TIFF 2025: “Mile End Kicks” Declares the Most Radical Act is to be Yourself

By: Myles Herod –
Follow @MylesHerod

In “Mile End Kicks”, Chandler Levack delivers a quietly humorous portrait of a woman caught between ambition and neglect during the summer of 2011. Grace (Barbie Ferreira), a music journalist from Ontario newly settled in Montreal, sets out to write a book about Alanis Morissette’s “Jagged Little Pill”. However, what she’s truly seeking is something deeper: the right to be seen, to be heard, and to matter.

With two features behind her, Levack excels at portraying the messiness of early adulthood without romanticizing it. Grace is tentative, shaped by a toxic former job personified by Jay Baruchel’s cold editor, and her tendency to seek validation from emotionally distant men. Her romantic Montreal misadventures with Chevy (Stanley Simmons), awkwardly passive, and Archie (Devon Bostick), awkward but sincere, reflect her inner turmoil. Ferreira brings a raw vulnerability and sharp comedic timing to it all, capturing the discomfort of wanting approval while trying to stay true to herself.

Visually, the film channels the early 2010s with eerie precision. Flat lighting and era-specific music (ie. Deerhunter, Joanna Newsom) evoke a world where style often conceals emotional risk. Levack’s tonal shifts, from absurd comedy to aching vulnerability, don’t always land, but they mirror Grace’s inner voice with striking realism. The film’s most haunting image, Grace alone in an office, waving her arms to keep the lights on as she cries, says more about burnout and invisibility than any monologue could.

What moved me most about “Mile End Kicks” was how vividly it captured a time I remember and the kinds of people I once knew. It isn’t a story of triumph, it’s one of endurance. It traces the imperfect process of reclaiming a voice that’s been buried under doubt. Levack doesn’t offer easy answers, she offers clarity. And in doing so, she reminds us that sometimes the most radical act is simply to believe in yourself.