Last Stop 174 aims to tell the human side of the bus hijacking in 2000 in Rio de Janeiro. The film felt very real and was like a portrait of a world. It reminded me of City of God, something that was brought up a lot (the main actor was even in City of God).
It was inspired by a documentary, Bus 174. Bruno Barreto, the director, wanted it to be realistic but not naturalistic, an interesting approach to a film based on real events.
I definitely learned a bit about Brazil, especially how racism is still a problem, but it’s more racism based on class than skin color. There’s a Brazilian quote, “equals are treated equally in front of the law,” and Last Stop touches on that a lot.
Paul had released one of Bruno’s earlier films, so we were invited to a premiere party. This would be one of those ‘Hollywood’ parties I keep hearing about, the place where you meet people, wheel-and-deal, and say, “oh yeah, we met at that Bruno Barreto party,” during the Q&A of the film you and your party buddy made.
Just one problem – I’m terrible at mingling. Fortunately the drinking age is not 21 here, so I was able to use the free drink ticket and get a mojito that challenges Miami. After latching onto my fellow classmates, we eventually started talking to one of the producers of Last Stop.
Not helping my cause, he said parties were great because you get to talk to people in a relaxed environment. I think our definitions of a relaxing environment differ greatly.
We did talk about film festivals and how certain films are right for certain festivals. He knew Last Stop was a TIFF film and not a Cannes or Sundance film, even though they’re all great and prestigious festivals. He brought up a good point – you don’t want to be the film that applies and doesn’t get in. Create a festival plan and apply to what’s right for the film, not because it’s popular.
The group got invited to another party, but I skipped out to go see a film I had really been looking forward to – Blood Trail.
