By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Jonas Ford (Josh Wiggins) lives on a struggling rural farm property, with a severely depressed mother (Vickie Papavs) and a father (Joe Cobden) who keeps him out of school and expects him to work in the fields. When Casey Caraway (Sophie Nélisse) moves into a nearby farmhouse with… Read More Review: Mean Dreams

By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Directed by Kim Nguyen, and featuring breathtaking images shot on location in Nunavut, Two Lovers and a Bear is a hypnotic and transportive psychological drama, that balances its elements of magical realism with genuine human emotion. The two lovers of the title are Lucy (Tatiana Maslaney) and Roman (Dane DeHaan), a young couple… Read More Review: Two Lovers and a Bear

By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Following his found footage high school shooting knockout The Dirties, Operation Avalanche is a space age conspiracy caper that finds low budget Toronto filmmaker Matt Johnson playing around on an even larger canvas. This time around, Matt Johnson and his previous co-star Owen Williams portray a pair of young CIA agents who pose as a… Read More Review: Operation Avalanche

By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Blending animation and live action across a mix of genres and styles, Zoom weaves together the interconnecting stories of three different artists, to offer a film that’s both entertaining and totally unique. The live action scenes focus on an aspiring comic book artist (Allison Pill) who works in… Read More Review: Zoom

By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) The gutsy feature debut of young director Stephen Dunn, Closet Monster is a Canadian film that takes its inspiration from both Xavier Dolan and David Cronenberg.  These fellow homegrown filmmakers couldn’t be further apart in their own work, but their influences are both felt in this self-assured and often ambitious… Read More Review: Closet Monster

By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Adapting Jean Hegland’s novel for the screen, director Patricia Rozema brings Into the Forest to screen with intimate and quietly intense style.  The Canadian filmmaker displays a sensitive and compassionate touch in her handling of even the film’s most graphic elements, crafting a stark apocalyptic drama that functions as a resonant… Read More Review: Into the Forest

By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) An immigrant from pre-war Yugoslavia, Jasmin (Jasmin Geljo) is a struggling actor in Toronto, who finds himself typecast to read for criminals in his auditions, and works as a construction worker to support his wife (Ma-Anne Dionisio) and son (Filip Geljo). There are a lot of static shots and long… Read More Review: The Waiting Room

By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) When Cassie Cranston (Jewel Staite) returns to the prudish small town of Beaver’s Ridge for her mother’s funeral, years after an embarrassing incident as a teenager had her labelled the “town slut” and led to a career as a sex columnist, the eccentric locals convince her to plan an orgy.… Read More Review: How to Plan An Orgy in a Small Town

By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Still reeling from his sister’s suicide, Shane (Andrew Martin) dreams of finally getting away from his small Native community in Northern Ontario, and going to university in Toronto with his secret boyfriend David (Harley Legarde-Beacham). But his depressed mother (Jennifer Podemski), dwindling money and being forced to hide his… Read More Review: Fire Song

By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Eugene (Dylan Harman) is a young man with Down Syndrome, who still believes in the power of rainbows to deliver gold.  Living in Toronto and riddled by extreme poverty, he practically has to take care of himself alongside his terminally ill mother. Eugene sets out to find the proverbial… Read More Review: The Rainbow Kid

By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Directed by Wiebke Von Carolsfeld, The Saver is a gritty and emotionally affective Canadian drama that captures the all too common realities of living in poverty, especially for Native youth who are often ignored within the system. The film follows Fern (Imajyn Cardinal), a 16-year-old who is left desperate and alone after the… Read More Review: The Saver

By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The feature debut of Director X, who is perhaps better known for music videos like Hotline Bling, Across the Line is a well made and often stylish examination of poverty and racism at a small town high school. Partially inspired by real racial tensions in North Preston, Nova Scotia… Read More Review: Across the Line

By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) A Canadian coming of age drama shot in and around Thunder Bay, Sleeping Giant is a small film that leaves a big impact in its searing exploration of the long buried feelings that are awoken in the throes of youth.  Already landing a spot on my top ten list… Read More Review: Sleeping Giant

By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) It always feels good to find a Canadian film that takes some of the most recognizable tropes of homegrown cinema, including a dark sense of humour and scenic shots of our country’s many beautiful landscapes, and uses them in service of telling a story that still feels unique… Read More Review: Borealis