Two seniors at an elite Washington, D.C. prep school forge a close relationship on the lacrosse field, only to find their growing bond tested in this drama inspired by a study that indicates interracial friendships end at age 14 for approximately 87 percent of American teenagers. Fiercely determined to succeed and build a brighter future outside of Anacostia, Tosha (Sonequa Martin) is an African-American scholarship student from one of Washington's poorest neighborhoods. Perhaps Tosha's polar
opposite, Jessie (Louisa Krause) is a privileged white girl from Bethesda whose promiscuous tendencies threaten to become her undoing. Though the relationship shared between the two girls is most certainly of the love/hate variety, they both strive to gain a better understanding of one another's plight as society threatens to drive them ever farther apart. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Toe to Toe deserves credit for delving into the rich dynamics of interracial friendship and teenaged social tectonics. And it features some terrific acting.
Spreading social awareness is a valuable pursuit, naturally, but when filmmakers take it upon themselves to don the cape of an activist hero while constantly reminding audiences of their nobility, the message feels cheap.
A demented, amateurish after school special, Toe to Toe is only useful as a means to observe a first-rate actress in the making. The rest is pure rubbish, delivered with all the subtlety of an air horn.
Toe to Toe features two exceptionally layered performances at its center, as well as ideas that don't sort themselves out in neat and easily summarized fashion.
Well-acted drama centered on interracial relationships and economic statuses between two vastly different worlds that connect demonstrating how small it is after all. A great film from the Sundance Film Festival.
July 20, 2010
Movee Critic
Super Reviewer
When reading the synopsis of this movie, I assumed it was going to be a rehashing of recent movies with a hard working black student trying to fit in, and over privileged white student who squanders their opportunities, how they become friends and learn about each other...and on the surface it kinda is that. But after
watching the movie it goes much deeper into the spirits that drive these two girls to do what they do. True Tosha is a hardworking scholarship student at a prep school, but she is also pushed and driven by an overbearing grandmother, who treats her other siblings like trash. And Jessie is a rich kid, but she is essentially she's a latch key kid, because her mother is always overseas. There are times in this movie when you smile, cringe, and cheer... and those are usually good ingredients to a good movie.
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