Friday, August 4, 2017

100 Best Canadian Films – Fabrice Montal

As an important programmer at the Cinémathèque québécoise, I need to thank Fabrice Montal for this list. I’m impressed by the choices and the range, and I'm especially impressed how Jean-Marc Vallée’s Les mots magiques was included. It's really rare. Montal is also an important scholar on the work of the Montreal experimental filmmaker Robert Morin.
Aside from a general difficulty to get people to contribute (though I'm very grateful to everyone that has!) some things have become apparent after having run the 100 Best Canadian Films series for almost six months and getting fifteen lists: It seems like there are more Québécois folks who are (very) knowledgeable of their own province's cinema, compared to Anglophones and an English Canadian narrative cinema. Perhaps not too surprisingly, there is a stronger enthusiasm for Canadian cinema in places and cities other than Toronto (we can be a little jaded here). A couple of Americans contributed, which shows that Canadian cinema has made an impact elsewhere. And I wish that I received more contributions from more diverse contributors, but hopefully this will remedy itself through future contributors. A reminder: 100 Best Canadian Films is an open series and please let me know if you want to, or know anyone, that would like contribute
(I could be reached at through my email davidd329@gmail.com).
100 Best Canadian Films is a series of personal surveys of the history of Canadian cinema. Other lists includes those by Stephen Broomer, Paul Corupe, David L. Pike, Jerry White, André Loiselle, Paul WilliamsGreg Klymkiw, Pat MullenJason AndersonDaniel KremerYves Lever, Piers HandlingMarcel JeanMike Hoolboom and myself. – D.D.
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Here are my choices, a list made sincerely and randomly. No order at all. No hierarchy. No genre. – F.M.

Fabrice Montal’s 100 Best Canadian Films
- Yes Sir! Madame (Robert Morin, 1994)
- L’eau chaude, l’eau frette (André Forcier, 1976)
- Requiem pour un beau sans-cœur (Robert Morin, 1992)
- Warrendale (Allan King, 1967)
- Soif (Michèle Cournoyer, 2013)
- Mon Oncle Antoine (Claude Jutra, 1971)
- Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary (Guy Maddin, 2002)
- Le Déclin de l’empire américain (Denys Arcand, 1986)
- eXistenZ (David Cronenberg, 1999)
- Mourir à tue-tête (Anne Claire Poirier, 1979)
- Away from Her (Sarah Polley, 2006)
- Les bons débarras (Francis Mankievicz, 1980)
- 88 : 88 (Isiah Medina, 2015)
- Sonatine (Micheline Lanctôt, 1984)
- Videodrome (David Cronenberg, 1983)
- La Région Centrale (Michael Snow, 1971)
- La Lutte (Michel Brault, Marcel Carrière, Claude Fournier, Claude Jutra et al, 1961)
- Gambling, Gods and LSD (Peter Mettler, 2001)
- The Days Before Christmas (Stanley Jackson, Wolf Koenig, Terence McCartney-Filgate, 1958)
- Bestiaire (Denis Côté, 2012)
- Grass : History of Marijuana (Ron Mann, 2000)
- Paul Tomkowitz: Street Railway Switchman (Roman Kroitor, 1953)
- Quebec-U.S.A ou l'invasion Pacifique (Claude Jutra, Michel Brault, 1962)
- Archangel (Guy Maddin, 1990)
- Nobody Waved Goodbye (Don Owen, 1964)
- A Tout Prendre (Claude Jutra, 1963)
- Curling (Denis Côté, 2010)
- Lonely Boy (Wolf Koenig, Roman Kroitor, 1963)
- Hard Core Logo (Bruce McDonald, 1996)
- The Heart of the World (Guy Maddin, 2000)
- Spider (David Cronenberg, 2002)
- Picture of Light (Peter Mettler, 1994)
- Noël à l’île-aux-Grues (Richard Lavoie, 1963)
- Les Ordres (Michel Brault, 1970)
- Les Raquetteurs (Michel Brault, Gilles Groulx, 1958)
- Waydowntown (Gary Burns, 2000)
- Careful (Guy Maddin, 1992)
- Thirty-Two Shorts Films About Glenn Gould (Francois Girard, 1993)
- Pour la Suite du Monde (Pierre Perrault, Michel Brault, 1963)
- Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (Alanis Obomsawin, 1993)
- Dead Ringers (David Cronenberg, 1988)
- Le Festin des morts (Fernand Dansereau, 1965)
- Il était une fois dans l’est (André Brassard, 1974)
- My Winnipeg (Guy Maddin, 2007)
- Le Chat dans le sac (Gilles Groulx, 1964)
- Entre la mer et l’eau douce (Michel Brault, 1967)
- The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (Ted Kotcheff, 1974)
- The Changeling (Peter Medak, 1980)
- Neighbours (Norman McLaren, 1952)
- Very Nice, Very Nice (Arthur Lipsett, 1961)
- Lies My Father Told Me (Jan Kadar, 1975)
- A Winter Tan (Jackie Burroughs, John Frizzell, Louise Clark, John Walker, Aerlyn Weissman, 1987)
- Le démantèlement (Sébastien Pilote, 2014)
- City Out of Time (Colin Low, 1959)
- Il était une chaise (Norman McLaren, Claude Jutra, 1957)
- Ryan (Chris Landreth, 2004)
- The Corporation (Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott; 2003)
- C.R.A.Z.Y. (Jean-Marc Vallée, 2005)
- Mommy (Xavier Dolan, 2014)
- Wavelength (Michael Snow, 1967)
- Sur la trace d’Igor Rizzi (Noel Mitrani, 2006)
- La Gammick (Jacques Godbout, 1974)
- Bûcherons de la Manouane (Arthur Lamothe, 1962)
- La vie heureuse de Léopold Z. (Gilles Carle, 1965)
- Le bonhomme (Pierre Maheu, 1972)
- La faim (Peter Foldes, 1972)
- 60 cycles (Jean-Claude Labrecque, 1965)
- Rat Life and Diet in North America (Joyce Wieland, 1968)
- Canadian Pacific (David Rimmer, 1974)
- Chronique de la vie quotidienne: Samedi (Pierre Bernier, Jean Chabot, Roger Frappier, Claude Grenier, Jacques Leduc, 1977)
- La cuisine rouge (Paule Baillargeon, Frédérique Collin, 1980)
- La Donation (Bernard Émond, 2009)
- Au clair de la lune (André Forcier, 1982)
- La Sarrasine (Paul Tana, 1991)
- « Quiconque meurt, meurt à douleur » (Robert Morin, 1998)
- Trees of Syntax, Leaves of Axis (Daïchi Saïto, 2009)
- En terrains connus (Stéphane Lafleur, 2011)
- Imitations of Life (Mike Hoolboom, 2002)
- The Street (Daniel Cross, 1997)
- The Street  (Caroline Leaf, 1976)
- Life Without Death (Frank Cole, 2000)
- Les mots magiques (Jean-Marc  Vallée, 1998)
- Hommes à louer (Rodrigue Jean, 2009)
- Les démons (Philippe Lesage, 2015)
- Guibord s'en va-t-en guerre (Philippe Falardeau, 2015)
- J’aime, j’aime pas (Sylvie Groulx, 1996)
- Laurentie (Mathieu Denis, Simon Lavoie, 2011)
- Lost Song (Rodrigue Jean, 2008)
- La vie rêvée (Mireille Dansereau, 1972)
- La liberté d’une statue (Olivier Asselin, 1990)
- Elephant Song (Charles Binamé, 2014)
- Enemy (Denis Villeneuve, 2013)
- À l'ouest de Pluton (Henry Bernadet, Myriam Verreault, 2008)
- Télesphore Légaré, garde-pêche (Claude Fournier, 1959)
- Novembre (Nicolas Roy, 2001)
- Roméo onze (Ivan Grbovic, 2012)
- Prelude (Michael Snow, 2000)
- Mamori (Karl Lemieux, 2010)
- La mémoire des anges (Luc Bourdon, 2009)
- Brouillard 14 (Alexandre Larose, 2015)

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