#TIFF25: “MILE END KICKS” REVIEW

By Amanda Gilmore

Writer-Director Chandler Levack’s hotly-anticipated second feature takes place in 2011 and follows young female music critic Grace (Barbie Ferreira), who moves to Montreal to figure out life and love. 

After leaving her job at a magazine in Toronto, Grace moves into a shared apartment in Montreal that she found on Craigslist. It’s there that she should devote herself to finishing the next great book in the 33 1/3 album exploration series that she’s already been paid an advance on. Hers will be on the iconic Alanis Morissette opus Jagged Little Pill. However, like many in their early 20s…life gets in the way.

Just like with Lawrence in I Like Movies, Grace makes a lot of bad choices. Levack has a knack for writing endearing leads that make audiences cringe at their poor decisions or indecisions. Here, Grace is a young woman whose focus is on everything and everyone but herself. This leads to Grace blowing her own life up.

This focus on others rather than herself comes from society, but also the career Grace has. There aren’t many films that depict a female critic. Here, Levack shows just how isolating it can be for a young woman. Grace is always on the outside of a circle of men. When she arrives in Montreal, she quickly becomes friends with the band Bone Patrol. Again, she’s the only woman around this band of boys. Ferreira encapsulates the indecision and enclosed rage within a young woman who is simultaneously trying to break the ceiling but at times allowing it to suffocate her.

Even with all of this heavy material, Mile End Kicks is a hilarious romantic-comedy. The semi-love triangle that happens brings nostalgia for the rom-coms we love. Devon Bostick and Stanley Simons are a joy and fully commit to their characters. Bostick as the stoner, sweet guitarist, and Simons as the sleezy, ‘artsy’ lead singer.

At its centre, Mile End Kicks is a story about a young woman learning to respect herself. All of Grace’s poor decisions lead her to respect herself and demand it from others.

Mile End Kicks screens at TIFF:

Thurs. Sept 4 at 8:30 PM at Royal Alexandra Theatre

Tues. Sept 9 at 11:55 AM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto

Sat. Sept 13 at 9:00 AM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto

#TIFF25: DAY ONE SIGHTINGS – CHARLI XCX, RENATE REINSVE, STELLAN SKARSGARD, RYAN REYNOLDS, COLIN HANKS, BEN FOSTER, BARBIE FERREIRA, KPOP DEMON HUNTERS, PLUS TIFF WALK OF FAME STAR UNVEILING

It’s only Day One but feels like Day 30? Overall, a very productive day today, covering a lot of ground and lot of stars. Some of the names we spotted:

•Ben foster at TIFF for Motor City.
•Jeffrey Latimer, Olivia Chow and Cameron Bailey unveil TIFF’s Canada Walk of Fame star
•Jeremy O. Harris, Charli XCX, Lena Góra at TIFF for Erupcja
•Ryan Reynolds, Colin Hanks, Chris Candy at TIFF for John Candy: I LIKE ME
•Barbie Ferreira, Devon Bostick, Chandler Levack, Robert Naylor, Juliette Gariépy, Stanley Simons,
Isaiah Lehtinen, at TIFF for Mile End Kicks
•Stellan Skarsgård, Renate Reinsve, Joachim Trier, Elle Fanning, and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas at TIFF for Sentimental Value
•Rei Ami and Audrey Nuna at TIFF for KPop Demon Hunters critics event

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We were up and at it early appearing on CP24 Breakfast! Our appearance, and also TIFF’s Canada’s Walk of Fame induction star unveiling highlights!

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#FIRSTLOOK: CHANDLER LEVACK TO BE GUEST PROGRAMMER ON HOLLYWOOD SUITE FOR WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH

To commemorate Women’s History Month, writer/director/journalist Chandler Levack has joined forces with Hollywood Suite to curate a day of programming featuring the work of women filmmakers and performers. The films are set to air on Hollywood Suite’s 70s, 80s, 90s, and 00s channels on March 30, 2023, and will be available to stream all month on Hollywood Suite On Demand.

“All of my favourite movies will screen this month, including life-changing gems like Claudia Weill’s Girlfriends and Susan Seidelman’s Smithereens, and true boundary-breaking auteur films by Sofia Coppola and Elaine May,” said Levack. “The series ends with two films by Canadian geniuses that totally blew my mind when I first watched them and prove that the future of Canadian cinema is female — Joyce Wong’s Wexford Plaza and Grace Glowicki’s wholly original and jaw-dropping Tito — both shot for under $150,000. It’s a true honour to be asked to curate this series. In case you didn’t know, I like movies! Especially when they put women in the centre of the frame.”

“Chandler is an exceptional filmmaker and fierce champion of talented women,” added Sharon Stevens, Vice President, Programming for Hollywood Suite. “With her award-winning feature debut I Like Movies now in Canadian theatres, she is the perfect person to lead our Women’s History Month programming.”

Hollywood Suite’s Women in Film collection, airing throughout March and available all month on demand, features 50 movies that showcase talented women in front of and behind the camera. Discover the collection at hollywoodsuite.ca/women-in-film.

Levack’s Guest Programmer Picks

A NEW LEAF (1971)
Director: Elaine May
Starring: Elaine May, Doris Roberts, Renée Taylor

ALICE DOESN’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE (1974)
Director: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Ellen Burstyn, Leila Goldoni

GIRLFRIENDS (1978)
Director: Claudia Weill
Starring: Melanie Mayron

FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH (1982)
Director: Amy Heckerling
Starring: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Phoebe Cates

SMITHEREENS (1982)
Director: Susan Seidelman
Starring: Susan Berman

THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK (1987)
Director: George Miller
Starring: Cher, Susan Sarandon, Michelle Pfeiffer

ORLANDO (1993)
Director: Sally Potter
Starring: Tilda Swinton

THE VIRGIN SUICIDES (1999)
Director: Sofia Coppola
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Kathleen Turner

GRACE OF MY HEART (1996)
Director: Alison Anders
Starring: Illeana Douglas, Jennifer Leigh Warren

TITO (2019)
Director: Grace Glowicki
Starring: Grace Glowicki

THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL (2015)
Director: Marielle Heller
Starring: Bel Powley, Kristin Wiig

WEXFORD PLAZA (2016)
Director: Joyce Wong
Starring: Reid Asselstine, Ellie Posadas

ABOUT HOLLYWOOD SUITE

Hollywood Suite owns and operates four exclusive HD channels featuring the iconic movies that defined the 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000s, plus essential Hollywood classics from the Golden Age, always uncut and commercial-free. With hundreds of movies every month on four HD channels and Hollywood Suite On Demand, Hollywood Suite provides an unparalleled value to consumers.

Hollywood Suite is available to over 10 million households across Canada, exclusively through Canadian television service providers and Amazon Prime Video Channels. Visit hollywoodsuite.ca for more Information.

ABOUT CHANDLER LEVACK

Chandler Levack, Writer/Director, Producer Chandler Levack grew up in Burlington, Ontario, and lives in Toronto where she studied cinema at the University of Toronto and screenwriting at the Canadian Film Centre. She has directed numerous music videos, earning two JUNO nominations. Also a veteran arts journalist and critic, she has contributed to such publications as The Globe & Mail, The Village Voice and Maisonneuve, with articles for the latter resulting in two Canadian National Magazine Awards nominations. Her short film We Forgot to Break Up (2017) premiered at TIFF and SXSW. I Like Movies is her feature debut.

#TIFF22: “I LIKE MOVIES”

By David Baldwin

High school senior Lawrence Kweller (Isaiah Lehtinen) likes movies. Scratch that, he is obsessed with movies. He watches them endlessly, riffing on his love for Stanley Kubrick to anyone who will listen. He is ambitious and just knows he is going to get into NYU’s film program where he will be taught by the likes of Todd Solondz. But this is the early 2000s – or more specifically, early 2000s era Burlington, Ontario – and Lawrence needs $90,000 to attend. So he gets a job at the local video store Sequels and quickly discovers that the movies are far different than reality.

After reading the Film’s description, I knew I was going to love I LIKE MOVIES. I just did not know just how much I would love I LIKE MOVIES. Writer/Director Chandler Levack hones in on an era of innocence and social naivety that feels so foreign in the modern day, yet rings true for someone like me whose life long obsession with film kicked off around the same time the film takes place. While I hope I was less of a pretentious asshole than Lawrence is, Lehtinen portrays the budding Cinephile brilliantly. Just thinking about him going off on why he cannot in good faith promote the new edition of Shrek on DVD is making me chuckle, as is a recurring joke around him needing to return an overdue VHS copy of Wild Things. No doubt it is this side of his personality that is going to speak to an entire generation of older Millennials.

All of that said, the Film is substantially darker than I thought it would be and does a great job of humanizing Lawrence in a way that setting the Film in the age of Social Media would have felt disingenuous. There is some genuine tragedy on display here, and watching Lehtinen weave through the tonal pivots like a seasoned professional is a truly beautiful experience. The Supporting Cast is great too, especially Romina D’Ugo as Sequels’ manager Alana. The Film does a terrific job juxtaposing her reality to Lawrence’s fantasy, and her mid-film monologue is dynamite.

While I can overlook some anachronisms (such as the updated Cineplex seating) more so than others (Tanner Zipchen as a hot customer is not a sentence I thought I would ever be writing), I think this is a fantastic directorial debut from Levack and is easily one of my favourite films of the Festival already.

Oh and shooting/framing the film in 4:3? Well played, Ms. Levack. Well played.

I LIKE MOVIES screens as follows at TIFF ’22 as follows:

Fri, Sept 9 IN-PERSON Scotiabank Theatre 6:15pm

Wed, Sept 14 IN-PERSON TIFF Bell Lightbox 6:30pm

Fri, Sept 16 IN-PERSON TIFF Bell Lightbox 9:45pm