result is Matt and Mara, a quiet, thoughtful film that follows a pair of university friends as they reconnect.

Since university, Matt has become a published author, living in New York City.  Mara, is a creative writing professor and married to a musician, Samir (Mounir Al Shami) whom she seems happy enough with as they raise their toddler in a cozy Toronto apartment.  So when Matt walks into her classroom after years of being apart she sees no harm in getting a cup of coffee.  That cup of coffee though turns into walks around Toronto (Campbell even bravely drinking some water out of one of the fountains found at Dundas Square – we are lucky she’s still with us) and a road trip to Ithaca where it becomes clear Matt is maybe sticking around for more than just friendship and Mara may have to confront feelings of her own.

If the dialogue between Campbell and Johnson (and their co-stars for that matter) seem exceedingly natural there’s reason for that.  While there was a blueprint for this film, a scene map so to speak, everything is improvised.  In fact there are moments of this film, including scenes where Mara talks to students or her colleague about an upcoming conference, that almost feel as if they’re in a documentary.  That improvisation I’m sure took the film to some unexpected places, but also perhaps lets the film meander.

The two leads play off of one another. Deragh Campbell throws off a bit of a Sarah Polley vibe, and as Mara she’s a bit of an introvert, awkward even.  Matt Johnson, who directed last year’s critical hit Blackberry, doesn’t really want to be called an actor.  He says there is a reason most of the characters he plays need to be called Matt.  But he is her opposite – social, charismatic, playful.   It’s easy to see why Radwanski wanted to reunited the actors, as they have a comfort around one another, making their newly re-ignited friendship believable.

Matt and Mara is one of those films that needs a re-visit after the hustle and bustle of a festival to fully appreciate all its subtleties.  I feel like some of its nuance may have been lost on me, and I wanted it to go deeper into its exploration of this relationship. In the Q & A period this film, Matt Johnson brought up a quote from Carl Jung.  “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”  I loved this thought about these two people, and I’d like to watch it again with this in mind.

It’s hard to put this movie into a box – is it a comedy? A romance? A drama?  What it is, is realistic.  For there are all different types of messy love out there, and this film offers its characters no solutions to their predicament.  Sometimes love is just lost, and needs to stay there.

Courtesy of TIFF – Imogen Poots and Brett Goldstein in ALL OF YOU

That is a lesson not learned by the two main characters in William Bridges’ film All of You.  Simon (Brett Goldstein) and Laura (Imogen Poots) have also been friends since university, but nothing more.  However, it’s quite clear from early on that Simon is carrying a bit of a torch for his beautiful best friend.  Is this love unrequited, or has the timing just never been right? Either way, Laura has decided to take her future into her own hands.

With Bridges using his history as a writer on the series Black Mirror he injects a little science fiction into this romance.  In the not so distant future there is a test you can take that will find your soul mate, and Laura, tired of the dating scene, has decided to take this leap. Simon doesn’t love this idea.  All his friends that have taken the test have all but disappeared from his life while they start their new ‘guaranteed’ relationships.  He thinks the test is taking all the ‘good bits’ out of just finding love yourself.  But, being the supportive friend (or perhaps hoping she will find out her soul mate has been him all along) Simon takes her to take the test.

Of course, the test points her in another direction and she ends up marrying Lukas (Steven Cree).  But, through the years, which All of You deftly navigates with little hints of the time jumps, the love between Simon and Laura becomes undeniable.  The two begin a passionate affair, and Simon’s ‘addiction’ to Laura is fed with each encounter.  But what of Laura’s soul mate? Is the natural love these two share worth more than the science, and stable partner, Laura has put her faith into?

All of You‘s largest asset is the chemistry between Goldstein and Poots, which is off the chart.  This is especially apparent in a pretty well perfect scene within the film that takes place in a hotel bar.  The pair have perfect banter, and enough sexual tension that by the time the two finally do act on their feelings you can’t help but root for them despite the messiness of their affair.  For those that know Goldstein best as Roy Kent on Ted Lasso, you won’t be surprised at Goldstein’s ability to tap into his sensitive side (we all know Kent is a bit of a softy at heart) but he gets to go deeper here, and prove he is a quality leading man.  As Laura, Poots absolutely shines and you can see why Simon just can’t quit her.

Under Bridges’ lens, London becomes a romantic place to be and this couple seems inevitable from the start.  Their back and forth between being together and fighting their attraction becomes a little repetitive as time goes on and they do become harder to cheer for.  But what I like about this bittersweet, tear-jerker of a love story is that we never find out if the soulmate test is actually correct.  It hangs over these characters’ heads, perhaps a threat to their happiness if it’s wrong, but what if it’s right?

Matt and Mara had its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival September 11th, 2024.  All of You had its World premiere at the festival September 7th, 2024.  For more information head to tiff.net.