Of the two Brazilian film festivals in Toronto, the Brazil Film Fest is the one with the biggest budget – and the one officially supported by the Brazilian embassy. I wonder why their selection doesn’t feature more contemporary movies. Regardless, their musical theme this year brought in some great documentaries.
An incredible documentary about the incredible story of Humberto Teixeira, the man who popularized Baião in Brazil. Turns out actress Denise Dummont (who I grew up watching in soap operas) is the man’s daughter. She goes on a quest to find her father and, along with director Lírio Ferreira, ends up also finding Baião and how it has influenced Brazilian culture. The soundtrack is amazing, the animated vignettes add a great touch, and the research was extremely well-done. There is some priceless historic footage of Rio in the 50s and folklore traditions from the desert lands of Brazil, besides some illustrious talking heads including Bethânia, Gil & Caetano (naturally,) and David Byrne himself, who’s shown riding his bike through NY and performing Baião’s classic Asa Branca. (Funny enough, Byrne was in town that same night, reading from his new book Bicycle Diaries, in which he discusses the role of bikes in creating better communities around the world.)
I also watched The mystery of samba, which is Marisa Monte turning the Velha Guarda da Portela into the Buena Vista Social Club. Lots of samba in this one, for sure.
Festival closer was Enchanted Word, a very lyrical and dynamic documentary about the relationship between music and poetry in Brazilian music. Incredible performances by some of my MPB favorites.
Speaking of my MPB favorites, Adriana Calcanhotto was also in attendance to perform at the festival closer. I became a babbling fool looking at her eyes, but she's very personable.
For a documentary done by a comedian, Good Hair is neither particularly probing nor funny (even though it has some amusing moments). The subject matter (how Black women do their hair) is mysterious and controversial, but Chris Rock misses the point and goes for the easy jokes. Stereotypes abound, but he's Black, so I guess it's ok.
True Love Lies
Despite the great title, Brad Fraser's latest play left much to be desired in this production at the Factory Theatre. The plot lacked depth and the acting was merely serviceable, giving the script a rushed delivery that only made the dialogue seem even more artificial. Not my favorite of Fraser's scripts.
Body Worlds
The exhibit of desiccated real bodies in athletic poses at the OntarioScienceCenter focuses on the heart and all that is related to it. But it goes beyond just bones and muscles -- it also features fetuses in different degrees of development, a sci-fi looking artificial heart, the 3D vascular systems of a chicken and a lamb, and a giraffe thinly sliced in dozens of layers. Totally fascinating.
Cirque du Soleil’s latest installment -- and my first time under their tent -- adds a Brazilian flavour to the Cirque’s antics, courtesy of celebrated Brazilian choreographer Deborah Colker who conceptualized and directed the show (it even features a live band playing Brazilian music as the soundtrack for the acrobatic acts). The action revolves around the life of insects and the costumes and make-up are amazing, as expected from a Cirque du Soleil productions.
Unfortunately, the titular egg is more of a backdrop than an essential part of the show. The stars are the variety of bugs that come out to do stuff with their bodies. There are red ants that spin kiwi slices with their feet, rock-climbing grasshoppers, spiders that can fold their bodies in half backwards, flying cockroaches on the trapeze and a horny ladybug for comic relief. In a specially great aerial rope sequence, a human butterfly leaves its cocoon and spreads its wings. Above it all, giant tropical flowers blossom.
OVO does what the Cirque does best: Bending backwards to illustrate a concept through contortionism, juggling, high-wiring and pantomime. And this time, with a Brazilian twist. Overall, great art as entertainment. And a great way to celebrate a birthday.
It took her 20 years, but Kylie Minogue finally arrived in North America.
She paraded her hits to an almost full Air Canada Centre Friday night, with an uneven but highly entertaining show that marked her first performance ever in a Canadian venue. Kylie was very personable and made a point to connect with the audience. After all, all she wants is to be loved by Canada -- and the US, naturally -- and she worked very hard for it.
Our Lady of America
At its best, Kylie’s concert was a high-energy spectacle of lasers beams and dance beats that got us on our feet for almost the entire time. Even thought there were some cheesy Euro-trash moments and an awkward beginning, Kylie shone through with flawless make-up, toothy smiles, some well-rehearsed moves and lots of costumes changes -- not all of them very wise, alas…
Some costumes seemed a little dated. Is it still the 90s in Australia?
Does this outfit make my hips look huge?
But songs like Spinning Around, Love At First Sight, Wow, The One, Slow and of course Can't Get You Out of My Head exempted Kylie from any wardrobe faux-pas and kept us burning up and dancing. Unfortunately, she didn't sing I Should Be So Lucky, but she salvaged Locomotion from being an embarrassing moment with a sexy burlesque version of it.
Kylie was also happy to indulge her sizeable gay audience with plenty of male-on-male action throughout the show.
Apart from the outfits, the tackiest parts of the show were when Kylie tried to openly emulate Madonna, like when she comes down from the ceiling in a cheesy disco skull or when she pretty much re-enacts Justify My Love and sings Vogue. Kylie doesn’t need to bow to Madonna -- she’s a pop music force in her own right, and this concert certainly reminds us of why. Feel-good music at its best!
2009 has been a prolific year for music videos featuring animation. I've been watching a lot of them as I've been thinking a lot lately about telling stories through images. Here are some of my favorites so far this year.
Air
Sing Sang Sung
The latest of the bunch is Air’s airy little ditty, a silly song about singing. The video is equally abstract, but beautifully so. It provides a sensorial experience through a cornucopia of shapes, colors, concepts and psychedelic non-sequitursusing 2D and 3D animation. It’s directed and illustrated by French artists Mrzyk & Moriceau. Very cool.
Moby
Pale Horses
Moby is no stranger to animation. This is actually the second animated video released from his new album, the first being directed (and presumably illustrated) by David Lynch. This one here is simple and minimalist, based on Moby’s own concept drawings -- it features Moby’s animated alter ego, Little Idiot. The song is classic Moby at his melancholic best.
U2
I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight
Love them or not, when U2 decides to do something, they do it big. So, for the video for this oxymoronic titled song, they got attention for breaking some animation ground -- and Bono doesn’t even appear in it. The piece was directed by avant-garde vector animator David O'Reilly and features lovely designs and concept art from Jon Klassen. There are no lines, only moving shapes and colors to convey depth and perspective. The song is a bit cheesy, and so is the story of lost dogs and lost souls searching for themselves, but the results are beautiful.
Britney
Kill The Lights
Even trashy Miss Britney Spears got animated this year, in the video inspired by fan-fiction. In the digitally animated cartoon she's channeling her superhero alter-ego last seen in the manga-influenced video for “Break The Ice”. This time around, Britney flees the Earth escaping the paparazzi just to go to outer space and find an alien race that looks just like… paparazzi!!
Pet Shop Boys
Love, Etc
Of course the PSB raised the animation bar this year with their collaboration with Han Hoogerbrugge. Says Neil Tennant: “The track is very bouncy and he took that and put into a very retro computer game.” The result is a fun video, with winged bald guys in sunglasses coming out of nowhere and great use of Clipart. Just like the song, the video brings a fresh take on the sights and sounds of the Pet Shop Boys. The art is hand-drawn and then computer-animated.
FIQ
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Finally, this is not a music video but it features some smart, low-budget animation. It’s an ad for a comic book convention in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. It’s very creative in the use of an old animation technique to great results.
Mika is back – and now with more falsettos! If you didn’t think that his last album was gay enough, Mika turned up the queer quotient to the max on this one. Just watch We Are Golden and you’ll know what I’m talking about.
Unfortunately, Mika uses his gay powers for evil this time, creating an album full of super sugary pop and over-dramatic fluff that grates from the beginning. Gone are the smart verses from “Grace Kelly,” the energy of “Relax” and the beauty of “Any Other World.” You can’t sing along to the songs on this album without totally embarrassing yourself. This is the album Junior Senior would have made had their careers not expired. Mika should take note. Maybe if he stopped pretending he’s a teenager and let his chest hair grow back, his songwriting would get better again.
Even though the Games are still 7 years away, Rio is partying like it’s 2016. In fact, the announcement created an impromptu holiday in the city, like Cariocas need an excuse to have one. I don’t care much about the games themselves, but I hope the event elevates Rio’s infrastructure and safety. It will be interesting to see how they turn a crime-ridden city often on the brink of civil war into a world-class Olympic destination. They sure had the best promo video -- I like the fact that they used a narrator with a Brazilian accent on it, instead of generic American-English.
And poor Chicago. Not even Oprah and Michelle's power tag-team was enough to charm Olympic officials...
Of course,this is not the first time Chicago loses an Olympic bid. In 1904, occasion of the first US Olympics, Chicago lost the spot to St. Louis. They also lost their bid in 1952 and 1956 (to Helsinki and Melbourne respectively). Maybe 2052?
Of the two Brazilian film festivals in 
