Toe to Toe Hollywood Drama Movie 2010
Cast And Crew
Starring: Louisa Krause, Sonequa Martin, Hina Abdullah,
Sarah Aschenbach, Dionne Audain, Erica Chamblee
Director: Emily Abt
Writer: Emily Abt
Studio: Strand Releasing
Genre: Drama
Runtime:1 hour 44 minutes
Release Date: February 26th, 2010
Toe to Toe Movie Synopsis:
At a politically correct prep school in Washington DC two girls -one black, one white- go toe to toe. Jesse is a privileged but troubled white girl whose slutty tendencies pull her towards self-destructive behavior. Tosha is a fiercely determined African-American from Anacostia, one of DC's most impoverished areas. Both new seniors and star players on their school’s lacrosse team, the two girls click despite their differences. Their fledgling friendship begins to falter when they discover their shared interest in Rashid, a dashing Lebanese deejay.
Things unravel further when Tosha and Jesse have a shoving match on the lacrosse field and racist graffiti appears on Tosha’s locker soon after. Jesse is expelled from school and spirals deeper into self-destructive behavior. Surprisingly, it is Tosha who comes to her rescue. Jesse then returns the favor by sacrificing her own well being for that of Tosha’s. And so the two girls, once mired in mutual hatred, become each other’s salvation
Toe to Toe Movie Reviews:Emily Abt captures 'high school drama bullshit' in a bottle and shakes it into an active, blurring look at life as a modern day teenager.
Having spent time with a couple of teenagers in the past week, it's hard to watch Emily Abt's latest high school treaties and not notice the glaring absence of texting. That's all the kids do nowadays. They sit and chatter away with harangued key strokes that barely make readable words. The sex scenes should be bookend by copious amounts of finger thumping, but that doesn't necessarily make for a compelling watch. Still, it seems that Abt is reaching for a modern day reality in her quest to educate and entertain with this entertaining drama. In this day and age, it's hard to find kids that aren't glue to their cell phones. The challenge is working in the device while still making the characters compelling and relatable. That may be hard, as the more text-prone a high schooler seems to be, the less interesting and dumbfounded they are as a person. Drama doesn't drip from this conceit in a moderate tone.
One cell phone does come into play early on in Toe to Toe. Our main heroine has been quite promiscuous in her after school activities. And she's been photo tagged as a nympho. Her leg is up in the air. She lays drunk, on a couch, her tits hanging out in morbid fashion. These images have been sent to spin in the shameless recesses of the Internet forever. The girl has a social problem. Her father is mysteriously absent. In fact, he's never mentioned once in the entire duration of the running time. Her mother is constantly away on business trips. Jesse lives in a giant modern house. She is well off and looked after by a nanny named Fatima. Louisa Krause plays her perfectly as a misunderstood girl not quite sure how to handle her own brimming sexuality. She gives it away for free, to any takers. And because of that, she's widely known as the school slut. That hasn't slowed her down on the lacrosse field, though. There, she is a free spirit, capable of driving her many demons into the deep blue sky.It's on this field of dreams that she meets fellow lacrosse enthusiast Tosha (Soneuqa Martin), a young woman from the projects trying to make something of herself at their private boarding school. Though she is poor, she excels at math, is very organized, and definitely heading towards a scholarship at one of the big ten schools. She is tormented by the neighborhood bully bitches on her long walks home. And she plays lacrosse because the other black kids don't. She is intelligent and beautiful, yet seemingly trapped by the squalor of her surroundings. We first meet her on the field, stick near her face, chanting, "Black bitch. Black bitch. Black bitch." She's not particularly good. But her and Jesse are the only new players picked for the team.
Though kindred spirits, Jesse and Tosha seem like an odd pair. Not because of their skin color, but because of their attitudes. They are the literal version of yin and yang. Both visually and mental. One has it all and is throwing everything else away. The other has nothing and is striving for the stars. The two actresses settle into a nice rhythm, and the film skips at an interesting pace. Toe to Toe is set up as a tale of friendship, but it turns ugly fast. And we don't see it coming. Jesse is a sycophant. Soon, she is trying to pull from the lesser aspects of Tosha's life for her own selfish gain. When a boy comes into the picture, Jesse is quick to lure his attentions away from Tosha. Her behavior is nothing short of disturbing to all those around her.
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