Runners will see themselves in new film by Toronto filmmaker

If you’re heading to Ottawa for AC XC Nationals on Saturday, consider taking in the new film by Toronto actor and director Tony Marra and Trovare Films, which has runners everywhere grinning in recognition. It’s screening at Ottawa’s Bytown Cinema on Thursday, Nov. 23.

Update Dec. 12, 2023: See below for a link to screen Billy Runs Boston? for free at home.

The title character in Billy Runs Boston? is Billy Russo–a middle-aged man (played by Marra) who works a menial job while caring for his nearly non-verbal brother and living under the thumb of their embittered sister. He is a simple soul who runs, like many of us, primarily to escape (however briefly) the difficult aspects of his life, and to feel like himself. 

One day, a fellow runner in Billy’s loosely-constituted running club suggests that he should try to qualify for Boston, and this gives Billy a new sense of purpose. His well-meaning friends help him out with gift cards and hand-me-down shoes, and Billy becomes obsessed with his quest. But there are consequences: he starts neglecting his brother’s care, and, as so often happens in real life, injury strikes. What happens next is kept hidden from viewers until the end (when the reason for the question mark in the title is also revealed).

Billy Runs Boston has all of the familiar running tropes: the lengths people will go to qualify for Boston. The fartleks, hill repeats, tempo runs and intervals. The chafing. The relationship between running and social media. The outrageous prices for carbon-plated running shoes. And, of course, the Holy Grail of marathoners–i.e., qualifying for Boston, and the lengths some people will go to to achieve it. It pokes gentle fun at how ridiculous runners can be, while highlighting running’s true bottom line: most of us, like Billy, run because it makes us feel good. 

The film is full of recognizable Toronto running locations–and even a real running shop. 

Ottawa runners and those visiting for ACXC Nationals enjoyed the film at a screening on Nov. 23. Now you can screen Billy Runs Boston? at home on Vimeo, here.