The band takes the stage at the crowded club and the song begins. As the camera sweeps through the crowd, we see a bright twenty-something woman scribbling notes. When asked what she’s doing she responds “I’m a rock critic!”.

Her proud smile could light up the stage.

This is Grace, and Chandler Levack’s MILE END KICKS is her story.

The film follows Grace (Barbie Ferreira) to Montreal for the summer of 2011. She is there in search of the ideal writing conditions to complete a book she has pitched, and generally soak-in a change of scenery. It’s here that she will be introduced to the band Bone Patrol (yes, really). The band’s lead singer and lead guitarist will both have a profound effect on Grace’s plans – both for the better and for worse.

To spend this summer with Grace is to watch her try to untangle the ropes of her life while simultaneously tying the knots tighter.

It’s a season littered with millennial callbacks, cheap beer, great music, and bad decisions. It will bring Grace deep connections, terrible lyrics, squandered chances, and hard lessons. At times it can be hard to watch, but when we take a moment we remember that it must be that much harder to live through. As such, we happily sit next to our heroine outside of a loft party and share a smoke while she laments her latest mistake.

We sit next to her because we too have met the same shitty people she’s meeting; the people who will abuse her, the people who will mindfuck her (sometimes both). They will take, when what Grace really needs is just a little bit of giving. So we will give by bearing witness and quietly listening.

Late in the game, Grace paints a picture of people standing in a semicircle – I dare not try to paraphrase it here.

It’s a beautiful piece of writing that encapsulates imposter syndrome, gatekeeping, and so many other feelings of being excluded. In this moment she is speaking for herself, but also for so many other people (usually women) who have wanted to be seen and heard.

MILE END KICKS is about opening up that semicircle and creating a more complete loop. It wants us to listen a little longer to the quieter people in the conversation …and maybe gain a little perspective along the way.

This one is for those who forget lyrics and get titles wrong – owning these moments as honest feelings and clumsy lessons that ultimately make life more complete.