Final Rating: 3/5
Our past finds a way of coming around… Matt and Mara, a relationship drama from director/screenwriter Kazik Radwanski, co-written by Samantha Chater follows these two friends as they reconnect after having not seen each other for years. The film stars Matt Johnson as Matt, a successful author and Deragh Campbell as Mara, a university professor who teaches poetry and is going through a tumultuous time with her marriage to Samir (Mounir Al Shami) a musician. They have a young daughter (Avery Nayman) and go about their lives in Toronto.
Matt shows up to Mara’s class unexpectedly one day, returning to town from New York. They’re each writers though Matt’s had a successful book published and his reappearance sparks unease in Mara about what she hopes to accomplish with her own work. Feelings of inadequacy bubble to the surface, as undoubtedly happens with many in a creative field when faced with their own shortcomings. When Matt, eventually, asks about her writing, after being prodded only to suggest asking puts too much pressure on the writer, she explains an idea she has but can’t quite seem to get written.
Much of the conversations throughout revolve around art or music, and many aspects will no doubt resonate with those in an artistic field or attempting to do so, ie: “try getting a real job” is shouted at Matt and Mara by a cranky Barista trying to close up, or “He’s a writer, he takes himself too seriously”, perhaps hitting a little too close to home. There’s also a dinner party conversation with Samir and several of his musician friends about the nature of music, where Mara admits to not truly connecting with it. This could easily be extrapolated to the nature of art itself and what we individually resonate with and don’t, and perhaps speaks about the nature of their relationship as one wonders how much they truly connect.
Matt is a much bigger personality which is on full display as Mara invites him into her social circle and class to discuss his book and writing in general, against the advice of her friend Emma (Emma Hayley). His style and advice are certainly very honest and he encourages her students to be the same, regardless of how this may come across. He later takes Mara to visit his father in the hospital. His dad is near passing and he’s come home to spend time with him.
Mara is set to travel to Ithaca to speak at a conference and when her husband’s band has to keep recording he is no longer able to travel with her so Matt acts as chauffeur. It plays out like many will they, won’t they stories as they’re both at points tempted to pursue their relationship further. This hits a snag when Matt runs into Maeve (Marlowe Granados) a fellow writer from Toronto in Ithaca, whom he goes to dinner with, blowing off Mara, only inviting her after the fact. Shortly after they’ve returned home Matt’s father passes and Mara helps with the funeral arrangements.
The strength of the story is that it introduces organically the issues that the characters are facing, the nature of an artist’s inner conflicts, and makes us think about what we would do in similar situations. However, many aren’t as fleshed out as they could be and don’t quite resonate as powerfully as they could were we to spend more time focusing on their individual relationships. Much of the dialogue is also quite on the nose or simply individuals stating what they feel. Many of them speak in a similar manner which doesn’t tend to differentiate from those around them. The cast give solid performances and certainly many who have been in this kind of relationship will see the challenges it presents, and feel the emotions as the characters live them out.
