Canadian Auteur Matthew Rankin Had a Fever Dream About Canadian History

Matthew Rankin’s films about Canadiana tend to have theatrical audiences rubbing their eyes.

In his 2024 cinematic mashup Universal Language , marveling viewers could hardly believe a Canada onscreen where Persian and French are the two official languages and a local Tim Hortons becomes an Arabic tea lounge.

With Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney — set for its world premiere on Sept. 15 as part of the Midnight Madness program at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto, Rankin’s genre-bending collage of archival footage, special effects and animation becomes a digital docufantasia of politics and pop culture, chronicling the journey to power for Canada’s 18th prime minister, Brian Mulroney. Related Stories Movies Sorry, Caleb Hearon Is Not Your Clown in 'Trash Mountain' Grief Dramedy Movies Courteney Cox Says She Decided to Direct 'Evil Genius' After Chance Encounter at the Beverly Hills Hotel: "I Made a Lot of Deals There"

Rankin tells The Hollywood Reporter that his English- and French-language film looks to combine the two things his producer, the National Film Board of Canada, does best: documentary and animation. The result is a kaleidoscopic manipulation of moving images, backed by abstract language about the generational machinations of the then-Progressive Conservative Party over which Mulroney ultimately triumphed to become Canadian PM in 1984.

“I don’t think of [the film] as a biopic. It’s the history of an image, how that image was created and how to mobilize his story to create a brand, to create a package that would ultimately become the brand of the Conservative Party,” Rankin explains.