Montrose Ave: The Movie

Do you ever walk down the street and think that you're in a movie? You look around and you find yourself surrounded by characters brimming with life, and you think - hey, isn't that one of the guys from the Soprano's? It's like taking a walk through central casting on MGM's backlot. Or better yet, like being in Nanni Moretti's film, Caro diario. Moretti's movie is a whimsical love letter to Rome, containing three vignettes from his own life. It inspires you to book a flight to Rome, or to try making your own film.

Today it is -15C, so neighbourhood life is stunted to a brief hello when you're out shoveling snow. But I remember back to those warm summer evenings, when the ice cream truck would roll by every night at exactly 5:10 p.m., blaring that ice cream music that delights children, yet gives adults shuddering memories of horror movies. My front porch was like a movie screen, where I could sit back and watch the drama unfold. It is like a drive-in without the car. Neighbours stand at the end of their walkways and chat with one another, or shout take it ease from their front porches to passersby. But since this movie has no subtitles, I'm not really sure what's going on, because all the dialogue is in Italian or Portuguese. So, I just make up my own version of what's going on.

Well, you can only imagine my delight when I recently discovered that there already is a film called Montrose Ave, and it is all about my Montrose Ave. A friend saw a post card for it at a film festival and grabbed one for me. I checked out their website and see that there are two people in my neighbourhood who love the street even more than me. They have created the most charming hommage to the place that they've called home for over nine years. I just love it! The pictures on the website are reminiscent of my front porch summer drive-in. You can visit the Montrose Ave webpage to read all about the film, the filmmakers, and even better, to view a clip. (www.tincanforest.com)

How cool is it when your Money Pit is located in such a great neighbourhood that somebody has gone and made a film about it - a time capsule of the Montrose Ave before full on gentrification takes over. I can't wait to see it.

(Photo Credit: Montrose Avenue ©2006 Pat Shewchuk, Marek Colek)