Ali and Ava

 "Every time I see your face it looks different. I see something different every time."

On the surface, Ali and Ava is a simple love story. Classroom assistant Ava (Claire Rushbrook) is given a lift home from work by landlord Ali (Adeel Akhtar). They get on well and soon find themselves falling for each other. 

Of course, there's far more too it than that as the film explores the complicated backgrounds that everyone has. Ali is separated from his wife after she had a miscarriage though they are still living together and Ava is still broken from an abusive marriage. Her son Callum is also furious with the prospect of Ava being in a relationship with Ali though it's not clear whether he's racist, still dealing with the death of his father or some combination of both. 

This feels like a very realistic love story. There's proper kitchen-sink realism in the dramas the characters have gone through in the past and the love story feels very real. We're so used to screen romances being full of rom-com clichés but with this one it's easy to forget that someone has actually written this story. 

The well-written script is elevated by the lead performances. Claire Rushbrook's Ava is a gentle matriarch and Rushbrook does a great job at injecting her with a lack of confidence. It's Akhtar who is most mesmerising here, being utterly charming, energetic and likeable- I hope we see him get more leading roles on the back of this. 

One further aspect I thought was great was the use of music. Ali likes dance and Ava likes folk but they find themselves exploring each other's tastes and as they fall in love they even find themselves sat listening to their lovers' favourites. The music is best used early on when Ali has the pair listening to their own music on headphones dancing on the sofa. The music the audience here cuts between 'Radio' by Sylvan Esso and 'Something On Your Mind' by Karen Dalton. It's such a well orchestrated scene in every sense of the word. 

Clio Barnard's latest film has a hint of the grit that we've seen from her before and there's certainly plenty of realism in this love story but it manages to be warm and likeable at the same time.