Got a Canadian movie phobia? Check out these 10 films from the Great White North
Embrace them, and you might learn to love them
I've often said that P.E.I. doesn't have a spring, it has a Mud Season. This year, however, it seems that it's too cold to bring on the mud, so what's a frozen Canuck to do while waiting for the thaw? Well, if you're anything like me, you might be interested in taking a look at some of the greatest films our chilly country has ever produced, and I'm here to get you started.
Got a Canadian Movie phobia? I think the thing is to learn to love our movies. We need to stop looking at Hollywood as the only way that movies should be in terms of technology, budgets, characters and plot. Embrace the very things that make our films so reflective of our country, like the stories we tell, our accents, our landscapes, the look and sound of our movies. After all, they're our stories.
I've embraced it. In fact, in 2014 I created an informal poll and asked people to vote for their favourite Canadian films. I'm willing to bet that if I did it now, director Aisling Walsh's Maudie would boot one of the deserving titles off the list. As it stands, however, here are the Top 10, chosen out of a list of hundreds of titles:
10. Videodrome. Director: David Cronenberg (1983)
A movie ahead of its time and a personal favourite, but decidedly not for every taste. Cable TV operator James Woods taps into a pirated show full of depravity, and his perceptions begin to change. Also stars Debbie Harry of Blondie.
9. Léolo. Director: Jean-Claude Lauzon (1992)
A surreal and adult coming of age story set in a Montreal tenement. Unfortunately, this was filmmaker Lauzon's last film, his third, as he died in a 1997 plane crash.
8. Jesus of Montréal. Director: Denys Arcand (1989)
Lothaire Bluteau is an actor hired to play Jesus and to contemporize the story of the crucifixion and resurrection. The film parallels many aspects of the story of Jesus in a serio-comic vein.
7. The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. Director: Ted Kotcheff (1974)
Based on the novel by Mordecai Richler, Richard Dreyfuss is Duddy, a poor Montrealer determined to buy a piece of lakefront land and develop it. A commercial success, this is a key film in Canada's movie history.
6. The Hanging Garden. Director: Thom Fitzgerald (1997)
Shot and set in rural Nova Scotia by American-born Halifax resident Fitzgerald, The Hanging Garden tells the story of a closeted gay man's return to his hometown for his sister's wedding, and the secrets and ghosts that he revisits. Features Sarah Polley, and look for Ashley MacIsaac and his fiddle.
5. Away from Her. Director: Sarah Polley (2006)
Polley's first film as director features Julie Christie as a woman living with Alzheimer's disease, and Gordon Pinsent as her husband. After Christie is moved to a care facility, a gulf opens up between wife and husband.
4. The Red Violin. Director: François Girard (1998)
This film follows a lovingly crafted violin as it passes from owner to owner from its 1681 creation in Italy to contemporary Montreal. Samuel L. Jackson is featured in one of his rare non-F Bomb roles!
3. The Barbarian Invasions. Director: Denys Arcand (2003)
The Barbarian Invasions revisits the characters from Arcand's earlier The Decline of the American Empire as they gather at the cottage of a friend diagnosed with terminal cancer. Be on the lookout for Canadian pop star Mitzou (Bye Bye Mon Cowboy) in a featured role.
2. Goin' Down the Road. Director: Donald Shebib (1970)
Pete and Joey say so long to Cape Breton and head off in their jalopy for the lure of Toronto accompanied by a Bruce Cockburn soundtrack. A true slice of east coast working class life circa 1970, Goin' Down the Road is as Canadian as it gets.
1. The Decline of the American Empire. Director: Denys Arcand (1986)
One thing that this poll revealed is that we love Arcand's films. "Decline" is a sex comedy-drama that reminded me, at the time anyway, very much of a Woody Allen movie. Arcand, however, is more than capable of making this movie his own, and one of the most celebrated Canadian films of all time.
And now, a shameful confession: When originally compiling the list I accidentally omitted one of the most voted-for films, so to atone, here's a bonus 11th film.
11. The Changeling. Director: Peter Medak (1980)
A grieving George C. Scott rents a mansion in the country only to be confronted by a ghost and a plot to unravel. The film is frequently mentioned when people talk about their scariest movie memories.
Got a favourite Canadian film or 10? Let us know in the comments.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
