Ali & Ava

Directed by Clio Barnard, Ali & Ava follows an unlucky-in-love teacher (Claire Rushbrook’s Ava) as she falls for an excitable man (Adeel Akhtar’s Ali) with romantic problems of his own. Filmmaker Barnard, working from her own screenplay, delivers a low-key and thoroughly lived-in drama that benefits from the superb efforts of its two stars, and there’s little doubt, certainly, that the picture’s mild success is due mostly to the palpable, irresistible chemistry between Richbrook and Akhtar’s respective characters – with, especially, Ava and Ali’s initial encounter in the latter’s car as charming and captivating as one might’ve hoped. It’s clear, then, that Ali & Ava‘s overall impact is diminished by an aggressively lackadaisical pace and the inclusion of a few questionable elements (eg an assortment of bafflingly unpleasant periphery characters), with the far-from-streamlined atmosphere paving the way for a rather hit-and-miss midsection that generally feels as though it should be more compelling and absorbing. By the time the engaging final stretch and admittedly note-perfect final shot roll around, Ali & Ava has cemented its place as an erratic yet watchable endeavor that does, if nothing else, deserve credit for focusing on a relationship between two older protagonists.

**1/2 out of ****