DIXIE CHICKS: SHUT UP AND SING. Barbara Kopple & Cecilia Peck’s rousing documentary follows the Dixie Chicks through their three-year battle with the country-music right over Natalie Maines’s on-stage statement “We’re embarrassed that the president is from Texas.” If you’re furious at red-state bullying, this film is for you. Maines backstage is a righteous firebrand, ever angry at those who turned on the Dixies. The film flows with female energy: in lieu of having backstage orgies, the oft-pregnant Chicks bring babies and husbands on the road. And the music? Up close, Maines’s pipes and those three-part harmonies are a miracle. (Maines could be in deep merde again. She agreed to leave in the film a moment where she turns to the camera and calls George W. “a dumb fuck.”)
The finest evening at Toronto 2006? The world premiere of Guy Maddin’s BRAND UPON THE BRAIN!, a comedic detour into a whirlpool of incest, lunacy, and obsession that typifies the cine-world of the wonderfully demented Winnipeg filmmaker. This one was silent but with live music from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and, up in the rafters of the Elgin Cinema, singers and sound artists. I interviewed one of them, Maddin’s ex-producer and childhood pal Greg Klymkiw, who in cape and boots and Dr. Zhivago furry hat lip-synched a castrato soprano.
“Castrato refers to one,” he explained. “The actual singing was by a 10-year-old choirboy. My castrato model is Farinelli. I got the part when Guy sent me an e-mail with no text but the subject heading ‘Castrato?’ ”
Klymkiw eyed this reporter admiringly. “This is a scoop! You are the only journalist at Toronto to ask!”
Related:
Rebel Belles, Shut Up and Sing, Round-trip Cruz, More 
- Rebel Belles
No other performer has been as vilified as the Dixie Chicks were for speaking out — and they wouldn’t have been if they hadn’t made their name in the conservative space of mainstream country music.
- Shut Up and Sing
“Who are the Dixie Chicks, anyway? They should shut the fuck up.” Watch the trailer for Shut Up & Sing (QuickTime)
- Round-trip Cruz
Volver may be a rich and moving film that celebrates the triumph of the feminine spirit, but it’s already best known as the movie in which writer/director Pedro Almodóvar fitted willowy leading lady Penélope Cruz with an ample prosthetic ass. Watch the trailer for Volver (QuickTime)
- Elegy
Cruz, who bares all in her finest performance since her days as Pedro Almodóvar’s muse.
- On the Racks: May 23, 2006
Plus new releases by Osaka Popstar, PJ Harvey, and the American Idol kids.
- Oscar predictions: Liberal gilt
It's like a fairy tale for Hollywood liberals.
- No Spain, no gain
Many are hailing Woody Allen’s new film, claiming it to be a “return to form.” I agree: he’s returned to the earliest form of his career, the monologue.
- Going on sale: June 2, 2006
String Cheese Incident, Dixie Chicks, Daniel Powter, the Pretenders, and a Mariah Carey/Sean Paul double-dip
- Please release me
If you were looking for important, well-reported, or even marginally interesting music news, you probably wouldn’t be reading my column.
- Shopgirl
Watch any red-carpet event and you're likely to feel less than picture perfect.
- Review: G-Force
A hero named Darwin and a convoluted plot about "global extermination" are the first clues that director Hoyt Yeatman isn't taking the cute route with his cast of animated guinea pigs.
- Less
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Film Culture
, Celebrity News, Entertainment, Sophia Loren, More
, Celebrity News, Entertainment, Sophia Loren, Roberto Rossellini, Melinda Page Hamilton, Ken Loach, Penelope Cruz, Anna Magnani, Barbara Kopple, Cecilia Peck, Less
