Man Proposes, God Disposes: Promising but unfulfilling Jarmusch-esque debut by Canadian director

By Liam Lacey

Rating: C-plus

In Man Proposes, God Disposes, a lanky shaven-headed young Polish thief, Karol discovers that the Brazilian student tourist he slept with is pregnant. For the first time in his life, Karol experiences a sense of responsibility.

Karol (played by Mateusz Nedza with a certain dirt-bag charm) ditches his posse of miscreant friends, angry sister and upset mother, and somehow finds the means to fly to Sao Paolo, Brazil, to reconnect with Bruna (Bruna Massarelli). 

Bruna Massarelli and Mateusz Nędza try to make sense of their impending parenthood.

Bruna is a spirited young woman with bright red-hair, a close circle of friends, and better prospects than tying her life to her bad-choice holiday fling. Yet, unexpectedly, she agrees to take him in, despite their relative unfamiliarity with each other and cultural and class differences. Karol finds a Brazilian friend and gets a job delivering water jugs. Karol and Bruna squabble in broken English (their common language) and form a bond together as her pregnancy progresses. 

Fitting, given its plot, Man Proposes has a one-night stand at the new Paradise Theatre on Tuesday night at 1006 Bloor Street tonight, followed by a Q&A with the Canadian director Daniel Leo. The film is also available on iTunes as of today. Neither exactly a comedy nor a fleshed-out drama, Man Proposes falls on the promising-debut pile though the promising parts are definitely worthy of attention. 

First released in 2017, and after making international festival rounds, the film has a fluid, artful style that does a superlative job of establishing place, whether soaring over the historic red brick rooftops of Gdansk, Poland or, later, stranding us in high-rises of Sao Paolo, Brazil.

As well as looking good, Man Proposes, God Disposes has an amiable Jim Jarmusch-like vibe – the camaraderie of outsiders, the multi-cultural bridges, the deadpan humour – though, unfortunately the script (Leo plus three others are credited) falls short of Jarmuschian balance of lightness and depth. The dialogue here sounds improvisatory and awkward as the characters, and actors, struggle to connect through English as a second language. Sometimes the dialogue is dropped entirely in favour of extended montages, accompanied by ambient sound or the throbbing score from Maurício Zani which risks making the film come across like a stylish karaoke video.

The film’s rhyming title is from Thomas à Kempis’ 15th century devotional book, The Imitation of Christ, though that’s not much of a clue as to what the film is trying to work out. Though both Poland and Brazil, where abortion is illegal, are predominantly Catholic cultures – and at one point Karal climbs atop a high-rise and assumes a crucifix pose - religion barely figures in the story.  We also watch Bruna watching TV footage of the 2015-2016 mass protests against the corrupt government of President Dilma Rousseff, but the political connections seem equally tenuous. 

What we’re left with is a modestly poignant story and some memorable images wrapped in a mood of subdued fatalism. As Bruna, the expectant mother, says, in a paraphrase of the lyrics of John Lennon’s lullaby Beautiful Boy: “I’ve heard that life happens when you’re busy making other plans.” When it comes to movies, though, they rarely work unless they’ve been planned all the way through.

Man Proposes, God Disposes. Directed by Daniel Leo. Written by Daniel Leo, Mateusz Nedza, Michael Mac and Orshi Van Morshi. Starring: Mateusz Nędza, Bruna Massarelli, Erick Mozer and Martyna Byczkowska.