The best Don McKellar’s drama movies
If you love cinema, you will share this ranking of the best Don McKellar’s movies, although you may have ordered them differently. In any case, we hope you love it and with a little luck discovering a movie that you still don’t know about Don McKellar.
Exotica
7/10
In the upscale Toronto strip club Exotica, dancer Christina is visited nightly by the obsessive Francis, a depressed tax auditor. Her ex-boyfriend, the club's MC, Eric, still jealously pines for her even as he introduces her onstage, but Eric is having his own relationship problems with the club's female owner. Thomas, a mysterious pet-shop owner, is about to become unexpectedly involved in their lives.
Crimes of the Future
5.8/10
Set in a not-so-distant future where humankind is learning to adapt to its synthetic surroundings. This evolution moves humans beyond their natural state and into a metamorphosis, altering their biological makeup. While some embrace the limitless potential of trans-humanism, others attempt to police it. Either way, Accelerated Evolution Syndrome is spreading fast. Saul Tenser is a beloved performance artist who has embraced Accelerated Evolution Syndrome, sprouting new and unexpected organs in his body. Along with his partner Caprice, Tenser has turned the removal of these organs into a spectacle for his loyal followers to marvel at in live theatre. But with both the government and a strange subculture taking note, Tenser is forced to consider what would be his most shocking performance of all.
The Red Violin
7.6/10
Spans 300 years in the life of one famed musical instrument that winds up in present-day Montreal on the auction block. Crafted by the Italian master Bussotti (Cecchi) in 1681, the red violin derives its unusual color from the human blood mixed into the finish. With this legacy, the violin travels to Austria, England, China, and Canada, leaving both beauty and tragedy in its wake.
Blindness
6.5/10
When a sudden plague of blindness devastates a city, a small group of the afflicted band together to triumphantly overcome the horrific conditions of their imposed quarantine.
When Night Is Falling
6.5/10
A prudish woman working on tenure as a literacy professor at a large urban university finds herself attracted to a free-spirited, liberal woman who works at a local carnival.
Where the Truth Lies
6.4/10
An ambitious reporter probes the reasons behind the sudden split of a 1950s comedy team.
The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw
4.8/10
A devout community suffering from a plague is torn apart by a beautiful young woman and the forces of witchcraft, black magic, and possession.
Last Night
7.1/10
Various citizens of Toronto anxiously await the end of the world, which is occurring at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day.
Zoom
6.1/10
A multi-dimensional interface between a comic book artist, a novelist, and a film director. Each lives in a separate reality but authors a story about one of the others.
The Passion of Ayn Rand
5.8/10
The author of "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged" becomes involved with a much younger, and married man... to the dismay of those close to her.
The Adjuster
6.6/10
An uptight insurance man and his film-censor wife become a kinky couple's landlords.
The Middle Man
5.9/10
When a series of accidents and deaths occur, a middle man is hired to give the bad news to the victim's relatives.
Clean
6.8/10
After losing her husband to a heroin overdose, Emily Wang fights to overcome her own addictions and to be reconciled with her estranged son.
Leslie, My Name Is Evil
4.6/10
A young jury member becomes infatuated with Leslie, a troubled teenager and former homecoming princess, who became a follower of Charles Manson's cult and is now on trial for murder.
Window Horses: The Poetic Persian Epiphany of Rosie Ming
6.8/10
Rosie Ming, a young Canadian poet, is invited to perform at a Poetry Festival in Shiraz, Iran, but she’d rather be in Paris. She lives at home with her over-protective Chinese grandparents and has never been anywhere by herself. Once in Iran, she finds herself in the company of poets and Persians, all who tell her stories that force her to confront her past; the Iranian father she assumed abandoned her and the nature of Poetry itself. It’s about building bridges between cultural and generational divides. It’s about being curious. Staying open. And finding your own voice through the magic of poetry. Rosie goes on an unwitting journey of forgiveness, reconciliation, and perhaps above all, understanding, through learning about her father’s past, her own cultural identity, and her responsibility to it.
Sea People
5.9/10
At 14, Amanda is a perfect swimmer and a great student. When the factory where his father works closes and he must go to work in another city, she feels very sad. One morning she meets the McRea, a very nice elderly couple who, like her, cannot live without the sea, although in another sense.
Treading Water
6/10
At first glance, Mica seems a perfectly normal boy. But first glances can often be deceiving... For one, Mica's house is now a museum honouring Guillermo Garibai, the legendary Mexican crooner. Mica spends most of his time there, giving guided tours to aging Garibai fans. But stranger still, Mica smells. He smells like fish. Numerous doctors, his life-long therapist and even his own parents are at a loss. No one wants to be Mica's friend. Girls won't talk to him. His life appears pointless, uneventful, doomed. That is, until Laura walks into it.
Blood Honey
4.2/10
Tortured by the memory of a childhood trauma, a woman returns after a decade to her family's fly-in hunting lodge to assist her siblings with their dying father, only to find herself stuck in a life threatening nightmare.
In the Presence of Mine Enemies
5.7/10
In the Warsau Ghetto of 1943, one man's struggle to keep his family together leads him to the ultimate crisis of faith, and one final chance at redemption.
Childstar
6/10
Childstar is about an egotistical 12-year-old named Taylor Brandon Burns who has skyrocketed to fame at that young age. His relationship with his driver, Rick, takes a turn when Taylor confides in him about the problems of celebrity and the fears of his impending teenage years. When Taylor disappears with his new girlfriend, Rick attempts to find the boy and help him through this troubling period.
