PLOT: A Toronto music critic (Barbie Ferreira) spends a summer in Montreal trying to cover the burgeoning indie music scene.
REVIEW: Mile End Kicks is a movie that made me feel particularly nostalgic. I’ve lived in Montreal my whole life, and it’s rare that we get an English-language Canadian film (with international appeal) about its charms. Canadian movies are sharply divided into two categories: French-Canadian cinema (mainly from Quebec, where Montreal is located) and English Canadian (the rest of the country—but typically from Toronto). Despite being in French, Quebec films tend to do the best internationally as they have the most personality, with Denis Villeneuve, the late Jean-Marc Vallée, and more emerging from that scene.
By contrast, English Canadian films have fallen off in esteem since the heyday of David Cronenberg and Atom Egoyan. Now, when movies are made, they tend to hide that they are Canadian by setting them in a poorly defined place that’s not identifiably Canadian nor American (even on TV, Schitt’s Creek was guilty of this). Thankfully, that’s changing with people like Matt Johnson (BlackBerry and Nirvana) and Heated Rivalry on TV.
Mile End Kicks is part of what will hopefully be a defiantly Canadian new wave, but at its heart it tells a story that’s not hyper-localized and should transcend the border. In the 2000s, Montreal’s indie rock scene exploded with bands like Arcade Fire, and Mile End Kicks is set in the tail end of that era—2011—with Ferreira’s Grace looking to write a book about Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill for the iconic 33 1/3 series—volumes of music criticism that were all the rage at the time.
As in most other coming-of-age movies, over the course of the summer Grace immerses herself in the indie scene, with her being caught in a love triangle between two members of the same band—the arrogant lead singer Chevy (Stanley Simons) and the sensitive bass player, Archie (Devon Bostick). What sets it apart from other films of its ilk is the honesty, with Grace believably selfish as she pursues Chevy, who of course is a total douche, while not being particularly sensitive to the needs of her new friend, including her Québécois roommate (Juliette Gariépy), who she keeps stiffing for rent.
Being set in Montreal also gives it a special kind of flavour, with Grace, who is unable to speak French, having a hard time functioning in a city that’s largely French, with some of our peccadilloes on display—both good (at the time, rent was extremely cheap) and bad (if you didn’t speak decent French, it was unlikely you’d ever be able to find work).
Director Chandler Levack is from Toronto, and the movie does feel like a Torontonian’s view of the city, which is fair as that’s the perspective it takes. Levack does get a lot about what the city was like for young people at the time, nailing the loft parties, casual drug use, and laid-back hook-up culture. The film is honest in its sex scenes, with an aborted one between Chevy and Grace getting groans of familiarity from the audience I saw this with (in Montreal)—we’ve all been there.
The film is well acted, with Ferreira personable as the imperfect, sometimes selfish but relatable Grace. Bostick also very much nails the hipster musician vibe, but Simons feels a bit over the top as Chevy, who has no redeeming features and seems so vacuous it’s hard to believe Grace wouldn’t get wise to him sooner. Montreal’s favorite son, Jay Baruchel, also cameos in a rare unsympathetic role as Grace’s sexually aggressive, hipster boss.
While Mile End Kicks will likely resonate more for Montrealers, I do think that it should play decently in the States as well, especially with Ferreira in the lead. Despite a thrifty budget, it’s well made by Levack, who’s a rising star among Canadian directors, with it well photographed and scored by an actual Montreal indie rock band of the era this is set in, TOPS. It’s worth checking out.
The comment section exists to allow readers to discuss the article constructively and respectfully, focused on the topic at hand.
What’s Not Allowed