TIFF 2010: Abe Sylvia’s Dirty Girl

Part of the films being offered at TIFF that could easily secure a spot at Sundance, Abe Sylvia’s directorial debut, a film that borrows heavily from narrative elements found in Little Miss Sunshine. Dirty Girl hit a cord with the first audience to see it and Weinsteins paid a whopping 3 million for the title.

Juno Temple and newbie actor Jeremy Dozier are foul-mouthed and have attitudes that will eventually match, which is perhaps the film’s selling point but ultimately also the reason why I quickly dismissed it. The 70’s/80’s pop soundtrack supplied mostly by Melissa Manchester (that is her in the Q&A below) does nothing to lessen the continual spewing of pointless retorts full of crudeness and vileness. Before penning the Black List script, Sylvia worked in theater, and you certainly sense a “theatricality” in the film’s DNA and over the top perfs from the supporting cast players such as Milla Jovovich, William H. Macy and Dwight Yoakam. Expect a theatrical release for 2011 – perhaps during a period where Glee is running re-runs. Here’s the September 12th Q&A.