Movie Night in Canada: Rio Theatre's Rachel Fox on The Dirties

Since it's Canada Day tomorrow (July 1), it's the perfect time to catch up on your Canadian cinema watching. Because if we don't hear our own country's stories, how will we get to know ourselves as a nation?

In this ongoing series, we've been asking screen industry professionals what their picks are for little-known Canadian film gems that deserve more attention.

In this round, we asked Rio Theatre's program director Rachel Fox.

Fox chose Matt Johnson's 2013 Ontario-shot comedy-drama The Dirties.

The film follows two high-school students filming a comedy about two victims exacting revenge upon the school gang of the title. However, the duo becomes the targets of bullying themselves and things begin to head down a troublesome path when one of the two boys blurs the line between fact and fiction in a sequel film project about a school revenge shooting.

The complexity of the film within a film concept is further enhanced by the film being a hybrid of documentary and fiction. Talk about going meta.

That aside, here's what Fox had to say about why she recommends it:

It's a brave and really smart film that does something truly dangerous—it actually humanizes the "bad guys" by making them likable and really relatable. The kids in that film seek revenge on their bullies, and even though you know where it's going you can't help but like, and dare I say even sympathize, with their life situation. The line in the sand between "good" and "evil" doesn't exist in reality—that's just a lazy social distinction created to explain away complexities and by obscuring any actual critical thought—and it doesn't in this film, either. The story, set-up, pacing and characters are at once nuanced while still being really powerful.

Here's a trailer from the film to get a peek at what it's like:

If you can't find a copy of The Dirties to watch, you can check out lots of other Canadian films at the First Weekend Club's Canada Screens website.

Anyhow, have a great Canada Day weekend, with some Canadian cinema, of course.