Toronto Film Festival

bassiebassie 11,710 Posts
edited September 2006 in Strut Central
working the morning shift at the box office today so i can catch La Haine this afternoon. the year-round staff has set up a wicked sound system in the room, including a turntable!, and one of the managers has most of his amazing record collection here so the days go by much more quickly with Irma Thomas, The Temptations and The Moments singing to me.i'm almost at the end of almost two straight weeks of slinging tickets to movie nerds from all around the world.i've only seen one thing so far, Antonia, which was prtetty good, but the subtitles were horribly off."Dynamic, vibrant and life-affirming, Tata Amaral's third feature, Antonia, describes the ups and downs of a group of female rappers living on the outskirts of S??o Paolo. Their love of performing and creating music together - despite the many obstacles presented by being poor, black and female in a male-dominated profession - is inspiring. Preta, Barbarah, Mayah and Lena provide back-up vocals for a relatively successful male rap group, O Poder, and are anxious to put on their own shows. When O Poder holds a concert in the girls' neighbourhood of Brasilandia, they are given the chance to sing as a group. Beautiful, feminine and talented, their performance is a hit with the crowd and the girls meet Marcelo Diamante, a promoter who offers to help guide them on the road to success. But their journey immediately becomes more difficult. Preta gets absurdly jealous when she sees Mayah talking to her husband and convinces the other two to kick her out of the band. The three are quickly reduced to two after Barbarah is jailed for accidentally killing the boy responsible for beating up her brother. Finally, single mom Preta is left singing on her own after Lena's husband gives her an ultimatum when she gets pregnant: the band or a family. Antonia touches upon many issues that affect the poorer communities in the suburbs of S??o Paolo, such as the violence, homophobia, racism, sexism and social exclusion that are a part of daily life. Antonia's story is so attractive because it offers the promise of a way out through art, music and poetry. Amaral brings this side of S??o Paolo to the screen so naturally and seamlessly by using real female rappers (who together created the music for the film). Not only is Antonia an eloquent and poignant story about friendship and the struggle to achieve one's goals, it also offers a wonderful showcase for the wealth of talent that Brazil has to offer." looking forward to these... Day Night Day Night Made in Jamaica Iran: Une R??volution cin??matographique

  Comments


  • bassiebassie 11,710 Posts
    oh yea, there's been some hate mail over this:

    D.O.A.P.

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  • AserAser 2,351 Posts
    I am eagerly awaiting that gondry flick......

    My friends are lame unfortunately, nobody wanted to split a 10 pack w/ me.

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  • AserAser 2,351 Posts
    yes, YES

    ok, check your email.

  • i saw the prisoner: or how i tried to kill tony blair, on sunday.
    it was pretty good.

    i almost hit froddo with my bike the other day too.


    >>

  • slushslush 691 Posts
    I am eagerly awaiting that gondry flick......

    Free screening tonight (7pm), holler at me if you want some tickets.


    OH LORD HOW CAN I BE DOWN?!?!?!?

    id go to something.... but 20 dollars a ticket is crazy to me

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  • alieNDNalieNDN 2,181 Posts
    im gonna see this
    http://www.e.bell.ca/filmfest/2006/films_schedules/films_description.asp?id=267

    ..plays at 12 midnight...shit, i have to work the next day, i'm gonna be there like a zombie

  • SooksSooks 714 Posts
    I saw 'The Bet Collector' on Friday - was just OK, but I kinda want to go to the Philippines now.

  • MoSSMoSS 458 Posts
    oh yea, there's been some hate mail over this:

    D.O.A.P.

    Saw this. Overrated. In fact, if not for Bush getting shot I don't think it would have gained any interest. It's the same "false blame on a middle eastern man" type of film, except it based on Bush being shot. There have been a few major let downs for me this year. The Kurt Cobain docu was bad, and so was US vs John Lennon. The rest have been pretty damn good.

    Anyhow, I'm getting burned out. 30 movies this week...lol

  • MoSSMoSS 458 Posts
    The films that I've found interesting so far;

    John Cameron Mitchell's "Shortbus" - The most explicit film I've ever seen outside of porn. I am comfertable with my sexuality, but seeing men ejaculate into their own mouths wasn't something I needed to see. There were gangbangs and pretty much everything else within this film. It ended up only being a decent film, but I don't recall a movie being this explicit. Prop's to Canada's Sook-Yin Lee who had a full out penetration sex scene, and a great masterbation scene. She now has a new fan

    Ghosts of Citie of Soliel - The best documentary I have ever seen on slums in my life. I hate to make the comparison, but it's warrented. It's like watching city of god via reality TV. The entire theatre was silent when it ended.

    Cr??nica de una fuga - fucking GREAT film/true story about the goalkeeper of a little-known soccer team who is kidnapped by a Argentinean government squad and sent to a detention center. After months of torture, he plots his escape with three other young men.

    Taxidermia - Jesus. This had everything from people removing their own intestines while still alive (and winding them on a firehose wheel), to 5 minute puke scenes, to men ejaculating fire. It was fucked, but great. One of the most original movie's I've seen in a while, and possibly my favorite film so far.

    Winter Journey - There were 15 people at the movie, but man...was it great. Maybe even better than Gaspar Noe's "I Stand Alone". It also had Sibel Kekilli, from "Head On" fame. Fantastic, 'lost in the mix' film. Ended up hanging with the director after he asked me "why did you come here?"...lol

    Some of the other films;

    The Host (South Korea) - An action/comedy film about a giant monster. Not great, but worth a rental.

    End of the Line - Unfortunatly I think we ruined someone's dreams. Deemed to be "Scary as hell", we ended up laughing out loud during the entire film. The director left due to this. I wasn't trying to be an ass, but we weren't alone. After we laughed, everyone else started too as well. This is the best "B Movie" I've seen come out of Canada in a while, even if not intentional.

  • AserAser 2,351 Posts
    Prop's to Canada's Sook-Yin Lee who had a full out penetration sex scene, and a great masterbation scene. She now has a new fan

    this got a lot of press a few years ago when she was threatened to be fired by cbc for participating in the film. They relented after a bunch of celebs (yoko ono, francis ford coppola) rallied behind her. She was on the cover of Now a few weeks ago.....

    I was a fan of her in the muchmusic days. Although I have a feeling shortbus will gross me out the same way ken park did.

  • Taxidermia - Jesus. This had everything from people removing their own intestines while still alive (and winding them on a firehose wheel), to 5 minute puke scenes, to men ejaculating fire. It was fucked, but great. One of the most original movie's I've seen in a while, and possibly my favorite film so far.

    Wow! This sounds great. Are there any scenes of double amputees defecating coils of rusted barbed wire into the mouths of Japanese school girls?

  • I cant wait to live in toronto, i move either late dec or early jan... woo

  • bassiebassie 11,710 Posts
    saw La Haine finally and am so glad that I waited to see it on a big screen. still holds up in every way (look, story, acting, pacing) 10 or so years later. the discussion afterwards however was maddening...


    Day Night Day Night was great - extremely detailed and one of those nothing-happens/a-lot-is-happening-in-minutae film. a really good story that starts very slow and it just incredible once it unravels.
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