Top 10 Movies In Montreal
1. Hotel Silence
2024 ‧ Drama ‧ 1h 40m
Hotel Silence is a Canadian-Swiss drama film, directed by Léa Pool and released in 2024. Adapted from Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir's 2016 novel Hotel Silence (Ör), the film stars Sébastien Ricard as Jean, a depressed man who travels to a war-torn country with the intent of ending his life there, but who finds new perspective on his life when he becomes involved in the country's efforts to rebuild.
The cast also includes Lorena Handschin, Jules Porier, Irène Jacob, Louise Turcot and Paul Ahmarani. The film was shot in 2023. It premiered on March 29, 2024.
Director: Léa Pool
Cinematography: Denis Jutzeler
Editor: Michel Arcand
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Silence_(film)
2. Ru
2023 ‧ Drama ‧ 1h 56m
Based on the Governor General’s Award–winning novel by Kim Thúy, Ru is the story of the arduous journey of a wealthy family fleeing from Vietnam in 1975 after the fall of Saigon, then spending time at a refugee camp in Malaysia, before landing in Quebec.
This film adaptation, directed by Charles-Olivier Michaud, tracks the events through the eyes of the daughter of the family, Nguyen An Tinh. She’s trying to make sense of her new French-speaking life while also fully aware of the horrors that she and her family have escaped. A stunningly beautiful film, Ru doesn’t shy away from devastating flashbacks of fleeing and hiding in buildings, friends and family left behind, and a dark and scary passage by boat. These flashbacks are juxtaposed with images of the family in snowy Quebec, trying to find their footing in a very different world than the one they were used to, making friends, and working restaurant jobs amidst culture clashes.
Including a star turn from Chloé Djandji in her first film role, as Tinh, the cast is also rounded out with Chantal Thuy (Magnum PI) as her mother, Jean Bui as her father, and Karine Vanasse (Cardinal) and Patrice Robitaille as the Quebec family that welcomes them in. The book’s author, Kim Thúy, serves as producer.
Ru is a sombre examination of forced migration, isolation, and newfound belonging, told through rich visuals and an orchestral score.
Initial release date: September 13, 2023
Director: Charles-Olivier Michaud
Awards: Canadian Screen Award for Performance in a Supporting Role, Drama
Nominations: Canadian Screen Award al Mejor Guión Adapted, 9 more
3. Irene’s Vow
2023 ‧ Bélico/Drama ‧ 2h 1m
When the Nazis invade Poland in 1939, nurse Irena Gut (Sophie Nélisse) is transferred and forced to work for the German army, being assigned as housekeeper to a Nazi commander (Dougray Scott). Instead of keeping a low profile and staying safe supported by her status and ethnicity, Gut will risk everything to save a dozen Jews by sheltering them in her boss's house.
Release date: April 19, 2024 (Canada)
Director: Louise Archambault
Cinematography: Paul Sarossy
https://www.filmaffinity.com/es/film807943.html
4. Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant
2023 ‧ Terror/Comedia ‧ 1h 30m
Sasha is a young vampire with a serious problem: she is too humanistic to bite! When his parents, exasperated, decide to cut off his food, his survival is threatened. Fortunately for her, Sasha meets Paul, a lonely teenager with suicidal behavior who agrees to offer his life to her. What was supposed to be an exchange of good practices then turns into a nighttime epic during which the two new friends will seek to carry out Paul's last wishes before sunrise.
Initial release date: September 3, 2023
Director: Ariane Louis-Seize
Awards: Canadian Screen Award al Mejor Guión
Nominations: Canadian Screen Award for Best Film, 10 more
https://www.cinematheque.qc.ca/fr/cinema/vampire-humaniste-cherche-suicidaire-consentant/
5. Mademoiselle Kenopsia
2023 ‧ Drama ‧ 1h 20m
A lone woman occupies an empty building, waiting for something to break her stasis, in the new feature from director Denis Côté and actor Larissa Corriveau. In the vast, empty halls of a large building — maybe a school, a church, or some combination of both — Mademoiselle Kenopsia (Larissa Corriveau) occupies a sliver of space. She checks on the rooms, inspects the industrial kitchen, and takes calls from a distant supervisor. She is entirely alone. Unless she isn’t.
There’s really no point in describing Denis Côté’s latest any further: Like the eponymous character, Mademoiselle Kenopsia simply exists, waiting for us to take notice. Côté has moved in and out of experimental spheres for the entirety of his career, building fictional worlds around real people in Carcasses (TIFF ’09) and Curling (TIFF ’10), and taking relationship dramas to the edge of genre in Vic + Flo Saw a Bear (2013). With his latest project, he and frequent collaborator Corriveau do something new. It’s a performance piece, and a meditation on loneliness. It’s theatrical, and wholly cinematic. It’s about the isolation we’ve all just shared, embodied in one person.
Vincent Biron’s eerily precise camerawork encourages us to look closer, adding to the nervous tension as Côté slowly reveals what sort of movie we’re watching. And Corriveau — who co-starred in Côté’s recent features Ghost Town Anthology (2019) and That Kind of Summer (2022), and whom Festival audiences might recognize from her key roles in Nelly (TIFF ’16) and Viking (TIFF ’22) — holds it all together with a performance so strong you can feel Mademoiselle Kenopsia’s gaze even when she’s offscreen. It’s downright haunting.
Initial release date: August 5, 2023
Director: Denis Côté
Cinematography: Vincent Biron
Editor: Terence Chotard
https://tiff.net/events/mademoiselle-kenopsia
6. The red rooms
2023 ‧ Suspenso/Crimen ‧ 1h 58m
The notorious case of serial killer Ludovic Chevalier has just gone to trial and Kelly-Anne is obsessed. When reality mixes with her morbid fantasies, she delves into a dark path to search for the last piece of the puzzle: the missing video of a murdered 13-year-old girl, to whom Kelly-Anne bears a disturbing resemblance. (FILMAFINITY)
Initial release date: July 4, 2023
Director: Pascal Plante
Nominations: Canadian Screen Award for Best Film, 5 more
Cinematography: Vincent Biron
https://www.filmaffinity.com/es/film923394.html
7. Humane
2024 ‧ Terror/Suspenso ‧ 1h 34m
In the wake of an environmental collapse that is forcing humanity to get rid of 20% of its population, a family dinner erupts into chaos when a father announces his plan to enroll in the government's new euthanasia program.
Initial release date: April 26, 2024
Director: Caitlin Cronenberg
Cinematography: Douglas Koch
https://www.filmaffinity.com/es/film728056.html
8. Cold Road
2024 ‧ Suspense/Action ‧ 1h 40m
Cold Road is a 2024 Canadian thriller film,
directed by Kelvin Redvers. The film stars Roseanne Supernault as Tracy, an indigenous woman who is driving to her home reserve in far northern Saskatchewan to see her dying mother, but who is under threat from a big rig truck driver who is following her.
The cast also includes Taylor Kinequon, Samuel Hoeksema, Kim Faires, Chad Cosgrave, Nora Mcadam, Cassandra Phillips-Grande, Carla Fox, C. Blake Evernden, Peter Redvers, William Louttit and Lisa Pantherbone.
Initial release date: January 15, 2024
Director: Kelvin Redvers
Nominations: Canadian Screen Award al Mejor Sonido
Cinematography: Daniel Everitt-Lock
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_Road
9. The Movie Man
2024 ‧ Documental ‧ 1h 29m
Deep in the woods near Kinmount, Ontario, lies a movie theatre like no other in the world. Since its opening in 1979, the Highlands Cinemas has grown to become a sprawling five-screen complex full of movie memorabilia, vintage projectors collected from closed theatres all over the U.S. and Canada, and – as if that weren’t enough – dozens of cats. Its existence stands as a testament to the tenacity of its sometimes cantankerous owner Keith Stata. But as we see in director Matt Finlin’s affectionate and richly detailed portrait – which was shot over five eventful years — Stata faces unprecedented challenges as he tries to keep his movie palace alive amid a global pandemic. In capturing Stata at moments high and low, the film celebrates the Highlands’ idiosyncratic impresario as an emblem of the grand passions that the movies have long inspired.
As a bonus, we’re also screening the short film I FOUND IT AT CLASSIC VIDEO (director Braden Dragomir), a charming tribute to the much-loved, much-lamented mainstay of Kingston cinephiles. Told through interviews with a handful of Kingston personalities, it explores the rise, struggles and ultimate demise of “Kingston’s cinematic video Library of Alexandria.” Step inside the beloved shop one last time – but watch your head if you’re going downstairs!
Initial release date: February 12, 2024
Director: Matt Finlin
Cinematography: Matt Finlin
https://kingcanfilmfest.com/2024/the-movie-man/
10. The Thawing of Ice
2024 ‧ 1h 46m
The Thawing of Ice (French: La Fonte des glaces) is a Canadian drama film, directed by François Péloquin and released in 2024. The film stars Christine Beaulieu as Louise Denoncourt, a parole officer who runs an experimental rehabilitation program for murder convicts who are nearing eligibility for parole, but who faces challenges when evidence emerges that Marc St-Germain (Lothaire Bluteau), one of the criminals in her program, may have committed the still-unsolved murder of her mother.
The cast also includes Marc Béland, Étienne Lou, Pierre-Paul Alain, Jean-Luc Kanapé, Abdelghafour Elaaziz and Ayana O'Shun.
The film premiered at the Cinéma du Musée in Montreal on March 14, 2024, before opening commercially on March 22.
Release date: March 22, 2024 (Canada)
Director: François Péloquin
Cinematography: Framçois Messier-Rheault