As a Canadian film critic I feel like I really need to put a concerted effort into watching Canadian made films. With the recent passing of Jean-Marc Vallée, whose seminal work C.R.A.Z.Y. remains one of the greatest Canadian films I’ve ever watched, I figure I should write about the best Canadian films of the year that I watched. Unfortunately with theatres closed for a good chunk of the year due to Covid, and when Canadian films do hit the multiplex it is usually only for a short period of time, the best option to watching CanCon is during film festivals. The top five Canadian films of the year for me, were indeed all seen during festivals, which is a fantastic avenue for watching the best of Canadian cinema.
5. The Middle Man directed by Bent Hamer – seen during the Toronto International Film Festival
This pick is cheating a bit as the film is directed by a Norwegian and stars one too. But it is a co-production between Norway, Germany, Denmark and of course Canada. It also co-stars plenty of familiar Canadian faces like Paul Gross, Don McKellar, Rossif Sutherland and Sheila McCarthy. The film concerns Pål Sverre Hagen, who plays Frank, a man hired in a dying American rust belt town to be the towns official news bearer. Unfortunately the news is never good news, only bad. The film is billed as a dark comedy, but laughs rarely leave the viewer’s body and as the film goes on becomes more sparse, just like in the town of Karmack where it takes place. Frank wears an all black suit and drives around in a dark grey car seemingly like a grim reaper waiting around to deliver bad news. All the accidents seemingly are freakish, leading some in the town to wonder if the newfound public servant is involved. The film is more a meditation on how people process grief, especially when little else around them is going in an upward direction as one questions how they themselves would handle such tragic news.
Original The Middle Man review
4. Wildhood directed by Bretten Hannam – seen during Cinefest Sudbury
Wildhood takes a familiar story archetype, the coming of age teen drama, and puts a wholly unique and interesting spin on the concept. We are introduced to Link, played by Phillip Lewitski, a half Mi’kmaw and half white teenager. Link lives with his abusive father and younger all-white half brother. He was raised to believe that his Mi’kmaw mother had died, but when he finds a box full of letters from her, it is the final straw for Link to run away and find his mother while also taking his brother Travis out of the abusive home. Without food, water, a place to stay or even money, things look bleak for the two boys, until they meet Pasmay, played by Joshua Odjick, who recognized the Mi’kmaw heritage in Link. At first Link rebuffs the helping hand of an Indigenous person, as he has been taught to reject that side of himself. But as he decides to let Pasmay help him find his mother he learns plenty, not only about his Mi’kmaw heritage but also as he comes out as Two-Spirited and eventually falls in love with Pasmay. The film does a great job showcasing the beautiful traditions of the Mi’kmaw people, but also how queerness is thought of and presented in Indigenous cultures. Water in reality plays an important aspect for Indigenous peoples, and throughout the movie all the most significant moments happen either while swimming, in the rain or in the shower and helps unlock a lot of the deeper meanings behind the story.
3. All My Puny Sorrows directed by Michael McGowan – seen during the Vancouver International Film Festival
All My Puny Sorrows is based on a 2014 novel by Miriam Toews that was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, so director Michael McGowan had a good head start on the source material. The movie is mostly about two sisters, Elf and Yoli (played by Sarah Gadon and Allison Pill respectively) and how the two of them deal with trauma and mental illnesses. Elf is a world renowned concert pianist who after multiple attempts of suicide as a cry for help has decided this is the final time. She leaves behind a DNR note and is furious when her mother manages to get her to a hospital in time. Yoli is simultaneously going through a divorce and trying to write her next book all while raising her teenage daughter. Yoli returns home to be with her sister and mother, played by Mare Winningham as they all try to deal with each other’s collective traumas, all of which is also compounded by the families patriarch who also killed himself when the girls were teenagers causing a life long pain. The film is anchored by incredible performances from all the actresses, but the standout is Allison Pill, who is fighting with her sister about reasons for her to stay alive while dealing with her own problems. The text is dense and filled with a litany of references to literature, but it is also quite humorous. Oftentimes laughter is the only thing that can help someone dealing with grief, and in this film there are plenty of darkly comic moments to help out.
Original All My Puny Sorrows review
2. Scarborough directed by Shasha Nakhai and Rich Williamson – seen during the Toronto International Film Festival
Scarborough is a part of Toronto that often gets misrepresented by the media, ignored by politicians and ridiculed by downtowners. In reality it’s a wide diaspora made up largely of newly immigrated families and offers rich neighbourhoods for people to live in. The movie is based on a book by Catherine Hernandez, as it chronicles three families living in the east Toronto suburb, as seen through the lens of their children. There is Bing, played by Liam Diaz, who is so full of life you want to jump through the screen to hug him. Often times when queer people talk about when they themselves knew they were different, you will hear stories about how they knew since a young age. Here we see how Bing likely will come to understand he is on the queer spectrum soon in his young life, as he is interested in painting his nails at the salon his mother works at and only wants to sing and dance to divas. There is Sylvie, played by Essence Fox, an Indigenous girl who doesn’t quite understand her father’s health issues and the toll it takes on her mother, who can’t afford proper treatment and needs to drag his wheelchair across the city for fruitless doctors appointments. Sylvie just wants to be a regular kid playing with toys and immediately finds a mini soulmate in Bing. Lastly there is Laura who is white, played by Anna Claire Beitel, in what I hope is the single greatest child performance ever. I say this because I have never seen a child or adult act so sad and removed from society in my life. This is the kind of sadness that simply listening to her explain that she doesn’t have a favourite food because she’s never been treated well by her addict parents, makes one want to burst into tears and literally die for this child in order to protect them. All three children meet at a daycare put on by their school and run by Ms. Hina. We get to see how kids from disadvantaged backgrounds strive to live normal lives despite everything in the world being against them. The film is often a tough watch, but one that feels very rewarding to get to see how it all plays out in this oft-forgotten part of Canada’s largest city.
1. The Righteous directed by Mark O’Brien – seen during Fantasia Festival
Mark O’Brien has had some memorable parts in movies in his young career so far, he was the conspiracy riddled soldier that almost destroys earth in Arrival, he was the groom prepared to sacrifice his new bride to protect his family’s fortune in Ready or Not and as a abusive cop that tries to do the right thing in Blue Bayou. For his feature film directorial debut, he also pens the script about a man who leaves the priesthood to start a family. When their young daughter tragically dies the elderly Frederic and Ethel descend into grief. All of a sudden a young adult man, also played by O’Brien, shows up at night, wounded and confused outside of the home in the middle of nowhere so the couple takes him in. Slowly we learn that this young man may have been sent for unknown reasons, possibly as penance to confront Frederic. O’Brien casts his Ready or Not co-star Henry Czerny as the former man of God and Mimi Kuzyk as his struggling wife. The film is shot in stark black and white photography, heavily emphasizing shadows and angles, giving the film an expressionistic feel. Religious iconography and morality abound, and you often find yourself doubting what is real and what is just in Frederic and Ethel’s heads. The psychological horror buries deep into your soul and forces viewers to question their beliefs. It is a stunning debut feature with three towering performances from Czerny, Kuzyk and O’Brien and the best Canadian film of 2021.
What were your favourite Canadian films of the year? It was a banner year even if I didn’t get to such films like Beans, Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy, Night Raiders, Learn to Swim and more.
Great content! Keep up the good work!