With naturalistic dialogue and a minimalist approach to filmmaking, Matt and Mara shows that when it comes to effective storytelling, less is sometimes more.
In Kazik Radwanski’s fourth feature film Matt and Mara, the writer and director reaffirms his talent for making grounded and believable character studies. Starring Matthew Johnson as Matt, and Deragh Campbell as Mara, the film follows the two characters’ uncertain relationship. Matt and Mara played two sold out screenings at the Kingston Canadian Film Festival on Feb. 28 and March 1.
Mara, a university professor living in Toronto, deals with tension in her marriage and a lack of motivation to write, until her old friend and fellow writer Matt re-enters her life. The pair reconnect, wandering around the city and playfully challenging each other’s perspectives.
When Mara’s husband, an experimental musician named Samir, can no longer drive her to an academic conference in Niagara Falls, Matt takes her instead. As Matt and Mara spend more time together, they make important discoveries about each other and themselves.
What follows is a will-they-won’t-they story that unfolds in a way I didn’t expect.
In the same vein as critically acclaimed films like Before Sunrise (1995), Old Joy (2006), and Past Lives (2023), the film is almost entirely made up of two characters walking around and talking. As a result, it relies heavily on the performances of the two talented and convincing lead actors.
Matt and Mara marks the second time Radwanski has taken advantage of Campbell and Johnson’s believable on-screen chemistry. In his previous film Anne at 13,000 Ft., Campbell and Johnson interact for a brief sequence in the film, and their connection is instantly believable. The decision to craft an entire film out of their chemistry was an effective one.
Though the chemistry was palpable, no one does awkward silences like Radwanski. Some interactions in this film are so convincingly uncomfortable they made me physically cringe.
The film is incredibly emotionally honest about the characters, in both their flaws and insecurities in a realistic way. As the story progresses, both Matt and Mara’s insecurities manifest themselves and excitement turns to disappointment.
Radwanski’s strength as a filmmaker involves his use of subtext to subtly show internal conflict. In Matt and Mara, which is quite dialogue-heavy, the audience is asked to look beyond what is said out loud, resulting in a thoroughly engaging film.
The film feels grounded, blurring the lines between fiction and reality. Matt is played by Toronto-based writer and director Matthew Johnson and Samir is played by musician Mounir Al Shami, who also composed tracks for the film.
This closeness to the actors’ real selves makes these performances feel effortless and believable, all while creating questions around what inspired the film. In one scene, Matt says writers often use their work to confess things from their lives. This begs the question, what else from this film is taken from reality?
Matt and Mara is far from the only recent Toronto-based film that employs self-awareness to blur reality and fiction.
In Braden Sitter Sr.’s The Pee Pee Poo Poo Man (2024), the film uses a mockumentary style to tell a story inspired by true events. In The Heirloom (2024), Ben Petrie and Grace Glowicki pull from their own experiences, while showing how the making of the film impacted their real-life relationship.
READ MORE: ‘The Pee Pee Poo Poo Man’ brings Toronto’s weirdest legend to life at the Screening Room
In each of these films, audiences are confronted with raw emotions and are forced to differentiate between fact and fiction. In a media landscape where it’s already difficult enough to tell what’s real or fake, these films put audiences’ media literacy to the test.
This marks an exciting movement of independent, Toronto-based filmmakers creating original stories by playing with reality and interacting with each other.
With filmmakers like Radwanski working today, I’m optimistic for the future of independent, Canadian films that tell original and engaging stories, without giving audiences easy answers.
Tags
Film, Kazik Radwanski, KCFF, KCFF2025, Matt and MAra
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