Mile End Kicks
The year is 2011 and the setting is the hip Mile End area of Montreal, which I must admit I knew nothing about until recently. Nor did I know that, at this time, Montreal had a thriving indie rock scene. (And I call myself a music fan?). 22-year-old music critic Grace (played wonderfully by Barbie Ferrera, formerly of Euphoria) leaves her job at Toronto's fictional Merch magazine for Montreal, where she plans on writing a book about Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill in the 33 1/3 book series.
Grace arrives at her rented room (acquired through Craigslist) only to hear her new housemates having loud sex in the other room. Shortly afterwards, a slightly embarrassed Madeleine and her decidedly less embarrassed boyfriend (and third housemate) Hugo introduce themselves. Both are native French speaking Quebecois. Madeleine is friendly, but Hugo is put off by the Ontarian Grace, who is only able to remember a few French words she learned in grammar school. (The tension between English speaking and French speaking Canada, as well as the bitter rivalry of Toronto vs. Canada, is a humorous theme throughout the film).
As it turns out, Madeleine is a DJ and Hugo is a drummer in a band called Bone Patrol (a terrible band name that Grace justifiably ridicules). They introduce Grace to the Montreal's hip music scene, full of loft parties, booze, drugs, and self-absorbed, immature rock dudes. Grace falls for Bone Patrol's charismatic lead singer Chevy, whom Madeleine warns Grace is "the worst guy in Montreal." (As we soon learn, Madeleine has a point).
Meanwhile, Grace's book about Jagged Little Pill is not going well, and her life in Montreal becomes fraught with struggles both emotional and financial for reasons I won't disclose because I don't want to give the movie away. (But don't worry, Grace is never in peril. The obstacles she faces are, in fact, often self-inflicted and are amusingly portrayed).
I enjoyed the music nerd Easter eggs in this movie. The first scene has all the thirty-something rock critic dudes of Merch magazine loudly arguing about meaningless hipster bullshit, and Grace makes the unforgivable faux pas of saying "Double Nickels on the Dime" is a Minutemen song (rather than album). The dudes look at her like she just ripped a stinky fart. Film director Chandler Levack was a music critic before she switched careers to film, so she's well aware of the crap that female rock writers have to put up with in the male-dominated world of rock criticism.
I had heard of Mile End Kicks a few months ago and thought it would be up my alley and it didn't disappoint. It pairs well with other excellent music movies like Almost Famous and Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World.
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