I had the chance to attend the world premiere of Mile End Kicks at TIFF. I was curious about this considering Chandler Levack’s rising status as one of the Canadian filmmakers to look out after the success of her debut feature I Like Movies.

I can say that I preferred this to I Like Movies. For starters our main protagonist Grace seemed like a real human being and less obnoxious in terms of her behavior in contrast to Lawrence, whose attitude towards life and art really put me off (and rather deliberately so – not entirely a knock against what I Like Movies was doing). There are clearly some parallels here in terms of the whole art criticism angle given Levack’s previous background as a writer and critic herself, with Lawrence’s attitude towards cultivating a certain taste for cinema versus Grace Pine’s love for all sorts of indie and alternative rock that encompasses both the new and the old from Alanis Morissette to her latest discovery Bone Patrol in the film. Both protagonists also go through a lot of pains and struggles along the way in terms of navigating the complexities of being a young person in a confusing world, finding friendships and love as well as understanding what it is at the end that they truly want more than anything. A sense of belonging and community and feeling loved in the places one would least expect – by the end, Lawrence is in college, at peace with himself. In Mile End Kicks, Grace finds herself falling in love for one of the band members of Bone Patrol who has herpes, yet that doesn’t stop Grace from going for the makeout session. She has also found what she wants.

This is also the most English-speaking Montreal you’ll ever see depicted on film, even if there is a little bit of French peppered here and there. You could say it makes sense that Grace would be hanging out in more English-speaking places given her Anglophone background and her lack of understanding French in general. This does result in one hilarious scene at the convenience store when she’s trying to find Sour Patch Kid. But while watching this I did think about how the Quebecois audience would interpret this creative decision – even if the story calls for it, I’m not sure that all of them will be on board with the Anglo-centred approach.. But that’s not for me to decide.

I think the film does a good job of capturing a certain period in time as far as the Canadian indie music scene is concerned. The death of traditional music journalism was starting to take shape in the rise of social media platforms online. Magazine publications like Spin (as referenced in the film) were in that awkward transitional period towards online digital spaces as opposed to print. We see that impact on Grace as she tries to navigate through the trials and tribulations of making any kind of living off of music journalism. But that isn’t to say it’s completely impossible – perhaps she should have pivoted her efforts towards being a YouTuber like Anthony Fantano or an online music influencer instead. Or maybe that would’ve been looked down upon at the time, who knows.

You can tell this came from a more genuine place than I Like Movies and that the material speaks a lot closer to Chandler Levack’s own life experiences as a journalist. The end result is a lot more palatable, digestible and believable. Certainly has crowd-pleasing potential in all its moments of awkwardness and recklessness, and I anticipate this will go much farther than I Like Movies did.