Review: Clever indie dramedy ‘Mile End Kicks’ is for every hipster millennial afraid of their own power
2026 / Dir. Chandler Levack
Rating: 4/5
Watch if you like: Almost Famous, Ghost World, being a hipster millennial who once shamed their college roommate for listening to Creed and you still feel bad about it but then again they ended up joining one of the worst fraternities on campus that eventually got shut down after one of their pledges died so maybe you can let it go after all these years.
Taking place in 2011, after bands like Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene had made Montreal “the next Seattle,” Chandler Levack’s Mile End Kicks nails the aesthetic of the Pitchfork era without ever rubbing it in your face.
Grace (Barbie Ferreira in her best role since Euphoria Season 1) is a music critic for a Toronto alt-weekly staffed by obnoxious Gen X dudes and excluded from a journalist boys club who debate whether Husker Du’s Zen Arcade or Flip Your Whig is better, which she flubs by confusing Husker Du with the Minutemen. (Flip Your Whig over Zen Arcade is an insane choice in my elitist opinion.) But things are looking up for the summer when she plans to move to Montreal and write a 33 1/3 book on Alanis Morrisette’s Jagged Little Pill.
Grace starts the film covering an Islands concert, has a Chuck Klosterman book next to her copy of Sonic Youth’s Goo, and the film’s soundtrack is full of yesteryear indie gems like Deerhunter’s “Revival.” If you’re looking for a drinking game, you could also take a shot every time you see someone wearing American Apparel. Needless to say, many a millennial will see themselves reflected in Mile End Kicks, a clever blend of indie dramas, rom-coms, and sex comedies.
One of the things I found so interesting about Mile End Kicks is that, unlike in similar movies with a male protagonist who just needs to grow up, Grace’s dysfunction is not laziness but fear of embracing her own power as a talented writer instead of what she’s become accustomed to, which is trying to gain the approval of emotionally immature, manipulative men.
Grace squanders every opportunity given to her, which makes it particularly excruciating when she shirks off her book in favor of hanging out with a generic local indie rock band, Bone Temple, and is drawn to their mess of a frontman, Chevy (Stanley Simons, The Iron Claw), who styles himself after Ariel Pink during his flamboyantly chaotic stage performances and is deeply insecure off the stage.
What’s more is all these alternative paths are right in front of Grace’s eyes. She has a supportive female editor who helps her get a book deal and gives her great advice. Her DJ roommate (Juliette Gariépy, Red Rooms) starts her own DJ night where only female artists gets played. She’s introduced to a female and queer-focused reading group that wants to promote her stuff and she’s told by her other love interest Archie (Devon Bostick, The 100, Okja), the guitarist of Bone Temple, that it’d be a great opportunity. But she blows it again and again until she can stand up for herself.
More universally, any person who’s ever felt awkward could see themselves in this movie and realize you either own it and come into your own, or you risk weaponizing your own insecurity against everyone else and bringing them down with you.