100 Best Canadian Films - Michael Marlatt

Canadian cinema is at a good place these days. Filmmakers are making good work. It’s being properly honored at film festivals and award ceremonies. Scholars, journalists and cinephiles are more passionate about it, which has led to more writing and arguments for its future. The programming of its film history has led to important discoveries, which has opened up new trajectories to understand its evolution. All of this, I think, is making Canadian cinema right now one of the most exciting national cinemas. The lists in this 100 Best Canadian Films series hopefully show that it’s film history is not only quite impressive and diverse but that it’s also equally malleable and open to change. There's reason to be optimistic. Let's keep this going!

I need to thank my friend Michael for this great list. Here’s his bio:

“Michael Marlatt is a film preservationist and archivist with a passion for Canadian film – both on the screen and on the reel. At the CFMDC he inspected miles of 16mm, including many of the avant-garde films on other lists in this series, and at the TIFF Film Reference Library he processed the collection of filmmaker Christopher Chapman, of A Place to Stand fame (the film originating the Ontari-ari-ario song). He is also an avid researcher of the histories of film exhibition and museums, especially in Canada.”

100 Best Canadian Films is an open series of personal surveys of Canadian cinema history. Other lists includes those by Jim Sheddan, Philippe Gajan, Kevin Laforest, Steve Gravestock, Olena Decock, Dan Browne, Réalisatrices Équitables and Films Fatales Montréal, Helen Faradji, Fabrice Montal, Stephen Broomer, Paul Corupe, David L. Pike, Jerry White, André Loiselle, Paul Williams, Greg Klymkiw, Pat Mullen, Jason Anderson, Daniel Kremer, Yves Lever, Piers Handling, Marcel Jean, Mike Hoolboom and myself.  – D.D.

***

Notes: There really was no theme in my selection process. These are just all films (and a couple of other works) that I have enjoyed watching over the years. I was a little surprised at just how little I had on my list from the 1980s but oh well. Our country has really put out some incredible work. My apologies to David for getting this list in so late. I hope I am forgiven. – M.M.

Michael Marlatt’s 100 Best Canadian Films

- Back to God’s Country (David Hartford, 1919)

- Churchill's Island (Stuart Legg, 1941)

- Begone Dull Care (Norman McLaren, 1949)

- Neighbours (Norman McLaren, 1952)

- Tit-coq (Gratien Gélinas, 1952)

- The Yellow Leaf (Fergus McDonell, 1956)

- La Lutte (Michel Brault, Marcel Carrière, Claude Fournier and Claude Jutra, 1961)

- The Mask (Julian Roffman, 1961)

- Very Nice, Very Nice (Arthur Lipsett, 1961)

- Lonely Boy (Wolf Koenig, Roman Kroitor, 1962)

- À tout prendre (Claude Jutra, 1963)

- Pour la suite du monde (Pierre Perrault, Michel Brault, 1963)

- Nobody Waved Good-bye (Don Owen, 1964)

- Winter Kept us Warm (David Secter, 1965)

- Florence Wyle and Frances Loring at Home in their Toronto Sculpting Studio (Christopher Chapman, 1965)

- The Scribe (John Sebert, 1965)

- Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Leonard Cohen (Donald Brittain and Don Owen, 1966)

- Helicopter Canada (Eugene Boyko, 1966)

- Paddle to the Sea (Bill Mason, 1966)

- Warrendale (Allan King, 1967)

- A Place to Stand (Christopher Chapman, 1967)

- Impressions of Expo 67 (William Brind, 1967)

- A Married Couple (Allan King, 1969)

- The Hart of London (Jack Chambers, 1970)

- Goin’ Down the Road (Donald Shebib, 1970)

- Mon oncle Antoine (Claude Jutra, 1971)

- North of Superior (Graeme Ferguson, 1971)

- The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (Ted Kotcheff, 1974)

- Black Christmas (Bob Clark, 1974)

- Shivers (David Cronenberg, 1975)

- Volcano: An Inquiry into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry (Donald Brittain and John Kramer, 1976)

- On est au coton (Deny Arcand, 1976)

- J.A. Martin photographe (Jean Beaudin, 1977)

- Outrageous! (Richard Benner 1977)

- I'll Find a Way (Beverly Shaffer, 1977)

- Rabid (David Cronenberg, 1977)

- Home for Christmas (Rick Hancox, 1978)

- Michael, A Gay Son (Bruce Glawson, 1980)

- Scanners (David Cronenberg, 1981)

- Videodrome (David Cronenberg, 1983)

- Le Déclin de L'empire Américain (Denys Arcand, 1986) 

- The Fly (David Cronenberg, 1986)

- I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing (Patricia Rozema, 1987)

- Life Classes (William D. MacGillivray, 1987)

- The Cat Came Back (Cordell Barker, 1988)

- Roadkill (Bruce McDonald, 1989)

- Jésus de Montréal (Deny Arcan, 1989)

- Archangel (Guy Maddin, 1990)

- Canadian Children Public Service Announcements (Concerned Children's Advertisers, 1990-2017)

- The Adjuster (Atom Egoyan, 1991)

- Highway 61 (Bruce McDonald, 1991)

- Naked Lunch (David Cronenberg, 1991)

- Heritage Minutes (Historica Canada, 1991-)

- Léolo (Jean-Claude Lauzon, 1992)

- Manufacturing Consent (Mark Achbar and Peter Wintonick, 1992)

- Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives (Lynne Fernie, Aerlyn Weissman, 1993)

- Calendar (Atom Egoyan, 1993)

- Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (François Girard, 1993)

- Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (Alanis Obomsawin, 1993)

- Zero Patience (John Greyson, 1993)

- Picture of Light (Peter Mettler, 1994)

- Exotica (Atom Egoyan, 1994)

- Margaret's Museum (Mort Ransen, 1995)

- Hard Core Logo (Bruce McDonald, 1996)

- Project Grizzly (Peter Lynch, 1996)

- Lilies (John Greyson, 1996)

- The Sweet Hereafter (Atom Egoyan, 1997)

- The Hanging Garden (Thom Fitzgerald, 1997)

- Last Night (Don McKellar, 1998)

- The Red Violin (François Girard, 1998)

- Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows (Paul Jay, 1998)

- Ginger Snaps (John Fawcett, 2000)

- Canada: A People’s History (CBC, 2000)

- Maelstrom (Denis Villeneuve, 2000)

- waydowntown (Gary Burns, 2000)

- Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (Zacharias Kunuk, 2001)

- Les Invasions barbares (Deny Arcand, 2003)

- C.R.A.Z.Y. (Jean-Marc Vallée, 2005)

- Metal: A Headbanger's Journey (Sam Dunn, 2005)

- A History of Violence (David Cronenberg, 2005)

- Water (Deepa Mehta, 2005)

- Manufactured Landscapes (Jennifer Baichwal, 2006)

- Away From Her (Sarah Polley, 2006)

- My Winnipeg (Guy Maddin, 2007)

- Polytechnique (Denis Villeneuve, 2009)

- Take This Waltz (Sarah Polley, 2011)

- Laurence Anyways (Xavier Dolan, 2012)

- Stories We Tell (Sarah Polley, 2012)

- The Dirties (Matt Johnson, 2013)

- Mommy (Xavier Dolan, 2014)

- Into the Forest (Patricia Rozema, 2015)

- Sleeping Giant (Andrew Cividino, 2015)

- Closet Monster (Stephen Dunn, 2015)

- The Forbidden Room (Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson, 2015)

- Ceux qui font les révolutions à moitié n'ont fait que se creuser un tombeau (Mathieu Denis and Simon Lavoie, 2016)

- Searchers (Maliglutit) (Zacharias Kunuk, 2016)

- Window Horses (Ann Marie Fleming, 2016)

- Angry Inuk (Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, 2016)

- The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches (Simon Lavoie, 2017)

- Our People Will Be Healed (Alanis Obomsawin, 2017)