Long before the decade ended, I knew Take This Waltz and Mommy would be at the top of the list of Canadian films in the 2010s. Outstanding from beginning to the end, they were thoughtful, great storytelling, and left lasting impressions.
Xavier Dolan and Sarah Polley could have filled up a list of 2010s favourites. J'ai tué ma mère | I Killed My Mother would have made the list but was released in 2009.
Here is our list of the Top 10 Canadian films in the 2010s:
1 Take This Waltz (2011)
2 Mommy (2014)
3 Monsieur Lazhar (2011)
4 Cloudburst (2011)
5 Trigger (2010)
6 Angry Inuk (2016)
7 Café de Flore (2011)
8 All the Wrong Reasons (2013)
9 Into the Forest (2015)
10 Women Who Act (2015)
Monsieur Lazhar was the only Canada Top 5 Oscar film to make the list. Cloudburst was the Canadian film where I laughed the loudest. Trigger is a beautiful film of people who knew and loved each other rallying together to give a literal send-off to their friend. Angry Inuk was a documentary on why the Inuit are struggling up north. Café de Flore was a great example of what Jean-Marc Vallee can do when writing and directing his own films. All the Wrong Reasons surprised me for all the right reasons. Into the Forest was an amazing Patricia Rozema film. Women Who Act was a wonderful insight into Canada and film and women.
3 of the 10 films are in French. 2 are non-fiction. Only 1 film has an indigenous theme.
We did not factor in films that technically qualified as Canadian films but didn't reflect too much Canadian content. Room (2015). Brooklyn (2015), It's Only the End of the World (2016), Celtic Soul (2016), and Ava (2017) are certainly lovely films but wouldn't make my Top 10 list. I also left off Window Horses (2016), a wonderful film for the same criteria.
3 Canadian films made the Oscars Top 5 cut in the 2010s: Incendies and Rebelle | War Witch also didn't qualify with enough Canadian content.
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Tatiana Maslany starred in our top 10 Canadian TV selection in the 2010s in Orphan Black. I loved her in Picture Day (2012) and Cas & Dylan (2013). They were very good films, even with not making the Top 10.
Top 10 best Canadian TV shows in the 2010s
Dolan's Heartbeats | Les Amours imaginaires (2010) and Laurence Anyways (2012) along with Polley's Stories We Tell (2012) would have finished in the Top 20.
We enjoyed Pat Mills' first 2 films: Guidance (2014) and Don't Talk To Irene (2017).
Jennifer Baichwal and her collaborations with husband Nicholas de Pencier and photographer Edward Burtynsky made an impact on the decade in Canadian film. While Manufactured Landscapes was in 2006, Baichwal made an impact in the 2010s with Watermark (2013); Long Time Running (2017); and Anthropocene (2018).
Some lovely honourable mentions:
2010 — Good Neighbours
2011 — Starbuck
2012 — Goon; Inch'Allah; My Awkward Sexual Adventure
2013 — Empire of Dirt; Gabrielle
2014 — An Eye for Beauty | Le règne de la beauté; Felix and Meira; You're Sleeping, Nicole | Tu dors Nicole
2015 — My Internship in Canada | Guibord s'en va-t-en guerre; No Men Beyond This Point; Our Loved Ones
2016 — Maudie; Mean Dreams; Weirdos
2017 — Adventures in Public School; Black Cop; Mary Goes Round; Meditation Park; In the Name of All Canadians
2018 — The Fireflies Are Gone | La disparition des lucioles; Giant Little Ones; A Colony; Level 16; Slut in a Good Way | Charlotte a du fun
2019 — Murmur; Kuessipan; And The Birds Rained Down | Il pleuvait des oiseaux
The Windsor International Film Festival played an important role in shaping my knowledge of Canadian film. I have seen at least one film in the festival since 2007. As the decade progressed, so did the number of films. Though the festival has always had that many Canadian films, they showed some amazing films that increased my desire to see even more Canadian films.
The Genie Awards became the Canadian Screen Awards in 2013.
The online presence has helped from Canada Screens to Encore + on YouTube. We are still dreaming for a streaming service to bring Canadian film into a wider audience. Netflix hasn't been nearly as receptive to Canadian film as Canadian television. Maybe this can be a reality sometime in the next decade.
photo credit: Take This Waltz film
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