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The Best Canadian Films of all time?

Pete OHara

over 4 years ago

In Canada we do not have a film history like italian neorealism, the french new wave, german expressionism and the american classic cinema… so what are the best films that have come out of Canada?

Joe Bowman

-moderator-
over 4 years ago

Exotica
Jesus of Montreal [Jésus de Montréal]

Egoyan and Arcand are your solid choices for the best Canada has to offer.

Nate the Movie Mate

over 4 years ago

Cronenberg is a good Canadian.

Joe Bowman

-moderator-
over 4 years ago

Nate, blah! I totally forgot. Of course, Cronenberg. Bruce La Bruce is another excellent Canadian.

Joshua W

over 4 years ago

I’ll be first to jump in with Guy Maddin, whom I love, as well as agreeing with Egoyan and Cronenberg.

Joseph Caouett​e

over 4 years ago

Leaving aside Cronenberg and Egoyan (who are great, but we all know about them, right?), here are a few off the top of my head: Leolo, Hard Core Logo, Les Ordres, Mon Oncle Antoine, Of Whales, the Moon and Men (horrible title, but a great documentary), most of the work of Guy Maddin (but Careful and Cowards Bend the Knee especially), the collected works of Norman McLaren, Monkey Warfare, Picture of Light, Gambling, Gods and LSD, Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, Le Confessionnal, and lords knows what else I’m forgetting.

Tom Wilson

over 4 years ago

Egoyan’s “The Sweet Hereafter” still haunts; I’ll also throw a few bouquets toward Ted Kotcheff’s adaptations of Mordecai Richler: “The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz” and “Joshua, Then and Now.”

Kyle E. Ball

over 4 years ago

Its a shame Norman McLaren, Ryan Larkin and Arthur Lipsett aren’t listed as Auteurs here.

I think Walking by Ryan Larkin is the best Canadian film. Yes its a short, but it achieves an emotional effect that most feature length film could not.
Never in cinema has so much been achieved, so simply in so little frames. I think its the Zenith of Canadian cinema and it truly makes me proud to be a Canadian Filmmaker.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEY2Nf5ikww

christo​pher sepesy

over 4 years ago

LEOLO

Quang_W​a

over 4 years ago

C.R.A.Z.Y. by Jean-Marc Vallée

Walid Neaz

over 4 years ago

It’s a Canadian/Spanish collaboration, but I thought ‘My Life Without Me’ was really good one.

Jon

over 4 years ago

Goin’ Down the Road
Dead Ringers
Exotica
Les Invasion Barberes

Ally the Manic Listmak​er

over 4 years ago

The Sweet Hereafter.

Edwin Anderso​n

over 4 years ago

Mon Oncle Antoine is, in my opinion, the best Canadian film. I love that one.
Leolo is great as well. Guy Maddin’s films are also great. His latest, My Winnipeg, is one of this year’s best.

Edwin Anderso​n

over 4 years ago

Mon Oncle Antoine is, in my opinion, the best Canadian film. I love that one.
Leolo is great as well. Guy Maddin’s films are also great. His latest, My Winnipeg, is one of this year’s best.

bookwib​ble

over 4 years ago

32 Short Films About Glenn Gould

sacredc​hao

over 4 years ago

Barbarian Invasions, Ararat, Exotica, Dead Ringers, and Videodrome are all good stuff.

Richard L. Beecher

over 4 years ago

Jutra’s Mon Oncle Antoine, without a doubt.

mark lansing

over 4 years ago

I love GOIN’ DOWN THE ROAD and NOBODY WAVED GOODBYE, which to me typify something in the Canadian character in the Sixties and early Seventies, a sense that culturally they were a nation struggling to graduate to the status of a “real” film industry. They’re also simple but deeply affecting films that have not received the exposure they deserve in the United States (and neither is available on DVD in the US).

D. Volunta​ryist

over 4 years ago

Hell now almost everything is filmed in Toronto. Even Romero filmed his last two pictures there and it’s hard to drag him out of Pittsburgh.

Daniel Leroux

over 4 years ago

Egoyan’s “The Sweet hereafter”, Jean-Marc Vallée’s “Crazy” and Luc Picard for “L’audition”

kevin b

over 4 years ago

I don’t think I’ve seen too many Canadian films, but Mon Oncle Antoine and The Sweet Hereafter were both amazing. Is it right to think of Cronenberg’s work as Canadian cinema?

H.A.L. Jr

over 4 years ago

Although I mostly agree with the above list, here some that haven’t been mentioned

I am not sure many have heard of Allan King films outside Canada, especially his documentaries. I myself haven’t seen many because I haven’t found them on dvd yet, but I am planning to look for them.
some of his films that I recall are “Warrendale”, “Dying at Grace”, “Empz4life”, “Married Couple”, “Matter of Pride.”

Also I would add “Manufactured Landscapes” by Jennifer Baichwal

We – as in Canada – may not have a recognizable film history to point but it has NFB.

tros

over 4 years ago

I can’t believe no one has mentioned Ginger Snaps.

Ally the Manic Listmak​er

over 4 years ago

I also like Cronenberg’s The Dead Zone but I don’t know how Canadian that is deemed.

mathieu Picard

over 4 years ago

VIDEODROME

Kishob Raanatz

over 4 years ago

I’d agree for HARD CORE LOGO. one of the best I saw…

adam

over 4 years ago

i cant wait to rewatch ‘mon uncle antoine’ on christmas eve, i was sent it accidently and absolutely loved it. guy maddin and david cronenberg are pretty much the only canadian filmmakers i have an interest in tho.

Walid Neaz

over 4 years ago

Oh my god, I completely forgot, The Barbarian Invasions is probably the best Canadian movie I’ve seen.

Elric

over 4 years ago

All early Egoyan. The Adjuster is fantastic. Robert LePage is criminally underrated (at least as a filmmaker) and his film Possible Worlds is amongst the best.