New Release : Sundowners (Opening August 25th)

Recommended : In The Name of All Canadians

100 Best Canadian Films – Paul Corupe

A hidden gem of Canadian film scholarship: Canuxploitation! Your Complete Guide to Canadian B-Film. If you’ve taken any undergrad Canadian cinema class you probably already know that throughout the history of Canadian films there have been a lot of documentaries, but it’s probably thanks to rep cinemas or friends (for millennials that didn't live through this earlier period) that you would have discovered the grindhouse films of the tax-shelter years or other more eccentric titles: The Silent Partner, Strange Brew, Brain Candy, The Brood, Drying up the Streets, Black Christmas, Ginger Snaps and so on (quite a few of these that I saw for the first time at the Mayfair in Ottawa). And thanks to Canuxploitation! there’s a great immediate resource to read more about them and discover similar titles. And I need to thank Paul Corupe for contributing such an eclectic list, an alternative canon for Canadian cinema.

Paul founded the up-to-date Canuxploitation! site, and has written on Canadian cinema in magazines like Rue Morgue and Take One, but perhaps an even greater accomplishments are his script writing for the Bravo On Screen series, which in each episode focused on specific canonical Canadian titles, which includes Nobody Waved Good-bye, Roadkill and Crime Wave (these really need to be released on DVD).

100 Best Canadian Films is a series of personal surveys of the history of Canadian cinema. Other lists includes those by 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.

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Canuxploitation's 100 important Canadian films: Towards an Alternative Canon 

- A Cool Sound from Hell (Furie, 1959)

- Across This Land with Stompin' Tom Connors (Saxton, 1973)

- The Adventure of Faustus Bidgood (Jones and Jones, 1986)

- Adulterous Affair (Leversuch, 1966)

- Amanita Pestilens (Bonnière, 1963)

- American Nightmare (McBrearty, 1983)

- Back in Action (Ziller, 1993)

- Bambi Meets Godzilla (Newland, 1974)

- Beyond the Black Rainbow (Cosmatos, 2010)

- Beyond the Seventh Door (Benedikt, 1987)

- Big Meat Eater (Windsor, 1982)        

- Blood and Guts (Lynch, 1978)

- Black Christmas (Clark. 1974)

- Blackout (Matalon, 1978)

- The Bounty Hunters (Pischiutta, 1985)

- Brain Candy (Makin, 1996)

- Breaking Point (Clark, 1976)

- The Brood (Cronenberg, 1979)

- The Canadian Conspiracy (Boyd, 1985)

- The Changeling (Medak, 1980)

- Class of 1984 (Lester, 1982)

- Comic Book Confidential (Mann, 1988)

- Corpse Eaters (Passmore and Vetter, 1974)

- Crime Wave (Paizs, 1985)

- Cross Country (Lynch, 1983)

- Cube (Natali, 1997)

- Deadline (Azzopardi, 1981)

- Death Weekend (Fruet, 1976)

- Deathdream (Clark, 1972)

- Deranged (Gillen, 1974)

- Diary of a Sinner (Hunt, 1974)

- Deux Femmes en Or (Fournier, 1970)

- Downtime (Hanec, 1985)

- Dragon Hunt (Wiener, 1990)

- Drying Up the Streets (Spry, 1978)

- East End Hustle (Vitale, 1976)

- Elvis Gratton (Falardeau and Poulin, 1981)

- FUBAR (Dowse, 2002)

- The Gate (Takacs, 1987)

- Gina (Arcand, 1974)

- La guerre des tuques (Mélançon, 1984)

- Heartaches (Shebib, 1981)

- Heavenly Bodies (Dane, 1984)

- Hell Bent (Kozak, 1994)

- High Ballin' (Carter, 1978)

- H.I.Z.: Erection Der Zombie (Kennedy and Sweeney, 2007)

- Hobo With a Shotgun (Eisener, 2011)

- Hookers on Davie (Cole and Dale, 1984)

- Hot Wheels (McBrearty, 1979)

- Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS  (Edmonds, 1975)

- Ilsa the Tigress of Siberia (Lafleur, 1977)

- Ivy League Killers (Davidson, 1959)

- IXE-13 (Godbout, 1971)

- Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang (Flicker, 1978)

- Kubasa in a Glass: the Fetishised Winnipeg TV Commercial 1976-1992 (L'Atelier national du Manitoba, 2006)

- The Last Pogo (Brunton, 1978)

- The Little Girl who Lived Down the Lane (Gessner, 1976)

- Loving and Laughing (Sone, 1971)

- The Mask (Roffman, 1961)

- Metal Messiah (Takacs, 1978)

- Midnight Matinee (Martin, 1988)

- Mindfield (Lord, 1989)

- Mondo Nude (Tudhope, 1979)

- Montreal Main (Vitale, 1974)

- My Bloody Valentine (Mihalka, 1981)

- Mysterious Moon Men of Canada (Brunton, 1988)

- Naked Flame (Matlansky, 1964)

- Oddballs (Lente, 1984)

- Parents (Balaban, 1989)

- The Peanut Butter Solution (Rubbo, 1985)

- Pin: A Plastic Nightmare (Stern, 1989)

- Porky’s (Clark, 1981)

- Project Grizzly (Lynch, 1996)

- Recommendation for Mercy (Markowitz, 1976)

- Rituals (Carter, 1979)

- Rock 'N' Roll Nightmare (Fasano, 1987)

- Rock and Rule (Smith, 1983)

- Safety or Slaughter? (Crawley, 1958)

- Satan’s Choice (Shebib, 1965)

- Scanners (Cronenberg, 1981)

- Science Crazed (Switzer, 1989)

- Sexcula (Hollowich, 1974)

- Shivers (Cronenberg, 1975)

- Shoot (Hart, 1976)

- Siege (Donovan, 1982)          

- The Silent Partner (Duke, 1979)

- Sins of the Fathers (Rosen and Jarvis, 1949)

- Sissy Boy Slap Party (Maddin, 2004)

- Skip Tracer (Dalen, 1977)

- Social Acceptability (Crawley, 1957)

- Springtime in Greenland (Paizs, 1981)

- Strange Shadows in an Empty Room (De Martino, 1976)

- The Suburbanators (Burns, 1995)

- Sudden Fury (Damude, 1975)

- Things (Jordan, 1989)

- Tomorrow Never Comes (Collinson, 1978)

- Top Of The Food Chain (Paizs, 1999)

- Valérie (Heroux, 1969)

- Vengeance is Mine (Trent, 1976)

- Wrestling Queen (Vallely, 1973)

Essential Cinema : Who Has Seen The Wind

New Music Video : Dog Daze

100 Best Canadian Films – David L. Pike

David L. Pike is the author of the great book Canadian Cinema Since the 1980s (you can read a good review of it by Steve Gravestock in Cinema Scope issue 54) and he provided a short introduction that puts the list in context. This 100 Best Canadians Films series, along with the qualifiers that Pike mentions, can also be seen as personalized versions of the more institutional Canada on Screen list, which screenings have been really exciting. By asking participants to provide one-hundred titles I hope that more off-beat, eccentric and less ‘official’ titles find a place in the canon. As well I hope to provide an image of what an in-depth Canadian cinema cinephilia would look like.

Other 100 Best Canadian Films lists includes those by 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.

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As befits my critical stance as an American parasitizing Canadian cinema, most of my list is culled from the ones already posted on Toronto Film Review. I have attempted to triangulate the three overlapping but not quite identical selection criteria requested at various places on the blog (“100 titles important to Canadian film history”; “lists by film critics and scholars on their personal, subjective favorite films (or shows!) that have been made here in this country”; “100 Best Canadian Films”) while mostly sticking to the generous selection criteria. My list includes around a dozen shorts, so I have arbitrarily counted them two for one to make my 106 look a little more like an even 100. Because I will be sharing this list with my students, I have also included links to NFB/ONF and YouTube. – D.L.P.

David L. Pike’s 106 Best Canadian FIlms

1.     Back to God’s Country (Nell Shipman, 1919)

2.     Begone Dull Care (Evelyne Lambart, Norman McLaren, 1949)

3.     La petite Aurore, l’enfant martyre (Jean-Yves Bigras, 1951)

4.     Neighbours (Norman McLaren, 1952)

5.     A Chairy Tale (Claude Jutra, Norman McLaren; 1957)

6.     Les Raquetteurs (Pierre Perrault, 1958)

7.     Lonely Boy (Wolf Koenig, Roman Kroitor, 1962)

8.     À tout prendre (Claude Jutra, 1963)

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

10.  Le chat dans le sac (Gilles Groulx, 1964)

11.  Nobody Waved Goodbye (Don Owen, 1964)

12.  La vie heureuse de Léopold Z (Gilles Carle, 1965)

13.  Paddle to the Sea (Bill Mason, 1966)

14.  Entre la mer et l’eau douce (Michel Brault, 1967)

15.  Isabel (Paul Almond, 1968)

16.  Valérie (Denis Héroux, 1969)

17.  Deux femmes en or (Claude Fournier, 1970)

18.  Goin’ down the Road (Donald Shebib, 1970)

19.  On est au coton (Denys Arcand, 1970)

20.  Mon oncle Antoine (Claude Jutra, 1971)

21.  La vraie nature de Bernadette (Gilles Carle, 1972)

22.  Wedding in White (William Fruet, 1972)

23.  Les dernières fiançailles (Jean Pierre Lefebvre, 1973)

24.  The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (Ted Kotcheff, 1974)

25.  Black Christmas (Bob Clark, 1974)

26.  Les Ordres (Michel Brault, 1974)

27.  Gina (Denys Arcand, 1975)

28.  Shivers (David Cronenberg, 1975)

29.  La Tête de Normande St-Onge (Gilles Carle, 1975)

30.  The Street (Caroline Leaf, 1976)

31.  Rabid (David Cronenberg, 1977)

32.  The Brood (David Cronenberg, 1979)

33.  Les Bons débarras (Francis Mankiewicz, 1980)

34.  The Sweater (1980, Sheldon Cohen)

35.  My Bloody Valentine (George Mihalka, 1981)

36.  The Grey Fox (Philip Borsos, 1982)

37.  Videodrome (David Cronenberg, 1982)

38.  Strange Brew (Rick Moranis, Dave Thomas,1983)

39.  Ghostbusters (Ivan Reitman, 1984)*

40.  Sonatine (Micheline Lanctôt, 1984)

41.  My American Cousin (Sandy Wilson, 1985)

42.  Le déclin de l’empire américain (Denys Arcand, 1986)

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

44.  Life Classes (William D. MacGillivray, 1987)

45.  Un zoo, la nuit (Jean-Claude Lauzon, 1987)

46.  The Cat Came Back (Cordell Barker, 1988)

47.  Dead Ringers (David Cronenberg, 1988)

48.  Roadkill (Bruce McDonald, 1989)

49.  Jésus de Montréal (Denys Arcand, 1989)

50.  Next of Kin (Atom Edoyan, 1989)

51.  Les noces de papier (Michel Brault, 1989)

52.  Archangel (Guy Maddin, 1990)

53.  The Company of Strangers (Cynthia Scott, 1990)

54.  Masala (Srinivas Krishna, 1991)

55.  Careful (Guy Maddin, 1992)

56.  Highway 61 (Bruce McDonald, 1992)

57.  Léolo (Jean-Claude Lauzon, 1992)

58.  Calendar (Atom Egoyan, 1993)

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

60.  Thirty-Two Short Films about Glenn Gould (François Girard, 1993)

61.  Zero Patience (John Greyson, 1993)

62.  Double Happiness (Mina Shum, 1994)

63.  Eclipse (Jeremy Podeswa, 1994)

64.  Exotica (Atom Egoyan, 1994)

65.  Le confessional (1995, Robert Lepage)

66.  Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch, 1995)

67.  Rude (Clement Virgo, 1995)

68.  When Night Is Falling (Patricia Rozema, 1995)

69.  Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996)

70.  Fire (Deepa Mehta, 1996)

71.  Hard Core Logo (Bruce McDonald, 1996)

72.  Kissed (1996, Lynn Stopkewich)

73.  Cube (Vincenzo Natali, 1997)

74.  The Hanging Garden (Thom Fitzgerald, 1997)

75.  The Sweet Hereafter (Atom Egoyan, 1997)

76.  Twitch City (Bruce McDonald, Don McKellar, 1998-9)

77.  Emporte-moi (1999, Léa Pool)

78.  Last Night (Don McKellar, 1999)

79.  New Waterford Girl (Allan Moyle, 1999)

80.  Ginger Snaps (John Fawcett, 2000)

81.  Heart of the World (Guy Maddin, 2000)

82.  Krapp’s Last Tape (Atom Egoyan, 2000)

83.  Maelström (2000, Denis Villeneuve)

84.  Waydowntown (Gary Burns, 2000)

85.  Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (Zacharias Kunuk, 2001)

86.  Last Wedding (Bruce Sweeney, 2001)

87.  Bollywood/Hollywood (Deepa Mehta, 2002)

88.  FUBAR (Mike Dowse, 2002)

89.  La face cachée de la lune (2003, Robert Lepage)

90.  La grande séduction (Jean-François Pouliot, 2003)

91.  Les Invasions barbares (Denys Arcand, 2003)

92.  Stryker (Noam Gonick, 2004)

93.  C.R.A.Z.Y. (Jean-Marc Vallée, 2005)

94.  A History of Violence (David Cronenberg, 2005)

95.  Water (Deepa Mehta, 2005)

96.  Away from Her (Sarah Polley, 2007)

97.  Eastern Promises (David Cronenberg, 2007)

98.  My Winnipeg (Guy Maddin, 2007)

99.  Frozen River (Courtney Hunt, 2008)

100.                 Pontypool (Bruce McDonal, 2008)

101.                 Polytechnique (2009, Denis Villeneuve)

102.                 Incendies (Denis Villeneuve, 2010)

103.                 Monsieur Lazhar (2011, Philippe Falardeau)

104.                 Stories We Tell (Sarah Polley, 2012)

105.                 Orphan Black, season 1 (Graeme Manson and John Fawcett, 2013)

106.                 Arrival (Denis Villeneuve, 2016)

* In honor of Geoff Pevere