Ali & Ava
Ali (Adeel Akhtar) is a former DJ and now property owner recently separated from his wife. Ava (Claire Rushbrook) is an elementary school teaching assistant and mother to grown children. Despite whatever pain and heartbreak their livesmay have brought them, the two get by day to day in their working class lives just fine. But after a chance meeting, their resulting connection ignites a spark to live as opposed to simply exist as they have. That epiphany does not come quite so plainly and conventionally in writer/director Clio Barnard's film, which in keeping with its overall low key, naturalistic feel, addresses its themes and approaches its character arcs with realistic sensitivity and understatement. That does not mean, however, that the title characters' emotional journeys do not resonate, and that's largely due to the beautifully drawn performances and believable chemistry between Akhtar and Rushbrook.
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