Let’s just acknowledge something right off the bat about Canadian movies: they’re rarely good. I’ve been watching a bunch of Canadian cinema over the summer–mostly the films that enjoyed brief runs at local cinemas–and they’ve been dismal. The Mountie, Modra, Breakaway, Terry, The High Cost of Living–the list of underwhelming movies goes on and on.
The problem, I think, is that I inevitably compare them to Hollywood fare. Obviously, mainstream American cinema is full of dogs too, but they’re easy to avoid. Plus, there’s a constant flow of quality movies from which to choose. For Canadian movies in the theatre, there’s usually zero to one on in Vancouver at any given time. And there’s no assurance that that one will be any good.
As a case in point, this weekend I watched Breakaway, the story of a team of Canadian Sikhs who earn redemption on the hockey rink. It was pretty dreadful. The script was clunky and the performances were wooden. It was the unfunny red-headed step-child of Bend It Like Beckham.
In a conversation with a friend of mine, he suggested that Canadian cinema was the AHL to Hollywood’s top-flight league. He’s right, after all, as we send our best filmmakers to California to find fame and fortune. So maybe I should lower my expectations for Canadian movies? Part of the problem is that while I don’t watch AHL teams at Rogers Arena, I see Canuck films in the same theatres or on the same TV screens where I watch the very best American movies. So, the average Canadian movie will inevitably disappoint by comparison.
Of course, our country has produced a number of great movies. The one bright spot in my 2011 viewing schedule was Incendies, a terrific tale of a daughter discovering her past in the war-torn Middle East. It was French and included incest as a plot point–two common characteristics of good Canadian movies.
I sometimes think that, in North America, we have a biased view of so-called “foreign films”. Why? Because the movie market filters out 98% of movies from any other country, so that we only see the very best (or, possibly, the most commercially viable) films from France or China. Maybe that’s the approach we need to take with Canadian movies: treat our local films as if they’re from a foreign country, and only watch the very best?
Darren
I agree. Movies sourced from Canada should really be better.
bobby
I have to disagree, French Canadian movies are the best. I don’t know if it’s because they’re basically uncensored, and have no taboo subjects. It almost reminds me of movies/tv shows from England.
I don’t know if you WANT to consider Quebec a part of Canada, but I for one think they’ve come out with great movies and I’m proud to say are Canadian!
Did you even check out the Vancouver International Film Festival? They focus on alot of Canadian programming. You can even check back to previous years and see what films they had.
There are some real gems out there including “Bon Cop, Good Cop” and “Eating Buccaneers” (the latter was a sleeper but really funny and so Canadian). I suspect the reason there aren’t more is a matter of funding and the limited audience of Canadian films compared to the US market. It wasn’t so long ago Canadian fiction didn’t register on the literary scene and look at us now. I wish our film industry could see similar success.
French Canadian cinema is actually excellent – or at least the best of it shines quite brightly because only the best attract English Canada’s attention. Although the 10th month has expired, check out C.R.A.Z.Y., La Grande Séduction, Les Invasions Barbares and Route 132.
Just saw this Canada-France coproduction and it was excellent:
https://www.cafedeflorelefilm.com/