There are many movies filmed in Canada, but so few declare it proudly for the world to know. If you’re looking for a movie that will showcase the best of The Great White North, read on.
The F Word
The F Word, or in some countries called What If, is Daniel Radcliffe’s most underappreciated movie. It’s hard to make a good romance movie anymore. Some gimmick like needing a date to a wedding or running into an ex on the street while checking out the most recent celeb gossip or the latest US open odds online, are so transparent that it quickly becomes boring to watch the two “fall in love”.
Not here. 2013’s The F Word brings all the warmth and heart Canadian culture has to offer and isn’t shy about it either.
Daniel Radcliffe’s Wallace is at a party when Zoe Kazan’s Chantry strikes up a conversation. That’s it. They quickly establish that Wallace is single, but Chantry is not and decide they’d rather stay friends and that frankly, they could do worse. As time goes on, they establish their friendship deeper in their escapades around Toronto.
The ongoing musings on whether or not a heterosexual man and woman can “just be friends” is as entertaining as it is thoughtful, thanks to Adam Driver at his full charmingly obnoxious.
Toronto becomes a character in its own right, as the starlit streets and landmarks like the glorious and classic Royal Cinema and the Scarborough Bluffs and Bluffers Park where the two and their friends enjoy a cozy campfire and some skinny dipping.
It’s a film that will have you falling in love with Toronto rather than any of the characters.
Scott Pilgrim vs The World
A proudly Canadian product written, or drawn rather, by an equally proud Canadian, Bryan Lee O’Malley’s video game-inspired graphic novel comes to life in this movie from famed quirky director Edgar Wright.
Scott has to battle through ex-partner after ex-partner to win the heart of the initially closed off and mysterious Ramona, finding a new challenge along the way and meeting for these scraps in some of Toronto’s most famous locations.
Lee’s Palace is where Scott runs into his own ex and Ramona’s: band members of The Clash at Demonhead, Captain Marvel’s Brie Larson and Superman’s Brandon Routh. Chris Evans’ Number 2 shreds down the railing to the steps of Toronto’s Casa Loma, which is obviously the most interesting thing about Toronto’s own castle on a hill. And the gang lick their wounds at one of the many locations of Pizza Pizza. Unfortunately, the famed discount store with its lights that could rival the sun, Honest Ed’s, was omitted from the film due to a shortage of time and had to close its doors in 2016, but it is immortalized in the comic book.
Of course, the movie is constantly reminding you of subtler ways that we are in Toronto. Scott’s enemies burst into a shower of loonie and toonie coins, it is snowing no matter where he goes, and the DJ makes sure to announce The Clash at Demonhead to Toronto, making everyone get buzzed.
It’s a movie that showcases the fun and culture of Toronto life.
X2
The best films of Canada list wouldn’t be anything without a mention of the best superhero from Canada. Despite an Aussie playing him, the cigar-chewing, claw swinging, brooding hero is, in fact, from the Great White North, specifically Alberta.
However, in the second installment of the original X-Men trilogy, he’s still unaware of that, suffering from a bad bout of amnesia that every comic book character seems to go through at some point in their life. The 2009, and superior to all others, film, sees Logan, the X-Men and a few friends made along the way head to Alkali Lake to rescue Professor X and shut down an underground, or rather, under ice, laboratory performing experiments on mutants. It is the facility that made Wolverine into the man he is today, infusing his entire body with an indestructible metal.
The beauty of the Canadian landscape is well-shown and breathtaking in this movie. Any moments that aren’t spent in a dank, dripping warehouse full of tortured souls, you are transported to the beautiful snow-covered mountains of British Columbia.
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