Whip It

[Jefferies]

Uma crítica positiva sobre o filme lá em Toronto (fonte - site In Contention):

 

 

“Whip It” (***)

Skinny Milly Miller.  I remember that name from the roller derby shows on Saturday afternoons in the 1970s. My grandfather loved sports of any kind and when there was nothing else, it was roller derby he would watch, and invite me to do so with him. I loved him so much I never had the heart to tell him how stupid a sport I though it was, so I sat down and watched it with him. His favorite skater was a tall, black woman named Skinny Milly Miller.

Anyway, I have always liked Drew Barrymore, that familiar manner in which she makes you feel like an old friend, even when meeting you for the first time. Though I never thought much of her as an actress until this year (in HBO’s “Grey Gardens”), I have always respected her as a fine movie star.

To her credit, Barrymore is doing more than opening a film here.  She is also involved in festival side events, such as the roller derby exhibition at Dundas Sqaure, and making various TV performances..

She’s here at TIFF with her new film “Whip It,” in which she not only stars in but also directed.  Yep, Drew Barrymore has made the transition to the other side of the camera, joining the ranks of Barbra Streisand and Penny Marshall as actresses turned director.  But what is most exciting about “Whip It” is that Barrymore has made a film about women and for women without shutting the  men out.

She sets her film film in the world of roller derby, which really had its heyday in the mid-to-late 1970s but is now enjoying a comeback as a grassroots sort of entertainment.   As a director, Barrymore does a nice job plunging us into this world, capturing the exhilaration of the game, the speed and the bloodlust that creeps in somehow.  It isn’t top tier work but she is very competent, handling the story well and the action scenes even better. And she’s cast the film well.

Bliss (Ellen Page) is tired of being placed in beauty pageants by her mother, a faded debutatnte who wants her daughter to have the glory she never did. While in Texas, Bliss attends a roller derby match and is hooked on the game, finding it both fast-paced, everything she has never been allowed to do. She dives into the sport and is soon living a double life, or trying too, as a beauty queen and roller derby hellcat.

The portrayal of the sport is surprisingly real, with Barrymore pulling no punches about the sort of violence that takes place during these games. These girls hurt one another, with flying fists, bodies and feet, whatever it takes to get ahead.

Page is outstanding as Bliss, proving again she is very likely one of the finest young actresses working cinema. She slips effortlessly under the skin of this character and inhabits her in every way, and after meeting Ellen Page a few times, I can safely say that the characters she creates bear no connection to her at all. She quite simply disappears into the performance, her eyes conveying the growing love she has for a game so far from her world of gorgeous clothing, posing and makeup.

The real stars of the film, however, are the supporting cast members, who steal the show.  These include Barrymore as Smashie Simpson, Zoe Bell as Bloody Holly and perhaps best of all, Juliette Lewis as the dangerous Iron Maven. Love those names, which are half the fun.  And that’s really the root, here: the film is fun to watch.  And the girls look they are having a blast on screen.  Perhaps that, more than anything else, is Barrymore’s greatest accomplishment as a director: she directed a film people had fun making and that audiences will have fun watching.

Is it art?  No, but neither was it meant to be. What it does speak too is a young woman’s need to belong somewhere, even if that place goes against everything she has known or been taught. When we find where we should be, we should not listen to anyone but embrace the fact we have found what we are.

formula60442009-09-17 18:42:11

[MacGruber]

Credo, isso passou em Toronto?

[pantalaimon]

Eu gostei do que vi, apesar de muito pouco ainda, nada de péssimo até agora.

[MacGruber]

O que? Vc tá falando daquele trailer metido a feel good movie?

[pantalaimon]

Falo do vídeo do Omelete; já tem trailer?Não vi. Você então acha que não é dessa vez que a Drew nos surpreende Bruno?;D

[MacGruber]

O trailer saiu faz um tempão mas parece que ninguém postou aqui. Pelo trailer parecia uma mistureba esquisita de filmes de sátira esportiva com dramédias indie. Algo bem tosco.

[MacGruber]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cA2ngjW0YQ

[pantalaimon]

Tem cinco minutos de cenas no Omelete nesse linkl acima, dá uma olhada.

[MacGruber]

Desisti dessa coisa de ficar vendo cenas do filme antes. Teria curtido mais O Procurado e Homem de Ferro se não tivesse visto tanta coisa.

[pantalaimon]

Me ensina o segredo, pois não consigo evitar, sempre vejo. ;/

[CACO/CAMPOS]

Longa de Drew Barrymore tem data de pré-lançamento nos Estados Unidos - 24/09/2009 12:05

Whip It!, a estreia de Drew Barrymore como diretora, chegará aos cinemas em 2 de outubro, porém, em mais de 500 cinemas pelos Estados Unidos, o filme terá uma pré-estreia neste sábado 26 de setembro, a partir das 19 horas. Nos eventos de pré-lançamento serão distribuidas camisetas do filme.

No longa de Barrymore, Ellen Page estrela como Bliss, uma adolescente rebelde que sai de sua pequena cidade no Texas para viajar pelo mundo como patinadora. O elenco também conta com Marcia Gay Harden, Kristen Wiig, Daniel Stern e Jimmy Fallon.

[Jailcante]

Jailcante2009-09-25 12:06:05

[Jack Ryan]

Eu vi o trailer um tempo atrás, eu achei interessante. Não descarto que venha coisa boa daí.

 

[pantalaimon]

Acabei de ver no Rotten o filme com 80%; são apenas 5 críticas, uma Rotten. Deve cair, mas a Variety e o Hollywood Reporter, o que deve ter deixado a Drew louca. Será que esse filme faz sucesso, comercial?

[MacGruber]

Acho que faz, muita gente vai querer ver a Page numa comédia estilo Will Ferrel.

[-felipe-]

Bem, não tem nada a ver com os filmes do Ferrel, mas é uma dramédia teen como vc previu. Eu gostei bastante, bem engraçado sem perder a mão e, embora parta de temas batidos, consegue não parecer um grande clichê. Achei que Barrymore mandou muito bem, tem uma direção sensível, e tudo parece estar no devido lugar, música, edição, atuações, etc. Nem parece o trabalho de uma estreante. 4,5/5

 

 

[Perucatorta]

Bem, só pra terem os dois lados da moeda, eu discordo de quase tudo que o felipe disse.  Achei a direção errada demais. De longe a coisa mais fraca do filme, que, com uma boa direção, seria razoável.

 

[pantalaimon]

Eu acho que ninguém esperava muita coisa dela, e para um primeiro filme, pela repercussão que teve, deve ter algo bom mesmo, quero muito ver.

[Jailcante]

O filme já ganhou título em português, e tá pra sair em DVD (ou já saiu, nem sei):

 

 

(E que nome...)