Miss Bala is Spanish film about how much corruption the Mexican drug wars have. The storyline is engaging the whole time even though there are times it drags a little. Miss Bala was Mexico’s official submission for the Best Foreign Language Film for the 84th Academy Awards, however, it failed to make the shortlist of films selected as nominees. Despite some flaws in some areas, the technical production of the film was done wonderfully.

Laura Guerrero (Stephanie Sigman) is a 23 year old who wants to be part of a beauty pageant called Miss Baja. She is from a small town near Tijuana and lives with her father and younger brother. We do not really know what her relationship is with her father but we know that her little brother means a lot to her. He is always willing to cover for Laura when she sneaks out to compete in the pageant.

Laura and her friend Suzu were hoping to better their chances of being recruited for the pageant by going to a party at a nightclub. Laura knew something did not feel right at the nightclub though. Moments later a few men with guns burst into the club and begin shooting. She was able to escape as others around here were not so fortunate. She is barely relieved when she makes it out because she knows that Suzu may not have.

The next day she asks if a police man on the street if he could help her find out of her friend survived the accident or not. He instructs her to hop in the car as makes a call into dispatch over his radio. Strangely, the next call he gets is on his cell phone. He pulls over to the side of the road and tells her that he is going inside to pick up his lunch. Then all of a sudden some people drag her out of the police car and throw her into a van.

It turns out that the people that took her in are part of an organized crime gang. They tell her they will help her find her friend and get her into the beauty pageant if she helps them out with some favors of their own. She complies as if she had much of a choice. Just like that they get her into the pageant.

She does what is commanded of her but just like anyone in her position would do, she does attempt to flee on a few occasions. However, they are unsuccessful and only seem to make matters worse. The gang invades her family’s home to blackmail her into being their pawn for smuggling money and other illegal activities.

The best quality in Miss Bala was it’s ability to tell the story with conviction even though there are a few times her luck seemed too unfortunate to believe. Most of the credit for that has to go to director/co-writer Gerardo Naranjo. Stephanie Sigman shines bright in the lead role of the dark thriller. Even though her character felt too passive throughout the film, she gave up on finding her friend, does not put up much of a fight, etc., the acting made up for it.

As good as the camera work and acting was in Miss Bala, the timing of the film felt a little off. The beginning of the film felt rushed into the plot. We are introduced to Laura and instantly she wants to be part of a beauty pageant but we are left guessing at her background. You eventually come to empathize with her character but it seemed long overdue by the time you do.

Blake and I list our top ten favorite films of 2011. Comparing films to one another is hard to do when they are often so different. Thus ranking other people’s artwork such as films is never easy but everyone likes a Top 10 list (which is the reason why I told Blake we should do a numbered list of 10 instead of just an alphabetical one). So without further ado, our list of Top 10 Films of 2011:

]]> http://waytooindie.com/features/top-10-films-of-2011/feed/ 0 http://waytooindie.com/news/film-festival/tiff-2011-day-4/ http://waytooindie.com/news/film-festival/tiff-2011-day-4/#respond Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://waytooindie.com/?p=2079 Day 4 of the Toronto International Film Festival I see Rampart which stars Woody Harrelson in a familiar role and the film I was most excited for at TIFF, the Mexican thriller Miss Bala. Here are my first impressions and mini reviews of the films.]]>

Day 4 of the Toronto International Film Festival I see Rampart which stars Woody Harrelson in a familiar role and the film I was most excited for at TIFF, the Mexican thriller Miss Bala. Here are my first impressions and mini reviews of the films.

Woody Harrelson gives one of his best performances of his career in this film, which sadly doesn’t deserve his performance. The movie is just so depressing and ugly despite being set in the beautiful and sunny Los Angeles. It follows Harrelson’s drunk, drug addicted cop (jeez where have I seen this before) as he barely makes it through his life. He works for L.A.’s Rampart Division, a special group set inside the LAPD. He lives in the garage of BOTH his ex wives, he is under an investigation for illegal conduct on the job and his ‘relationship’ with his daughters is even worse. I found it really hard to believe that a cop could be under investigation for beating an unarmed man and then be suspected of shooting ANOTHER unarmed man and STILL have a job. The director’s previous work was The Messenger which I absolutely loved. It’s a shame this movie doesn’t work. As I stated before, Harrelson is terrific and in a different year or part of his career could’ve seen an Oscar nomination. This was based on a true story, but I can see a few spots of this film being stretched from reality.

This was the movie I was looking forward to the most coming into TIFF.The original word out of Cannes were raves and the first trailer was ASTONISHINGLY well done. The final product is very VERY well done. Bala is about a young girl from Tijuana, Mexico who wants to enter in a beauty pageant titled Miss Baja California. On her way to one, her and her friend go to a night club to party with some friends. When Laura (the protagonist) shows up, her friend is dancing with some DEA agents. She retreats to the bathroom where some members of a deadly and ruthless drug cartel show up and kill everyone. They kidnap Laura and use her for days, whether it’s transporting money across the border or ammo back over the border. They use and abuse her. They promise her fame and money as they put her through excruciating circumstances. The film is uncompromising in it’s vision of the drug war being fought in Mexico. One that has claimed over 50,000 lives in the last 5 years and another 10,000 people missing. The movie took about 45 minutes to grow on me. But the director’s style and cinematography are brilliant. Reminiscent of Michael Mann’s Heat, the camera is almost never not fixed. Always steady and sure. I do not recall a use of shaky cam at all. This is one of the best thrillers of the year.

The 2011 Toronto International Film Festival is about to begin and I will representing Way Too Indie there. We previously posted the films we are most excited for but here is the list of films I will be seeing (some of which were on that list). Expect mini-reviews to follow as well as my general experience of the atmosphere in the city of Toronto.

Synopsis: Idiosyncratic, cheeky and uncategorizable, the films of Guy Maddin are testaments to the singular vision of a great contemporary cinema artist, and Keyhole may be his boldest film yet. A surreal indoor odyssey of one man, Ulysses Pick (Jason Patric) struggling to reach his wife (Isabella Rosellini) in her bedroom upstairs, this hypnotic dreamlike journey bewilders and captivates.
There is no trailer for this film yet

Synopsis: A look at what happens when partners from different social backgrounds engage in in physical relationships.
There is no trailer for this film yet

Why excited: Not only is it black and white but it is a silent film.
Synopsis: Hollywood, 1927: As silent movie star George Valentin wonders if the arrival of talking pictures will cause him to fade into oblivion, he sparks with Peppy Miller, a young dancer set for a big break.

Synopsis: Intimate interviews and life stories of several inmates condemned to death in a Texas prison.
There is no trailer for this film yet

Synopsis: Martin, a mercenary, is sent from Europe by an mysterious biotech company to the Tasmanian wilderness on a hunt for the last Tasmanian tiger.

Synopsis: Two sisters find their relationship challenged as a nearby planet threatens to collide into the Earth.

Synopsis: A Hollywood stunt performer who moonlights as a wheelman discovers that a contract has been put on him after a heist gone wrong.

Synopsis: A land baron tries to re-connect with his two daughters after his wife suffers a boating accident.

Synopsis: Haunted by painful memories and increasing paranoia, a damaged woman struggles to re-assimilate with her family after fleeing an abusive cult.

Synopsis: Everyone knows what to do if one morning the sky would be absolutely full of UFOs: run as fast as you can. However, what would happen if the invasion started while you are in the flat of the girl of your dreams, the one you have just met?
There is no trailer for this film yet

Synopsis: A further investigation into the arrest of three teenagers who were wrongfully convicted of killing three young boys in Arkansas and spent nearly 20 years in prison before being released because DNA evidence proved their innocence.
There is no trailer for this film yet

Synopsis: Follows veteran police officer Dave Brown, the last of the renegade cops, as he struggles to take care of his family, and fights for his own survival.
There is no trailer for this film yet

Synopsis: The story of a young woman clinging on to her dream to become a beauty contest queen in a Mexico dominated by organized crime.

Synopsis: A suicide survivor works for a nameless corporation, where he puts other employees through series of bizarre performance tests in this dystopian, Tarkovsky-esque sci-fi and surreal dark fantasy, with flashes of dark humour and deep emotion.

Synopsis: A group of cooks at an asylum for the criminally insane get locked in with the inmates during a massive thunderstorm.
There is no trailer for this film yet

Synopsis: The team behind “Baraka” reunites for another journey around the world, exploring themes of birth, death and rebirth through stunning visuals and music.
There is no trailer for this film yet

Synopsis: A drama centered on 30-something Brandon, his myriad sexual escapades, and what happens when his wayward younger sister moves in with him.
There is no trailer for this film yet

Synopsis: A mysterious underground outfit, going by the name of ALPS, offers bereaved individuals a very unusual service: they stand in for their dearly departed.

Cannes Film Festival is considered one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world and today they announced their lineup for 2011. This year the festival will be held from May 11th through May 22nd with American actor Robert De Niro being The President of the Jury.

Midnight In Paris (director Woody Allen)

The Beaver (director Jodi Foster)
La Conquete (director Xavier Durringer)
The Artist (director Hazanavicius)
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (director Rob Marshall)

The Skin I Live In (director Pedro Almodovar)
L’Apollonide – Souvenirs de la maison close (director Bertrand Bonello)
Hearat Shulayim (director Joseph Cedar)
Pater (director Alain Cavalier)
Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia) (director Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
Le gamin au vélo (director Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne)
Le Havre (director Aki Kaurismäki)
Hanezu no Tsuki (director Naomi Kawase)
Sleeping Beauty (director Julia Leigh)
Polisse (director Maïwenn)
The Tree of Life (director Terrence Malick)
La source des femmes (director Radu Mihaileanu)
Ishimei (Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai) (director Takashi Miike)
Habemus Papam (director Nanni Moretti)
We Need to Talk about Kevin (director Lynne Ramsay)
Melancholia (director Lars Von Trier)
Drive (director Nicolas Winding Refn)

Restless (director Gus Van Sant)
Martha Marcy May Marlene (director Sean Durkin)
The Hunter (director Bakur Bakuradze)
Halt auf freier Strecke (director Andreas Dresen)
Hors Satan (director Bruno Dumont)
Les neiges du Kilimandjaro (director Robert Guédiguian)
Skoonheid (director Oliver Hermanus)
The Day He Arrives (director Hong Sangsoo)
Hong Sangsoo (director Cristián Jiménez)
Tatsumi (director Eric Khoo)
Arirang (director Kim Ki-duk)
Et maintenant on va où? (director Nadine Labaki)
Loverboy (director Catalin Mitulescu)
Yellow Sea (director Na Hong-jin)
Miss Bala (dir. Gerardo Naranjo)
Trabalhar cansa (Travailler Fatigue) (directors Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra)
L’exercice de l’Etat (director Pierre Schoeller)
Toomelah (director Ivan Sen)
Oslo, August 31st (director Joachim Trier)

Labrador (director Frederikke Aspöck)
Wu Xia (director Chan Peter Ho-Sun)
Days of Grace (director Everardo Gout)
Le Maitre Des Forges De L’Enfre (director. Rithy Panh)
Michael Petrucciani (director Michael Radford)
Tous Au Larzac (director Christian Rouaud)