After his impassioned outbursts on the ice ruin his chances of playing professional hockey, Dean Youngblood gets one last shot playing for the Hamilton Mustangs. Desperate to prove himself, the 18-year-old rookie struggles to reconcile the overbearing influence of his father with his coach’s rigorous expectations. A talented goal-scorer who never backs down from a fight on or off the ice, Youngblood finds his standoffish attitude challenged by a budding romance with Jessie, the coach’s daughter, whose own experience pursuing her dreams causes him to reconsider the chip on his shoulder.
Ostensibly a remake of the 1986 film starring Rob Lowe, director Hubert Davis (2022’s Black Ice) takes the source material and elevates it. Stepping into the director’s chair following the passing of Charles Officer, Davis balances high-octane hockey action with subtle, character-driven drama and nuanced explorations of race, gender, and prejudice within the sport. A rousing, feel-good sports drama about overcoming adversity and taking responsibility, Youngblood could be a new Canadian classic.
Ashton James, Blair Underwood, Henri Picard, Shawn Doyle, Tamara Podemski, Donald MacLean Jr.
Canada
2025
English
Racism, bullying
At International Village
At Fifth Avenue
Book Tickets
Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Bill O’Dowd, Emerson Davis, Mark Slone, Zanne Devine, Allan Fung
Producer
Anthony Leo, Andrew Rosen
Screenwriter
Josh Epstein, Kyle Rideout, Seneca Aaron, Charles Officer
Cinematography
Stuart James Cameron
Editor
Matt Lyon
Production Design
Adriana Bogaard
Original Music
Todor Kobakov
Hubert Davis
Filmography: Invisible City (2009); Giants of Africa (2016); Black Ice (2022); The Well (2025)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Pictures of Ghosts
A companion piece to Mendonça Filho's The Secret Agent, Pictures of Ghosts is a lovely, relaxed, ruminative riff on movies, memory, the imaginative space conferred by that place we call Cinema, seasoned with love and boundless anecdotes.
It's a Wonderful Life
Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings. This Christmas classic is whimsical, sure, but it has the depth to stand up to multiple watches, and it really should be a communal experience, because that is what it's about.
The Nutcracker at Wethersfield
Back in the long, dark Covid winter of 2020, there was no way the New York City Ballet could mount their traditional Christmas production of Tchaikovsky's fairytale. But choreographer Troy Schumacher had a dream to save the show -- reimagining a classic.
North of Ourselves
In the depths of winter, two adventurers set out to cross Quebec from one end to the other on bike and skis, exploring its staggering geography and meeting its inhabitants (human and otherwise) along the way.
Hundreds of Beavers: A Northwoods Christmas
The funniest, and certainly the furriest movie you will see this year, Hundreds of Beavers channels the zany slapstick shtick of Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and Bugs Bunny through a videogame quest narrative to retell the eternal saga of Man v Nature.
The Secret Agent
Having run afoul of an influential bureaucrat in Brazil’s military dictatorship circa 1977, Marcelo decamps to Recife to live under an assumed name — but he’ll soon come to understand precisely how rampant the country’s corruption has become.