Top 100 Canadian Films
Compiled from a 2004 poll for Take One magazine. The poll consisted of Top 10s from critics and filmmakers.
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103 titles
- DirectorClaude JutraStarsJacques GagnonLyne ChampagneJean DuceppeSet in cold rural Quebec at Christmas time, we follow the coming of age of a young boy and the life of his family which owns the town's general store and undertaking business.
- DirectorDenys ArcandStarsLothaire BluteauCatherine WilkeningJohanne-Marie TremblayA group of actors put on an unorthodox, but acclaimed Passion Play which incites the opposition of the Catholic Church while the actors' lives themselves begin to mirror the Passion itself.
- DirectorDonald ShebibStarsDoug McGrathPaul BradleyJayne EastwoodTwo friends leave the picturesque yet rural province of Nova Scotia for the nightlife and culture of Toronto. They soon end up wistful and nostalgic about Nova Scotia though after finding out that Toronto isn't as fun as they'd hoped.
- DirectorAtom EgoyanStarsIan HolmSarah PolleyCaerthan BanksA bus crash in a small town brings a lawyer to defend the families, but he discovers everything isn't what it seems.
- DirectorZacharias KunukStarsNatar UngalaaqSylvia IvaluPeter-Henry ArnatsiaqThe telling of an Inuit legend of an evil spirit causing strife in the community and one warrior's endurance and battle of its menace.
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsJeremy IronsGeneviève BujoldHeidi von PalleskeTwin gynecologists take full advantage of the fact that nobody can tell them apart, until their relationship begins to deteriorate over a woman.
- DirectorFrancis MankiewiczStarsCharlotte LaurierMarie TifoGermain HoudeA woman is overwhelmed with having to deal with her emotionally unstable daughter, mentally-challenged brother and two suitors while simultaneously trying to run her small firewood business.
- DirectorMichel BraultStarsHélène LoiselleJean LapointeGuy ProvostA fact-based account of ordinary citizens who found themselves arrested and imprisoned without charge for weeks during the October Crisis in 1970 Quebec.
- DirectorDenys ArcandStarsDominique MichelDorothée BerrymanLouise PortalSexual revelations emerge when a group of academics and their partners spend a weekend at a country retreat.
- DirectorDenys ArcandStarsRémy GirardDorothée BerrymanStéphane RousseauDuring his final days, a dying man is reunited with old friends, former lovers, his ex-wife, and his estranged son.
- DirectorPhillip BorsosStarsRichard FarnsworthJackie BurroughsKen PogueWhen an aging, but gentlemanly stagecoach robber is released from prison, he decides to go to Canada to become a train robber.
- DirectorJean-Claude LauzonStarsMaxime CollinGinette RenoGilbert SicotteThe story of a young Canadian boy who tries to escape mentally from his disturbed family thanks to his fantasy and imagination.
- DirectorGuy MaddinStarsLeslie BaisCaelum VatnsdalShaun BalbarA scientist chooses a wealthy man over her two lovers but must heal the earth's core to save humanity.
- DirectorMichael SnowStarsHollis FramptonLyne GrossmanNaoto NakazawaClaimed by some to be one of the most unconventional and experimental films ever made, Wavelength is a structural film of a 45-minute long zoom in on a window over a period of a week. Very unconventional and experimental, indeed.
- DirectorTed KotcheffStarsRichard DreyfussMicheline LanctôtJack WardenIn a bid to gain respect, the neglected younger son of a working class Jewish family in Montréal embarks on a series of get-rich-quick schemes to buy land surrounding a lake.
- DirectorAtom EgoyanStarsArsinée KhanjianAshot AdamyanAtom EgoyanA woman stays in Armenia after her photographer husband completes his assignment and returns home to Canada.
- DirectorMichel BraultPierre PerraultStarsLéopold TremblayAlexis TremblayAbel HarveyAt the instigation of the filmmakers, the young men of the Ile-aux-Coudres in the middle of the St-Lawrence River try as a memorial to their ancestors to revive the fishing of the belugas interrupted in 1924.
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsRalph FiennesMiranda RichardsonGabriel ByrneA mentally disturbed man takes residence in a halfway house. His mind gradually slips back into the realm created by his illness, where he replays a key part of his childhood.
- DirectorFrançois GirardStarsColm FeoreDerek KeurvorstKatya LadanA collection of vignettes highlighting different aspects of the life, work, and character of the acclaimed Canadian classical pianist.
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsJames SpaderHolly HunterElias KoteasAfter getting into a serious car accident, a TV director discovers an underground sub-culture of scarred, omnisexual car-crash victims who use car accidents and the raw sexual energy they produce to try to rejuvenate his sex life with his wife.
- DirectorAtom EgoyanStarsBruce GreenwoodElias KoteasDon McKellarA man plagued by neuroses frequents the club Exotica in an attempt to find solace, but even there his past is never far away.
- DirectorGuy MaddinStarsIsabella RosselliniMark McKinneyMaria de MedeirosA musical of sorts set in Winnipeg during the Great Depression, where a beer baroness organizes a contest to find the saddest music in the world. Musicians from around the world descend on the city to try and win the $25,000 prize.
- DirectorMichael SnowOne of most influential films in avant-garde cinema, this experimental film by Michael Snow was shot over a period of 24 hours using a robotic arm, and consists entirely of preprogrammed movements. Snow programmed all the robotic movements so that they never moved the same way twice, so there are differences in every motion of the camera.
- DirectorBruce McDonaldStarsHugh DillonCallum Keith RennieJohn Pyper-FergusonA group of washed-up Canadian punk rockers get back together for a road trip in memory of a dear friend who was supposedly shot, or so rumors imply. As they travel, they ignore the underlying psychological darkness within each other.
- DirectorDon McKellarStarsDon McKellarSandra OhRoberta MaxwellA group of very different individuals with different ideas of how to face the end come together as the world is expected to end in six hours at the turn of the century.
- DirectorJack ChambersA surreal sequence of images of nature and London, Ontario, life and death.
- DirectorGuy MaddinStarsKyle McCullochGosia DobrowolskaSarah NevilleThe wary residents of a 19th century mountain village must tread carefully and speak softly lest they cause an avalanche. Sexual frenzies teem in this world of repression, setting off incestuous love triangles with deadly consequences.
- DirectorPatricia RozemaStarsSheila McCarthyPaule BaillargeonAnn-Marie MacDonaldScatterbrained Polly gets a job as a secretary in Gabrielle's art gallery. Polly aspires to be a professional photographer, and idolizes Gabrielle for her artistic ability. When Gabrielle rekindles an old romantic relationship with the younger painter Mary, Polly becomes jealous, and discovers Gabrielle is not who she claims to be.
- DirectorGilles CarleStarsMicheline LanctôtDonald PilonReynald BouchardA woman imbued with naturalistic and libertarian theories leaves her city home to live in the countryside with her young son. There she meets a litigious farmer who fights against the banks and the government, in which she will be somehow involved. Meanwhile, practising her theories, she makes some old men very happy and, by chance even passes as a saint!
- DirectorAtom EgoyanStarsElias KoteasArsinée KhanjianMaury ChaykinA family with the lack of sincerity faces a crisis.
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsJames WoodsDebbie HarrySonja SmitsA programmer at a Toronto TV station that specializes in adult entertainment searches for the producers of a dangerous and bizarre broadcast.
- DirectorClaude JutraStarsClaude JutraJohanne HarelleVictor DésyA man struggles with his identity, his life choices, his interracial relationship, and his latent homosexuality. A portrait of some young intellectuals in early sixties Montreal.
- DirectorGuy MaddinStarsMichael GottliDavid FalkenbergMichael O'SullivanAn amnesiac soldier, seeking his lost love, arrives in Archangel in northern Russia to help the townsfolk in their fight against the Bolsheviks, all quite unaware that the Great War ended three months ago.
- DirectorEvelyn LambartNorman McLarenAbstract images drawn directly onto the film are accompanied by three pieces of jazz performed by the Oscar Peterson trio.
- DirectorJohn PaizsStarsEva KovacsJohn PaizsDarrell BaranA young director intent on making "the greatest color crime movie ever" can't seem to finish his script--he has a beginning and an end, but he can't quite figure out the middle. The daughter of his landlord, excited to have a real "movie person" living nearby, tries to help by putting him in touch with a man who wants to collaborate on a script--the strange "Dr. Jolly".
- DirectorJean BeaudinStarsMarcel SabourinMonique MercureMarthe ThierryThe wife of photographer J. A. Martin decides to go with him in his tour of the hard Canadian countryside at the turn of the century. She hopes the intimacy will revive their marriage.
- DirectorMark AchbarPeter WintonickStarsNoam ChomskyMark AchbarKarin Aguilar-San JuanA film about the noted American linguist/political dissident and his warning about corporate media's role in modern propaganda.
- DirectorNorman McLarenStarsGrant MunroJean Paul LadouceurA surreal story of two neighbours' destructive feud over a flower.
- DirectorDonald ShebibStarsMichael ParksBonnie BedeliaChuck ShamataAn ex-con, his daughter and her two friends plan the elaborate heist of a nickel mine in Northern Ontario.
- DirectorGilles GroulxStarsBarbara UlrichClaude GodboutManon BlainA young journalist is unhappy with society and contemplates what he can do about it.
- DirectorSylvain ChometStarsMichèle CaucheteuxJean-Claude DondaMichel RobinWhen her grandson is kidnapped during the Tour de France, Madame Souza and her beloved pooch Bruno team up with the Belleville Sisters--an aged song-and-dance team from the days of Fred Astaire--to rescue him.
- DirectorDon OwenStarsPeter KastnerJulie BiggsClaude RaeA teenage boy rebels against parental authority and must face a harsh reality when he tries to live on his own.
- DirectorAllan KingStarsMartin FischerChronicles 7-weeks in the lives of 12 emotionally disturbed children and their therapist's experimental method of treatment at the Toronto-area Warrendale facility.
- DirectorBob ClarkStarsOlivia HusseyKeir DulleaMargot KidderDuring their Christmas break, a group of sorority girls are stalked by a stranger.
- DirectorLéa PoolStarsKarine VanassePascale BussièresPredrag 'Miki' ManojlovicIn the year 1963, an awkward thirteen-year-old girl comes of age during her escapism into the world of cinema, with potentially dangerous results.
- DirectorPeter MettlerStarsJustine BellinskyGovindaPeter MettlerA filmmaker's inquiry into transcendence becomes a three-hour trip across countries and cultures, interconnecting people, places and times. From Toronto, the scene of his childhood, Peter Mettler sets out on a journey that includes evangelism at the airport strip, demolition in Las Vegas, tracings in the Nevada desert, chemistry and street life in Switzerland, and the coexistence of technology and divinity in contemporary India. Everywhere along the way, the same themes are to be found: thrill-seeking, luck, destiny, belief, expanding perception, the craving for security in an uncertain world. Fact joins with fantasy; the search for meaning and the search for ecstasy begin to merge.
- DirectorJean Pierre LefebvreStarsMarcel SabourinAnouk FerjacMyriam BoyerA middle-aged man travels to France and is discouraged by the attitudes of the people concerning his native land until he meets and begins relationships with two lonely women.
- DirectorWolf KoenigRoman KroitorStarsPaul AnkaJules PodellA documentary chronicling the career of teen singing star Paul Anka (the title is taken from one of his hit songs).
- DirectorPeter MettlerStarsGavin ConnorBrian LadoonDon LindA documentary of an expedition to Churchill, Manitoba to film the Northern Lights.
- DirectorAllan KingStarsBilly EdwardsAntoinette EdwardsBogart EdwardsAn "actuality drama" about a real-life marriage in crisis, in which the couple attempts to identify and resolve the conflicts and resentments that have driven them to the brink of separation.
- DirectorAtom EgoyanStarsCharles AznavourBrent CarverEric BogosianInterrogated by a customs officer, a young man recounts how his life was changed during the making of a film about the Armenian genocide.
- DirectorLouis MalleStarsBurt LancasterSusan SarandonKate ReidIn a corrupt city, a small-time gangster and the estranged wife of a pot dealer find themselves thrown together in an escapade of love, money, drugs and danger.
- DirectorAnne WheelerStarsRebecca JenkinsLuke ReillyMichael OntkeanStory about a WWII wife & mother who joins a local dance band to provide for family while husband at war. Romantic involvement with one of the band members make her decisions difficult when husband returns from war. Story watches the progression of the band as it grows into a popular, successful recording and touring group. Excellent music and soundtrack.
- DirectorDavid RimmerTime-lapsed photography from a fixed camera on the Canadian rail yards that captures trains, ships, and the changing landscape.
- DirectorDavid Rimmer
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsJude LawJennifer Jason LeighIan HolmA game designer on the run from assassins must play her latest virtual reality creation with a marketing trainee to determine if the game has been damaged.
- DirectorAtom EgoyanStarsDavid HemblenAidan TierneyGabrielle RoseVan's father, Stan, is fond of video, always taping scenes of daily family life. But he does not take care of Van's grandmother, Armen. Although he could afford having her at home, she is spending her days watching TV in an old people's home. Van often visits her. He meets Aline, whose mother is in the next bed. Van wants to get his grandma out of the old people's home. Aline will help. Actually, Van, whose mother left, years ago, is looking for a real family life.
- DirectorDeepa MehtaStarsShabana AzmiNandita DasKarishma JhalaniTwo women who are abandoned by their husbands find love and solace in each other.
- DirectorLynne StopkewichStarsMolly ParkerPeter OuterbridgeJay BrazeauOver the years, a child's romantic ideals about death blossom into necrophilia, the study of embalming and the most profound relationship of her life.
- DirectorRobert LepageStarsLothaire BluteauPatrick GoyetteJean-Louis MilletteThe year is 1952, in Québec City, Québec. Rachel (Suzanne Clément), sixteen, unmarried, and pregnant, works in the church. Filled with shame, she unburdens her guilt to a young Priest under the confidentiality of the confessional. In the present year of 1994, Pierre Lamontagne (Lothaire Bluteau) has returned to Québec to attend his father's funeral. He meets up with his adopted brother, Marc (Patrick Goyette), who has begun questioning his identity and has embarked on a quest for his roots that would lead them to the Québec of the 1950s. Past and present converge in a complex web of intrinque where the answer to the mystery lies.
- DirectorJean Pierre LefebvreStarsMarthe NadeauMichèle MagnyPierre CurziThree generations of a family struggle to be open with each other during a week of summer vacation at their country cottage.
- DirectorWilliam D. MacGillivrayStarsTrudi PetersenJane PurvesJacinta CormierThe odyssey of a young Cape Breton woman as she moves to the big city (Halifax) and supports herself after the birth of her illegitimate child by posing for college art classes, on her way to becoming an artist in her own right.
- DirectorJohn GreysonStarsIan D. ClarkMarcel SabourinAubert PallascioWhen a bishop comes to a prison to hear the confession of an old friend he is forced to watch a play, performed by the inmates, about their youth together, love and betrayal.
- DirectorSandy WilsonStarsMargaret LangrickJohn WildmanRichard DonatAdding an intriguing Canadian twist to a universally appealing story of teenage trials, My American Cousin begins as bored 12-year-old Sandy (Margaret Langrick) is preparing for another long summer of cherry picking when suddenly her older, James Dean-cool cousin Butch (John Wildman) arrives unexpectedly from California in a red Cadillac convertible. Sandy and her pre-teen friends fall madly for Butch's rock 'n' roll swagger, but he's more interested in making time with the local girls and getting in fistfights than in playing chauffeur to Sandy. Both have a lot to learn about life and each other, but united under the strict parental rule of Sandy's dad, they vow to make this summer a truly unforgettable experience. Capturing the restlessness of youth with a fresh and funny perspective, Wilson's genuinely charming period piece is forever reaching for lost innocence as it playfully contrasts Canadian and American attitudes. My American Cousin has remained a consistent favourite for Canadians and non-Canadians.
- DirectorRichard BennerStarsCraig RussellHollis McLarenRichert EasleyA story about a female impersonator who rooms with a pregnant schizophrenic.
- DirectorJoyce WielandStarsJoyce WielandPierre TrudeauReason over Passion is one of Joyce Wieland's most renowned experimental films - a cross-country travelogue, political satire, modernist experiment - which embodies many of the themes recurrent in her rich, diverse and extensive oeuvre.
- DirectorDenys ArcandStarsJean LajeunesseLuce GuilbeaultJ. Léo GagnonThe unexpected return of his ex-wife and the assembly of a group of protesters both threaten to wreck a corrupt contractor's inauguration party for his new superhighway.
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsJennifer O'NeillStephen LackPatrick McGoohanA scientist trains a man with an advanced telepathic ability called "scanning" to stop a dangerous Scanner with extraordinary psychic powers from waging war against non scanners.
- DirectorMicheline LanctôtStarsPascale BussièresMarcia PilotePierre F. FauteuxTwo teenaged friends have separate difficult experiences that make the girls seriously consider suicide.
- DirectorThom FitzgeraldStarsChris LeavinsKerry FoxIan ParsonsWilliam, a once obese and depressed adolescent, is able to move past his teenage years when he moves to the city and comes out as being gay. When he returns home though, he can't cope with his memories.
- DirectorJean-Claude LauzonStarsGilles MaheuRoger LebelCorrado MastropasquaMarcel, recently released from prison, attempt to rebuild his relationship with his girlfriend Julie (now a prostitute) and especially his father Albert (who thinks he's been away on a long trip abroad), while being pursued by two corrupt cops (one of whom bears a longstanding grudge against him) for drug money he's alleged to possess...
- DirectorArthur LipsettThrough an unconventional use of concise narrative, a conceptual collage of sounds and images, and a rapid-fire montage, Arthur Lipsett's first film vividly portrays the urban estrangement in the times of social erosion and materialism.
- DirectorGilles GroulxStarsGilles GroulxJean-Marc PiotteClaude BeauchampPamphlet cinématographique réalisé par Gilles Groulx à un moment de fièvre populaire exceptionnelle au Québec, quelques mois après le front commun des trois syndicats québécois les plus importants (CSN, FTQ, CEQ) face au gouvernement québécois. OEuvre personnelle et militante d'un cinéaste québécois engagé, sa philosophie s'oppose à la « société de consommation » perçue comme la suprême incarnation du mal.
- DirectorAndré ForcierStarsGuy L'EcuyerMichel CôtéPierre GiardA friendship between a good man with bowling as his only passion and a queer albino.
- DirectorJean Pierre LefebvreStarsEric BeauséjourYves BenoîtSylvie BrousseauA teenager rebels against an oppressive ideology enforced by the authoritarian administration of his school and is committed to a mental institution.
- DirectorMichael SnowStarsAllan KaprowEmmett WilliamsMax NeuhausA camera in a classroom continuously sways back and forth at various speeds as people occasionally move around the setting.
- DirectorDavid HartfordStarsNell ShipmanCharles ArlingWheeler OakmanA woman finds herself all alone in a remote harbor with the man responsible for the murder of her father. With seemingly nobody around to protect her, she has to be resourceful.
- DirectorBruce BeresfordStarsLothaire BluteauAden YoungSandrine HoltIn the 17th century, a Jesuit missionary nicknamed Black Robe by the natives and his small party of companions try reaching the Huron tribe in Canada all while facing mistrust, Iroquois warring parties and harsh winter conditions.
- DirectorNorman McLarenThe surreal story of a bird and its cage with both their conflict and union.
- DirectorWolf KoenigColin LowStarsPierre BertonAuthor Pierre Berton tells the history of his hometown of Dawson City at its heyday during the Klondike Gold Rush.
- DirectorMichael SnowStarsAndré AlcasidJacqueline AndersonBerj BannayanA surreal and comic exploration of an office space and the decorations of a living room.
- DirectorGuy MaddinStarsDarcy FehrMelissa DionisioAmy StewartIt's time for hockey! There's no telling what will happen when the Winnipeg Maroons' own star player Guy becomes embroiled in the twisted lives of Meta, a vengeful Chinoise, and her hairdresser/abortionist mother Liliom. Innocent Veronica, caught in the middle, is treated to both services! Meanwhile poor, dithering, cowardly Guy can only stand by and watch.
- DirectorAllan KingStarsPhyllis BobbittJoyce BoneNorman CollinsDirector Allan King documents the final months of five terminally ill cancer patients at the Toronto Grace Health Centre.
- DirectorArthur LipsettAn experimental film from Arthur Lipsett, FREE FALL is an assortment of film trimmings assembled to make a wry comment on humankind in today's world. It evokes a surrealist dream of our fall from grace into banality.
- DirectorR. Bruce ElderStarsAnna PafomowHenry JesionkaR. Bruce ElderA montage provides a meditation on opposing extremes and the inevitability of destruction.
- DirectorClaude JutraStarsGeneviève BujoldRichard JordanMarcel CuvelierQuebec, the 1830s and 1840s. As she attends the bedside of Jérôme, her second husband, Élisabeth recalls her youth, her marriage to her first husband, Antoine, life in remote Kamouraska where he is seigneur, their love dissolving in his mental illness and cruelties, her falling in love with an American physician, Georges Nelson, and the aftermath of Antoine's violent death.
- DirectorAndré ForcierStarsJean LapointeJean Pierre BergeronSophie ClémentIn a poor neighborhood, teenagers plot an assassination while a party is being organized for the local usurer.
- DirectorPaul TanaStarsTony NardiEnrica Maria ModugnoTano CimarosaC'est l'histoire d'un couple d'italiens qui, après s'être établi à Montréal, plonge dans le drame suite à un fâcheux accident. Librement adapté d'un fait divers survenu au début du 20e siècle, 'La sarrasine' s'inscrit dans la démarche de l'auteur de mettre en lumière l'immigration italienne au Québec et les conflits liés au choc de deux cultures.
- DirectorDenys ArcandStarsJean-Pierre RonfardRaymond BarrePierre BrodeurMade shortly after the referendum on Quebec's independence was held, this documentary illustrates what the politicians' promises were and how the population did not really care nor truly understand what was really at stake, even though just about everyone had an opinion on the subject.
- DirectorJean Pierre LefebvreStarsMarthe NadeauJ. Léo GagnonMarcel SabourinAfter another cardiac arrest, Armand knows he doesn't have long to live. But after more than 70 years in the same house, he doesn't want to die anywhere else. His wife, Rose, has secretly decided she will die as she lived: with him.
- DirectorMichel BraultGilles GroulxFootage of a snowshoe festival in Sherbrooke, Quebec. Depictions of culture in the early years including snowshoe races, and musical attractions.
- DirectorDenis VilleneuveStarsMarie-Josée CrozeJean-Nicolas VerreaultStephanie MorgensternAfter plunging her car into a river, a woman encounters a man who helps her come to terms with her life.
- DirectorJoyce WielandA subversive short film which protests the Vietnam War and military establishment using a story of rats being imprisoned in the U.S. and making their way to Canada.
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsPaul HamptonJoe SilverLynn LowryThe residents of a suburban high-rise apartment building are being infected by a strain of parasites that turn them into mindless, sex-crazed fiends out to infect others by the slightest sexual contact.
- DirectorZale DalenStarsDavid PetersenJohn LazarusRudy SzaboA repo man skips town after his life is threatened.
- DirectorR. Bruce Elder
- DirectorJohn N. SmithStarsHenry CzernyJohnny MorinaBrian DooleyThe true story of boys being sexually abused at their orphanage ran by a religious community in Newfoundland.
- DirectorDonald BrittainStarsDonald Brittain