Chandler Levack is back, and the setup alone is enough to get excited about. Mile End Kicks, the follow-up to her acclaimed I Like Movies, stars Barbie Ferreira as Grace Pine, a 24-year-old music critic who relocates to Montreal in 2011 to write a book about Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill, falls in with an indie band called Bone Patrol, and ends up tangled in the lives of both its members. The film opens in theaters April 17 via Sumerian Pictures.
Levack wrote the screenplay from her own experience as a former music critic, and it shows in every layer of the premise. Grace’s world is one where taste is currency, proximity to a good band feels like destiny, and the line between professional ambition and romantic chaos disappears fast. It is funny, emotionally bruised, and culturally specific in the way only a film built from lived memory can be. IndieWire called it an indie Almost Famous, and that framing holds up.
Ferreira delivers what multiple critics have called a career-defining performance, and Levack is unambiguous about why. “She is extraordinary, and she really gave her whole heart and soul to the performance,” the director says. “Not only is she an incredible romantic heroine, she’s so authentic and raw.” Devon Bostick and Stanley Simons play the two musicians at the center of Grace’s professional and personal spiral, with Juliette Gariépy and Jay Baruchel rounding out a sharp ensemble.
The film world-premiered at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, screened in competition at the Whistler Film Festival where Levack won Best Screenplay, landed on TIFF’s Canada’s Top Ten list, and earned a strong sweep of Vancouver Film Critics Circle nominations including Best Canadian Film, Best Director, and Best Actress. Bostick took home Best Supporting Actor. It arrives at SXSW this month before its theatrical run begins in April.
Mile End Kicks is sitting at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes heading into wide release. For a film about a music critic learning what actually matters, that kind of reception feels exactly right.