Old friends seeing each other again for the first time in years can feel like picking back up without any time lost. While that nostalgic sentiment may be genuine and powerful, the likelihood that circumstances for both of them haven’t changed in their time apart is not high. Depending on their situations, the reunion may be a positive thing, but it can also create conflict and chaos. Matt and Mara is an intimate journey of reconnection that stunningly conveys the closeness of two people whose bond is very strong despite not having been in each other’s orbit but whose paths have diverged in a way that makes an enduring friendship – or more – feel difficult if not impossible.
Mara (Deragh Campbell) is a creative writing professor married to a musician, Samir (Mounir Al Shami). When she sees Matt (Matt Johnson), memories of their past together come flooding back and it feels very easy to be with him. When Samir tells Mara that he can no longer drive her to a conference, Matt is a convenient replacement, tagging along for a trip that will now be transformed since his influence on Mara is not necessarily a healthy one. The two spend hours together discussing writing, their history, and much more, connecting on a very deep level while silently navigating the uncertainty of what their friendship looks like and means or if this is just a fleeting encounter they’ll both soon forget.
This project reunites director Kazik Radwanski with the stars of his previous film, Anne at 13,000 Ft. It runs just eighty minutes, without any specific introduction, bringing audiences in right away to this reignited past relationship that suddenly presents many options for two people who are in very different places. Just from the way they interact with other people, it feels like Mara has grown up and Matt has chosen not to, with Mara starting a family and Matt not worrying about the consequences of his words or actions since he has no one depending on him. That Mara isn’t feeling connected to her husband doesn’t help matters and makes her more vulnerable, and Matt doesn’t seem to have much tying him down and seems game for just about anything, provided he’s going to have fun.
There are moments of true tenderness to be found in this film between these two friends who are able to so easily fall back into each other’s rhythms. At one point, Matt tells Mara to try smiling at people as she walks around, suggesting that they will smile back, and she acknowledges that it seems to be working after the experiment begins with him teasing her. There’s also room for miscommunication and hurt, like when Mara says she can’t meet Matt at the hotel bar before her work event but then finds herself abandoned during their planned meeting afterwards when he finds someone – a famous writer, no less – to go out with for dinner and ditches her without even texting to let her know he isn’t coming.
One reading of this film could be that it’s very deliberate about what information it chooses to share and where it allows audiences to fill in the blanks of what might have happened. But in execution it’s only what comes up in conversation that is provided for context, and so much is otherwise left instead. That silence functions marvelously, and Campbell and Johnson know exactly how to use it to enhance the way in which their characters relate to each other. Their performances and chemistry are so natural that it doesn’t even feel as if they’re in a movie, simply captured in their everyday interactions. This film is short but emphatic and inviting, a fascinating slice of life that lingers long after the credits roll.
Grade: B+
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Matt and Mara makes its world premiere in the Centrepiece section at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival and opens Friday, September 13th at the IFC Center.