The vibrant indie music scene of Montreal’s Mile End neighborhood takes center stage in Mile End Kicks, the new romantic comedy from Canadian filmmaker Chandler Levack.
Inspired in part by Levack’s own experiences before becoming a filmmaker, the movie stars Barbie Ferreira as a young music critic who gets romantically involved with two members of the same indie band she is covering.
Also starring in the movie are Devon Bostick, Jay Baruchel, and Juliette Gariépy.
The film made its world premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, where it screened as part of the Special Presentations program. Mile End Kicks is slated for release in the U.S., opening in theaters on April 17th, 2026, via Sumerian Pictures.
In the film, Grace Pine is a 24-year-old music critic who moves from Toronto to Montreal with the ambitious goal of writing a book about Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette. Her carefully planned literary project quickly spirals into something far messier when she falls for two members of an aspiring indie rock band and ends up working as the group’s publicist. As she becomes immersed in the city’s buzzing music scene, Grace must confront her own ambitions, insecurities, and complicated feelings about the career she thought she wanted.
Writing from the Toronto premiere, critic Zachary Lee of RogerEbert.com described the film as “like a song that I liked but didn’t love upon first spin, but its melodies and lyrics grew on me to the point where I can’t help but recommend it.” The review praised the film, adding, “Quite simply, “Poetic License” celebrates the miracle of human connection; it revels in the way that three disparate people, with their own pursuits, dreams, and questions, can somehow find a way to form friendship across differences in age and disposition.”
Watch the official trailer for Mile End Kicks above.
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