A review of the new film “Ali & Ava”
This British film, both written and directed by Yorkshire-born Clio Barnard, is a tender love story – but an unconventional one in many respects.
First, the setting: the work was shot entirely on location in Bradford with its terraced houses and grim vistas. Then the structure: while it follows the classic three-part narrative of friendship, division, reconciliation, almost the entire film is devoted to the first slow-burning segment of this traditional triptych.
Next the music: both principals love their music but have very different tastes which gradually converge, so we hear a lot of (loud) music of an amazingly eclectic nature: Hindi to Czech, Dylan to Rachmaninoff, Buzzcocks to The Specials.
Above all, this is a different tale of affection because of the characters. Both are middle-aged Northerners with their own ethnic heritage; both have had troubled marriages which have left them damaged; both have close extended families; both are gentle and caring.
Ali is a British-Pakistani who is a small-scale local landlord with aspirations to be a DJ, while Ava has Irish roots and works as a school assistant having obtained a degree as an adult. Barnard gives us a portrait of each before bringing them together in a car ride in the rain and exploring the growing attraction over a lunar month.
Adeel Akhtar and Claire Rushbrook are simply wonderful as the eponymous couple and we ache for them to be together.