Top 100 Canadian Films
Compiled from a 2004 poll for Take One magazine. The poll consisted of Top 10s from critics and filmmakers.
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103 titles
- DirectorClaude JutraStarsJacques GagnonLyne ChampagneJean DuceppeSet in cold rural Quebec at Christmas time, we follow the coming of age of a young boy and the life of his family which owns the town's general store and undertaking business.
- DirectorDenys ArcandStarsLothaire BluteauCatherine WilkeningJohanne-Marie TremblayA group of actors put on an unorthodox, but acclaimed Passion Play which incites the opposition of the Catholic Church while the actors' lives themselves begin to mirror the Passion itself.
- DirectorDonald ShebibStarsDoug McGrathPaul BradleyJayne EastwoodTwo friends leave the picturesque yet rural province of Nova Scotia for the nightlife and culture of Toronto. They soon end up wistful and nostalgic about Nova Scotia though after finding out that Toronto isn't as fun as they'd hoped.
- DirectorAtom EgoyanStarsIan HolmSarah PolleyCaerthan BanksA bus crash in a small town brings a lawyer to defend the families, but he discovers everything isn't what it seems.
- DirectorZacharias KunukStarsNatar UngalaaqSylvia IvaluPeter-Henry ArnatsiaqThe telling of an Inuit legend of an evil spirit causing strife in the community and one warrior's endurance and battle of its menace.
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsJeremy IronsGeneviève BujoldHeidi von PalleskeTwin gynecologists take full advantage of the fact that nobody can tell them apart, until their relationship begins to deteriorate over a woman.
- DirectorFrancis MankiewiczStarsCharlotte LaurierMarie TifoGermain HoudeA woman is overwhelmed with having to deal with her emotionally unstable daughter, mentally-challenged brother and two suitors while simultaneously trying to run her small firewood business.
- DirectorMichel BraultStarsHélène LoiselleJean LapointeGuy ProvostA fact-based account of ordinary citizens who found themselves arrested and imprisoned without charge for weeks during the October Crisis in 1970 Quebec.
- DirectorDenys ArcandStarsDominique MichelDorothée BerrymanLouise PortalSexual revelations emerge when a group of academics and their partners spend a weekend at a country retreat.
- DirectorDenys ArcandStarsRémy GirardDorothée BerrymanStéphane RousseauDuring his final days, a dying man is reunited with old friends, former lovers, his ex-wife, and his estranged son.
- DirectorPhillip BorsosStarsRichard FarnsworthJackie BurroughsKen PogueWhen an aging, but gentlemanly stagecoach robber is released from prison, he decides to go to Canada to become a train robber.
- DirectorJean-Claude LauzonStarsMaxime CollinGinette RenoGilbert SicotteThe story of a young Canadian boy who tries to escape mentally from his disturbed family thanks to his fantasy and imagination.
- DirectorGuy MaddinStarsLeslie BaisCaelum VatnsdalShaun BalbarA scientist chooses a wealthy man over her two lovers but must heal the earth's core to save humanity.
- DirectorMichael SnowStarsHollis FramptonLyne GrossmanNaoto NakazawaClaimed by some to be one of the most unconventional and experimental films ever made, Wavelength is a structural film of a 45-minute long zoom in on a window over a period of a week. Very unconventional and experimental, indeed.
- DirectorTed KotcheffStarsRichard DreyfussMicheline LanctôtJack WardenIn a bid to gain respect, the neglected younger son of a working class Jewish family in Montréal embarks on a series of get-rich-quick schemes to buy land surrounding a lake.
- DirectorAtom EgoyanStarsArsinée KhanjianAshot AdamyanAtom EgoyanA woman stays in Armenia after her photographer husband completes his assignment and returns home to Canada.
- DirectorMichel BraultPierre PerraultStarsLéopold TremblayAlexis TremblayAbel HarveyAt the instigation of the filmmakers, the young men of the Ile-aux-Coudres in the middle of the St-Lawrence River try as a memorial to their ancestors to revive the fishing of the belugas interrupted in 1924.
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsRalph FiennesMiranda RichardsonGabriel ByrneA mentally disturbed man takes residence in a halfway house. His mind gradually slips back into the realm created by his illness, where he replays a key part of his childhood.
- DirectorFrançois GirardStarsColm FeoreDerek KeurvorstKatya LadanA collection of vignettes highlighting different aspects of the life, work, and character of the acclaimed Canadian classical pianist.
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsJames SpaderHolly HunterElias KoteasAfter getting into a serious car accident, a TV director discovers an underground sub-culture of scarred, omnisexual car-crash victims who use car accidents and the raw sexual energy they produce to try to rejuvenate his sex life with his wife.
- DirectorAtom EgoyanStarsBruce GreenwoodElias KoteasDon McKellarA man plagued by neuroses frequents the club Exotica in an attempt to find solace, but even there his past is never far away.
- DirectorGuy MaddinStarsIsabella RosselliniMark McKinneyMaria de MedeirosA musical of sorts set in Winnipeg during the Great Depression, where a beer baroness organizes a contest to find the saddest music in the world. Musicians from around the world descend on the city to try and win the $25,000 prize.
- DirectorMichael SnowOne of most influential films in avant-garde cinema, this experimental film by Michael Snow was shot over a period of 24 hours using a robotic arm, and consists entirely of preprogrammed movements. Snow programmed all the robotic movements so that they never moved the same way twice, so there are differences in every motion of the camera.
- DirectorBruce McDonaldStarsHugh DillonCallum Keith RennieJohn Pyper-FergusonA group of washed-up Canadian punk rockers get back together for a road trip in memory of a dear friend who was supposedly shot, or so rumors imply. As they travel, they ignore the underlying psychological darkness within each other.
- DirectorDon McKellarStarsDon McKellarSandra OhRoberta MaxwellA group of very different individuals with different ideas of how to face the end come together as the world is expected to end in six hours at the turn of the century.