Mile End Kicks

Chandler Levack’s widely anticipated follow-up to her directorial debut, I Like Movies (TIFF ’22), stars Barbie Ferreira as a young music critic writing for a male-centric indie publication who takes a leap into adulthood, even though she is little prepared.

With shades of Almost Famous — both feature Jay Baruchel and follow a music journalist — Mile End Kicks, set in 2011 Montreal, instead offers a feminine point of view.

Ferreira shines as Grace Pine, a driven though easily distracted 23-year-old. She leaves her quirky parents’ home for a shared apartment found on Craigslist to devote herself to writing the next great book in the 33 1/3 album exploration series. Hers will be on the iconic Alanis Morissette opus Jagged Little Pill.

Loft parties introduce Grace to two paramours. Unfortunately, they are members of the same rock band, Bone Patrol. And instead of sequestering herself away to complete her draft, she uses her music industry know-how to get in with the band as their publicist.

Through wine-fuelled poetry readings and other ill-advised choices, Grace is in the trenches of self-discovery. Mistakes are made and rent is owed but, along the way Mile End Kicks gives audiences a new romantic comedy to fall in love with.

KELLY BOUTSALIS

Content advisory: sexual assault, sexual content, crude content, nudity, coarse language, drug use, mature themes