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Daren in Brief - BEST CANADIAN MOVIES
by Daren Foster

Best Canadian Movies

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Daren in Brief
Best Canadian Movies

by Daren Foster

Having spent much of my most recent podcast slagging the English Canadian film industry, I thought it only fair to jot down a few movies that stood out from the rest of the pack. The fact that I have to rack my brain to come up with more than one or two only goes to prove my point about the dearth of good, commercial (and dare I say it above a whisper?), mainstream fare that our filmmakers turn out. But hey, this post is all about the positive. So here goes in no particular order.. except maybe chronological.

Silent Partner (1978): What I guess today would be considered a Can-Am co-pro this is a very good small heist flick with Christopher Plummer as one of the nastiest pieces of work on film. Folks who made the 2003 movie Foolproof should’ve taken a few pointers from this one. Ooops. This is all about the positive, right?

The Grey Fox (1982): Another one that wouldn’t be considered purely Canadian but it won a Genie award, so it makes my list. A low-key western with an unbelievably appealing star turn by Richard Farnsworth. Tasmanian born director, Phillip Borsos, showed huge potential with this debut feature but money problems (sound familiar) and ill-health plagued the rest of his career. His variation on the It’s A Wonderful Life theme, 1985’s One Magic Christmas is also worth a look.

Speaking of Christmas movies, Bob Clark’s A Christmas Story (1983) is also a great little film. How it qualifies as Canadian is beyond me but somehow it does. Maybe because Clark also directed Porky’s (1981)?

32 Short Films About Glenn Gould (1993): Normally I can’t stomach anything Don McKellar is involved in as a writer, director and/or actor (breath, Daren, breath.. stay positive) but this one really caught my fancy. Certainly has an art house aesthetic but packs a nice punch even for classical music dolts such as myself. Outstanding performance by Colm Feore as the hypochondriacal genius pianist. (How many times do you get to string those 3 words together?)

Hard Core Logo (1996): I really, really want to like whatever Bruce McDonald does but I’ve never been able to fully embrace his cinematic sensibilities. Maybe because two of his earliest outings included Don McKellar. But this little music mocu-mentary did the trick. Low-fi to the extreme it just seemed to hit the right notes (har, har) and fully fleshed out characters that could’ve been simply caricatures. Almost good enough to make me forgive McDonald for his masturbatory Tracy Fragments. Almost.

The Uncles (2000): A real little gem of a quiet movie dealing with explosive character dynamics. Caught a bit of it again on TV just recently and was struck by how unflashy and understated but absolutely sure-handed James Allodi’s direction is which is rare for Canadian films. And is probably why this one slipped under the radar.

Parsley Days (2000) and Love That Boy (2003): Why is it that Canadian filmmakers I really like put out feature films few and far between? The Curse of Daren Foster perhaps? End it now, would you please, and go out and rent these two charmers and then start a petition demanding more movies from director Andrea Dorfman. Do it!!