10 Years Later: Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

One of the most daunting articles I’ll ever tackle. Scott Pilgrim is both one of the best graphic novel adaptations, but also, I’d be willing to argue, the best video game film of all time. I came late to the party for Scott Pilgrim. I didn’t read the graphic novel series until after the film came out, and I sadly didn’t see the film during its initial run. I can’t even really remember the first time I saw it, it just feels like it’s lived with me for the past ten years.

It wasn’t until this year, on January 1st, I was able to see the film on the big screen. The Paradise Theatre in Toronto ran a series called “Toronto Plays Itself.” A lot of films are shot here in “North Hollywood” but they’re always used to be a stand-in for other cities, never its own. Even directors like Guillermo Del Toro, who loves the city enough to film all his films in our city, doesn’t allow Toronto to be Toronto (but this is passable, his films aren’t typically based in real-life cities or scenarios anyway). His film The Shape of Water is a love-letter to Toronto though, the way he films inside the Elgin, or the Lakeview Diner, or the apartments and rooms outside Massey Hall, the love for the city makes it a Canadian picture, or a Torontonian picture… read more >