In many ways, Chandler Levack’s Mile End Kicks is a spiritual sequel to her 2022 debut feature, I Like Movies. Both films are semi-autobiographical, feature frustratingly complex central characters, and both are really, really good. But unlike her first film, which features a young man coming-of-age, the protagonist of her latest film is reckoning with the traumatic experiences that have undoubtedly shaped her life, for better or for worse.
This story follows Grace, a young, Toronto-based music critic who travels to Montreal to experience its burgeoning indie rock scene during the summer of 2011. She sends her hometown off with a middle finger as the bus pulls away, following in the footsteps of her rebellious musical inspirations who have left home in search of something greater. She’s not only fleeing a tenuous home life, but she’s also escaping the imbalanced sexual relationship with her married boss, something she’d work to process throughout the film.
In Montreal, Grace has a few simple goals: write a book about her idol, Alanis Morissette; hike a mountain; learn French; have real sex; and fall in love. She quickly works to assimilate with the local scene, attending loft parties DJed by her roommate and rock shows where she becomes enamored with the lead singer of Bone Patrol, a local indie band whose members become some of her first friends in town. The tumultuous relationship with him derails her objectives, and she’s left to put the pieces of her life back together.
“a young, Toronto-based music critic who travels to Montreal to experience its burgeoning indie rock scene during the summer of 2011”
Levack has a knack for recreating not-too-distant moments in time to evoke an intense nostalgia for those who lived through them. She’s meticulous in the composition of every scene, from the Chuck Klosterman novel on the shelf to the period-specific costumes, some of which were Levack’s actual clothes from her 20’s. But Mile End Kicks is a music lover’s dream movie, and it’s the soundtrack that creates the perfect time capsule of the early 2010s. The music of Joanna Newsom, Peaches, YACHT, Morissette, and more perfectly sets the stage for the story, helping the audience understand how easy it was to get swept up in the indie music boom.
Barbie Ferreira, one of the stars to break out of HBO’s Euphoria, leads the cast as Grace. Playing a lead character in a Levack film isn’t easy, as I Like Movies’ Isaiah Lehtinen (who also makes an appearance in this film) can attest to. Perhaps because she’s writing from such a personal place, these characters are incredibly layered. They make bad decisions, they make you roll your eyes, but it’s hard not to root for them. Ferreira walks this line beautifully, instilling Grace with a relatable insecurity paired with an admirable ambition. She’s been beaten down, but she keeps getting back up, and those experiences eventually propel her forward. Devon Bostick is the real standout of the cast, playing a nihilistic, guarded but charming member of the band. His chemistry with Ferreira gradually develops from awkward new friend to something more, serving as the perfect rom-com “other guy” archetype.
The film is certainly messy. But shouldn’t a film about embracing the messiness of life be a bit messy? Levack’s screenplay is sharp, deeply human, painful, but genuinely hilarious. You’ll laugh, you’ll swoon, you may even shed a tear. And while it’s formulaic at times, it resists the grand, third-act romantic gesture for a quieter, more resonant finale. What I thought was going to be an Almost Famous-like coming-of-age story morphed into one of the best R-rated romcoms I’ve seen in years.
"…one of the best R-rated romcoms I’ve seen in years..."
