Last at the Festival with 2017’s rural noir Dark River, a selection in the Platform programme, writer-director Clio Barnard returns to the Bradford, West Yorkshire setting of her earlier films for this tumultuous, fiercely affecting midlife love story
A bundle of good humour and nervous energy, Ali (Adeel Akhtar) is a British Pakistani working-class landlord who forges close bonds with his tenants. One day, while picking up one of his tenants’ children from school, he offers a lift to Ava (Claire Rushbrook), an Irish-born teacher and single mother of five. They bond almost instantly through their love of music, though Ali favours the high energy of Buzzcocks and hip-hop while Ava takes refuge in the quieter comforts of Bob Dylan and Karen Dalton. Despite their divergent backgrounds, differences in their stages of life, and the colour of their skin, despite the fact of Ali’s failing marriage and Ava’s fraught relationship with her adult and adolescent children, each finds themself irresistibly drawn to the other. But can their mutual desire transcend a barrage of personal obstacles?
Inspired by people Barnard encountered while making her acclaimed features The Arbor and The Selfish Giant, Ali & Ava is a film that feels profoundly rooted in lived experience, blending a tender emotional complexity with an at times bracing depiction of trauma and grief. Akhtar and Rushbrook’s finely hued performances speak to the setting’s cultural diversity and tribal loyalties while yielding a vulnerability that’s alternately heart-wrenching and joyous. Their story serves as a reminder that it is sometimes the least likely connections that are the ones most worth pursuing.
朱利安·洛佩兹,Nene,纳塔利娅·德·莫利纳,米伦·伊瓦古伦,Canco,Rodríguez,阿尔韦托·洛佩兹,Juanlu,González,Xisco,González,Manuel,Pérez,阿德尔法·卡尔沃,曼努埃尔·伯克,帕科·图斯,安东尼奥·德钦特,胡里安·毕亚格兰
刘凯,樊伟鹏,钱琦,应媛
鲁比·罗丝,唐·约翰逊,泰瑞斯·吉布森,卢卡斯·提尔,萨莎·班克斯,保罗·本-维克托,约翰·菲奥里
安藤樱,山田凉介,生濑胜久,宇崎龙童,吉原光夫,江口德子,大場泰正,渊上泰史
熊井友理奈,铃木爱理,菅谷梨沙子,樱田通,吉泽瞳
瑞安·雷诺兹,杰森·贝特曼,奥利维亚·王尔德,莱斯利·曼恩,艾伦·阿金,莫洽·梦若,格里高利·伊齐恩,罗明,悉尼·鲁维耶,克雷格·比尔克
蕾雅·德吕盖,塞缪尔·基尔舍,克洛蒂尔·蔻洛,奥利维尔·雷堡汀,Angela,Chen,Serena,Hu
朱莉娅·奥蒙德,Lydia,Page,罗科·法萨诺
詹森·艾萨克,莱丝利·曼维尔,安娜·钱斯勒,罗斯·威廉姆斯,阿尔芭·巴普蒂斯塔,卢卡斯·布哈沃,伊莎贝尔·于佩尔,弗莱迪·福克斯,朗贝尔·维尔森,罗珊妮·杜兰,克里斯蒂安·麦凯,艾伦·托马斯,德尔罗伊·阿特金森,杰瑞米·惠勒,莎拉·里克曼,本·阿迪斯,吉莱纳·隆代,巴纳巴斯·雷蒂,文森特·马丁,伊戈尔·萨斯兹,佐尔特·帕尔,彼得·维赫,巴尔·瓦斯维尔斯
梅丽古丽·艾买提,沙衣达·艾合买提
侯彦西,巫建和,邱以太,詹怀云,蓝正龙,陈柏霖,谢欣颖,林奕岚,钟欣凌,白静宜,严艺文
Ignacio,Quesada,马塞洛·索比奥托,Tamara,Rocca,Lautaro,Soto
张岩,王德顺,蔡宜恒,英壮,杜旭东
徐睿知,朴海秀
温心,成毅,尹正,赵多娜,赵莹,王千一,杜双宇,景岗山
何欢