One of the defining moments in the romantic drama Ali & Ava comes early in the film where the couple of the title bond over their mutual love of music. Ali’s (Adeel Akhtar) taste leans towards techno and punk while Ava (Claire Rushbrook) prefers country and folk, which is initially the source of light hearted teasing, but in this early scene where Ali has gone to visit Ava in her small house in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, all that matters is they both find joy in their favourite songs. Sitting back-to-back with their own sets of headphones they are both lost in the vastly different songs they listen to in a scene that in many other films might indicate a division, but here as the camera and soundtrack cuts between each character’s perspective they are united in joy. It does not matter that they like different genre of music as that is a superficial difference; what matters is the share something more fundamental to the core of who they both are, and that is what gives this film its heart and soul.
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CINEMA AUTOPSY 