Ali & Ava | Triumphant (Regional Preview)

An interracial love story set in Bradford at first glance may seem as grey as the dismal weather which sometimes shrouds the city, but Ali & Ava is a full spectrum ray of sunshine.

Ali & Ava was screened at Studio 74 at the Exeter Phoenix in a Regional Preview supported by the BFI. It’s a move to make film less London-central. And is a great chance to big up the buzz of some of cannily crafted movies.

Generosity

A downpour at school home time finds Ava in Ali’s car as he picks up the youngest daughter of one of his tenants. Ava is her classroom assistant. In the grey Ali’s 0-70pm care and generosity shines. and Ava’s warmth swells. She is in need of a good man. And he is in need of someone who will release his desire to nurture.

Ali & Ava bond through music – not through shared taste but through a shared passion. The soundtrack punctuates the story in what has been called a social realist musical.

Embrace

Both have families to navigate, but there’s no desire to escape them. In fact, they both want to embrace their respective families, to shield them from upset.

Race is an issue, but it’s matter of fact and traversed with a sanguine everyday approach. It’s an indication of just how grown up this film is. And it’s a joy to see a grown-up love story. Ava is a grandmother to five, and Ali is supporting his wife through college. And they wear this well-worn world-weariness like frown lines – obvious but not mentioned.

Artful

It’s shot with an edgy artful eye that dwells on the internal lives. And there’s a cast of supporting characters who reflect the city setting.

The action takes place around a lunar cycle, and you feel the world turning for Ali & Ava. It’s that relationship and those performances which are key. Adeel Akhtar is Ali and Claire Rushbrook is Ava. Their lightness and joy in the face of what they carry with them is like a lock and key. It’s those cinematic moments of quiet where the weight of their inner worlds rise.

Adeel’s Ali bounces through life with good-natured giving. All the more poignant because he’s a landlord to many properties. But you feel he’s in it for the people, not the places. Underneath there’s regret and a stymied desire for more.

Claire’s Ava has a stoic gentleness and patience which reflects a strength that has created a space for family and personal calm around her.

Grown up

Their past and people surround them in that way families and histories do. Writer-director Clio Barnard has placed this mature love story in a messy world. It is honest, real, but mostly grown up and tender.

When he saw it at the Toronto Film Festival, Simon Roger Key called the film Triumphant. Fitting, then, that it heralds the BFI Regional Premieres and reflects a country both real and hopeful.

Ali & Ava opens at the Exeter Phoenix on March 8