Canada has its own, independent cinema tradition and, in the spirit of good-natured retaliation, THR compiles a list of the 51 Greatest Canadian Films of All Time including: #SweetHereafter, #Juno, #StrangeBrew, #Meatballs, and more here: https://t.co/ps7xbOH7Qo pic.twitter.com/DQAebPwFuH
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) March 19, 2025
The number has to be 51, because, well, you know. Thanks The Hollywood Reporter for compiling a list of their 51 greatest Canadian films of all time.
The list is adventurous. A mix of quite old and very new. A lot of Canadian films that you would imagine would be on such a list.
Your humble narrator had to look up 3 of the films — Beyond the Black Rainbow; Chicks With Sticks; and Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media.
8 of the films were released in the 2020s, including 3 films that played at the 2024 Windsor International Film Festival: BlackBerry (2023); Brother (2022); 40 Acres (2024); Navalny (2022); Night Raiders (2021); Seeds (2024); Turning Red (2022); and Universal Language (2024).
Juno and Turning Red don't qualify as Canadian films but definitely have the spirit. A Christmas Story and Navalny don't qualify. The Fly and War Witch are Canadian in name only. Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media is a 4-country production. The list is obsessed with horror and David Cronenberg.
Here is the list from The Hollywood Reporter:
American Mary (2012)
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974)
Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (2001)
Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010)
BlackBerry (2023)
Black Christmas (1974)
The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open (2019)
Bon Cop, Bad Cop (2006)
Brother (2022)
Chicks With Sticks (2004)
A Christmas Story (1983)
C.R.A.Z.Y. (2005)
Cube (1997)
Dead Ringers (1988)
The Decline of the American Empire (Le déclin de l’empire américain) (1986)
Double Happiness (1994)
The Fly (1986)
40 Acres (2024)
Ginger Snaps (2000)
Good Riddance (Les Bons débarras) (1980)
Goon (2004)
The Grey Fox (1982)
Hard Core Logo (1996)
A History of Violence (2005)
Incendies (2010)
I've Heard the Mermaids Singing (1987)
Juno (2007)
Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993)
Last Night (1998)
Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media (1992)
Meatballs (1979)
Mommy (2014)
My American Cousin (1985)
My Uncle Antoine (Mon oncle Antoine) (1971)
Navalny (2022)
Night Raiders (2021)
Orders (Les ordres) (1974)
Polytechnique (2009)
Rhymes for Young Ghouls (2013)
The Saddest Music in the World (2003)
Seducing Doctor Lewis (La grande séduction) (2003)
Seeds (2024)
Stories We Tell (2012)
Strange Brew (1983)
The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (1993)
Turning Red (2022)
Universal Language (2024)
Vic + Flo Saw a Bear (2012)
Videodrome (1983)
War Witch (2012)
13 of the 51 films have appeared on 1 or more of the last 3 TIFF all-time lists: 7 of the 11 films from the 2015 list as well as 3 distinct titles from the 2004 list and 3 more from the 1993 list. The Grey Fox is a nice enough film but doesn't belong on a list of the 51 best ever from Canada. Somehow Goin' Down the Road isn't on this list.
Underappreciated titles that might be on my theoretical list include The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open; Bon Cop, Bad Cop; C.R.A.Z.Y.; The Decline of the American Empire; Double Happiness; Ginger Snaps; Hard Core Logo; I've Heard the Mermaids Singing; Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance; Last Night; Mommy; Orders; Rhymes for Young Ghouls; The Saddest Music in the World; Stories We Tell; The Sweet Hereafter; and Videodrome.
I sat through Vic + Flo Saw a Bear. Decent enough film, but I've literally seen hundreds of Canadian films better than that one. War Witch made the Oscars cut but that may be the only reason this film is on a list. I am in the minority but Meatballs is … dare I say, overrated. An above average film but not on a list of 51.
By my count, I have seen 44 of the 51 films with these exceptions: American Mary; Beyond the Black Rainbow; Chicks With Sticks; The Fly; A History of Violence; Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media; and Navalny. That is pretty good.
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Thanks to Scott Roxborough and Etan Vlessing from The Hollywood Reporter, the "in-house Canucks," for putting together the list. Just because we have some issues with the list, there are a lot of great Canadian films we would put on a similar list.
Reminds us that we need a better sense of what a Canadian film is.
Feel free to weigh in if you think they missed one, or a few, or why this film that made the list.
Twitter captures: @THR
photo credit: Rhymes for Young Ghouls
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