Grushenka’s Favourite CanCon …So Far

One of GeekvsGoth.com’s specialites de la maison is CanCon and Canadiana. Unfortunately national pride can be short supply for the poor, oft-maligned Canadian film.

GeekvsGoth.com takes back the night in support of the great Canadian film. Here are five of my favourites so far.

Fubar (2002)

“FUBAR stands for f**ked up beyond any repair …and it delivers. With pitch-perfect performances and settings, these filmmakers clearly did their research. I just read that the word “f**k” is said 274 times in the movie. Some Albertans use the word “f**ck” like others use the word “um.” And I say that with love. I watched this deeply amusing movie again and it holds up. For proud Canadians like myself, I might venture to say FUBAR is an important of part of our heritage (a part of us all, a part of us all, a part of us all). You should watch for reasons of patriotism and also anthropology. Yes.”

The Wrong Guy (1997)

“The Wrong Guy topped my list of must-review Canadian content films in honour of Canada Day. Featuring Dave Foley from Kids in the Hall fame, The Wrong Guy is an unremittingly hilarious movie about a man who is always in the wrong place, doing the wrong thing (wrong) at the wrong time. Foley is my second favourite Kid next to Kevin McDonald (yes, I loved the Kid that no one liked). Foley’s wide-eyed haplessness, girlish shrieking and desperate flailing is truly wonderful to watch. Directed by David Steinberg, the film is actually based on a sketch that Foley wrote back in his Kids days and it works as a feature film in a way that Strange Brew — the popular sketch that grew into a feature film — did not.”

Fido (2006)

“Fido (2006) was clearly ahead of its time. This terrific Canadian film drags lurching zombies into a 1950s suburban cul-de-sac. Featuring a stellar cast including Carrie-Ann Moss, Billy Connolly and Dylan Baker, this biting social satire takes the viewer into a world of 1950 gender politics, corporate profiteering and zombies. Particularly notable in a movie of entertaining performances, Carrie-Ann Moss is absolutely hilarious as striving suburbanite Helen Robinson. Watching her dressed in a swing skirt serenely march into a thicket to put a bullet in the head of a zombie is truly a thing to behold.”

Hank Williams First Nation (2005)

“Produced, written and directed by first-time director Aaron Sorensen, this road movie with a difference was shot in my home town of Peace River, Alberta. After the credits rolled, I couldn’t have been prouder of what this Peace River-born filmmaker accomplished on a shoestring budget using this ingenious approach to story-telling complete with quirky and honest dialogue. These elements combined with terrific performances from Gordon Tootoosis, Colin Van Loon, Bernard Starlight and Stacey Da Silva make for a film with incredible heart and authenticity.”

Ginger Snaps (2000)

“Red ink, scarlet viscous ooze, great arches of arterial spray, crimson splatter, glistening  burgundy entrails, dripping strawberry coulis atop an enormous puberty celebration cake. Ginger Snaps does blood and er, blood-like metaphors like no other movie I’ve seen in recent memory. This terrific horror film and black comedy also waves a bright red Canadian flag.”