Matt and Mara: Not Quite a Romance, But Two People Who Disrupt Each Other's World

By Karen Gordon

Rating: B-plus

Toronto filmmaker Kazik Radwanski makes subtle and intriguing movies about people who don’t really know themselves. In his recent films How Heavy This Hammer and Anne at 13,000 ft., characters come to a kind of turning point, still not in touch with what motivates them. 

Matt and Mara, which played the most recent Toronto International Film Festival is the latest in that line. Mara (Deragh Campbell) is a creative writing professor. She looks pretty settled. She has a toddler (Avery Nayman) with her husband, musician Samir (Mournir Al Shami).  Life seems good. 

Mara (Deragh Campbell) and Matt (Matt Johnson) reconnect after a complicated past.

Mara arrives at class one day, and before she can get to the door of her classroom she’s blindsided by Matt (Matt Johnson).  We get the dynamic in an instant: It’s tense. She’s frosty, and does not look happy to see him. But Matt either doesn’t see that, or won’t be deterred. As the students are getting settled, he comes into the class and sits down to listen. 

Matt, is a successful writer who has been living in Manhattan and is back in town for an undisclosed period.  After her class the two go for coffee and fall into what looks and feels like an old familiar pattern. Their relationship is immediately sparky, confrontational, but also comfortable. 

For much of the rest of the film we see their dynamic as they ease into a rhythm that raises a lot of questions.  Who are they to each other? Were they once lovers, or friends who thought about it but never made that move?  Is she envious of his success? 

Although Matt is the catalyst here, and we learn interesting things about him and some of his moves as the film goes on, this is really a character study of Mara. Matt’s arrival seems to set something off in her. 

As is his style, Radwanski doesn’t tell the story in conventional scenes that move us from one to the next, building to a crescendo and resolution. Instead he dips into a scene and then out again, so that we see the characters in unguarded moments, each time revealing more of the way they affect each other. 

Campbell and Johnson – both of whom worked with Radwanski in Anne at 13,000 ft. - make a great team. They've been allowed to improvise some of their dialogue, which adds to a sense that we’re eavesdropping on two people who are responding to a particular moment. 

The effect feels natural and effortless. But scene by scene, layers start to emerge. Questions aren’t necessarily answered, in fact, that is one of the most intriguing things about the movie. But Johnson and, in particular, Campbell know how to work with this understated style and are fascinating to watch.  Matt and Mara are two people whose work as writers engages them with the subtleties of human behavior. And yet, they walk through their lives fairly oblivious to those very traits in their own lives and behaviours.

Matt and Mara, Directed by Kazik Radwanski. Stars Deragh Campbell, Matt Johnson, Mounir Al Shami and Avery Nayman.

Release schedule: Toronto (TIFF Lightbox) – Oct. 4, (The Revue) – Nov. 15., Edmonton (Metro Cinema) – Oct. 11, Winnipeg (Dave Barber Cinematheque) – Oct. 18, Ottawa (ByTowne) – Oct. 20, Montreal (Cinéma Moderne) – Nov. 1, Vancouver (The Cinematheque) – Nov. 2, St. Catharines (First Ontario PAC) – Nov. 8.