KOMPA! MAGAZINE

[FANMKONESE]

Has anyone seen the MOVIE HEADING SOUTH.....I will tomorrow......ma retounin ak on breakdown......



Here's the info on it

VENICE, Italy -- Laurent Cantet's thoughtful drama "Heading South" examines the time in the 1970s when Haiti was known as a destination for sexual tourists, well-off women of a certain age from North America who spent their money seeking pleasure amongst the carefree local boys on the beautiful beaches.

The screenplay, by Cantet and Robin Campillo, is based on three short stories by Dany Laferriere and draws on the lives of three women who in key scenes address the camera directly. Their candid admissions of what they seek and why, and the realities they are reluctant to confront, make for an absorbing tale that could do well, especially with female audiences fond of "Shirley Valentine" and its ilk.

"Heading South," screened in competition at Venice, is a very different film from that sentimental crowd-pleaser, but the women's motives aren't so far apart. Ellen (Charlotte Rampling), Brenda (Karen Young) and Sue (Louise Portal) each find something in the engaging, attentive and lissome young beach boy Legba (Menothy Cesar) they cannot find at home, even if they must pay for it.

Ellen, who has been holidaying in Haiti for six years, is not bothered by it at all. She's 55, a lecturer on French literature at Wellesley and disgusted by the men of Boston. "I always thought that when I was old I would pay younger men to make love to me," Ellen says, echoing the celebrated words of Francoise Sagan.

Brenda, who is from Georgia, met Legba while on holiday with her husband, Mark. "I threw myself on him. It was my first orgasm. I was 45," she says. That was three years ago. Now Mark is history, and she's back.

Sue, from Montreal, is plump and vivacious. "I feel like a butterfly here -- free, unattached. We all feel different here," she says.

But what the tourists don't know about Legba and life on Haiti under the ruthless dictatorship of "Baby Doc" Duvalier is summed up in one word: everything.

While the whites live in luxury, the Haitians live in desperate poverty and powerless fear. The scrupulously polite and efficient hotel manager Albert (Lys Ambroise) also speaks to the camera, telling of his father and grandfather and their abiding hatred of all white people, especially Americans.

Rampling, whose beauty continues to light up the screen, is wonderful as Ellen in her assuredness and her casual manipulation of others and in the small ways she betrays her insecurity. Young also is particularly good as a woman prepared to throw out everything she knows to make up for lost time. Cesar makes Legba's appeal believable, and Portal and Ambroise add solid support.

As the ugliness of life in the heart of paradise spills over to the spoiled intruders, they react to what they discover in quite different ways. Cantet keeps a lid on a story that he could have easily exploited, but he makes his points about beauty, fulfillment, self-indulgence and delusion with a measured hand.

HEADING SOUTH
Haut et Court, Les Films Seville, France 3 Cinema, StudioCanal

Credits:
Director: Laurent Cantet
Screenwriters: Laurent Cantet & Robin Campillo
Producers: Caroline Benjo, Carole Scotta, Simon Arnal
Director of photography: Pierre Milon
Art director: Franckie Diago
Editor: Robin Campillo
Cast:
Ellen: Charlotte Rampling
Brenda: Karen Young
Sue: Louise Portal
Legba: Menothy Cesar
Albert: Lys Ambroise
Eddy: Jackensen Pierre Olmo Diaz
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 105 mins
_________________
Personally, I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught."

--Winston Churchill

[DJ Super Duke]

Fankonese....ou konese ampil..this sound like an intyeresting one...I want to see it too...Is it out in the movies or DVD.....let me google...thanks for the info.

Duke
_________________
La Qualite Authentic........DJ Superduke

[FANMKONESE]

Well well saw it last sunday......Its ok nothing spectacular.....I have a very difficult taste so dont quote me on that....just check it out and LOOK FOR LEGBA.....THE DIRECTOR COULD HAVE PICKED BETTER LOOKING OLDER WOMEN TO PLAY THE ROLES......On equipe grand moun ko vlin.....not a beautiful picture.....I suported because its a well made haitain movie ki ap jwe cote senti bon.( angelica theater in nyc)...That alone was sufficient for me....The story line is ok.....like i mentioned previously the actors could have been way way better..........

surtout si ou ap montre gran moun kap fais bagay.....make it beautiful i say




I give this movie 7/10....
_________________
Personally, I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught."

--Winston Churchill