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Why so much hype?

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Simply Perfect

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

A sweet, interesting mix of gritty, hand-held street style film-making, with a much more Hollywood story - a melodrama about girl singing group trying to make it, and get out of the ghettoUltimately a little thin on the character and emotional level for me, although I'll take it over a Hollywood bio-pic any day. But cliché's are cliché's, even if they're handled with more energy and panache than usual. You can see a lot of twists and conflicts coming a mile off.Also, some of the acting is pretty stiff – it feels like weak improvisation. Per several articles on the film, the women were picked for singing ability (which is very high, great voices!) first, and acting second. Most of the songs are terrific, a few are a little lame. Bottom line, if you're interested in the subject, it's worth seeing.

If you're wont to check out a film with a cast of strong,independent (and very attractive)women who persevere in the face of adversity,then seek out Antonia. This fine film from Brazil is also a very well written,directed,photographed & acted tale of four young women from Sao Paulo who have been friends since girlhood,and who also boast of musical talent who just want to make it big in the (mostly)male dominated world of Hip Hop/Rap. The big chance comes when they get to open for a big Rap act & are well received. What follows is some bad breaks that pair down the foursome down to a twosome. This is the kind of film that in the wrong hands could have been turned into little more than a South American Spice Girls knock off. Let us all be eternally thankful that didn't happen. The film also boasts of a killer music soundtrack. It almost at times reminded me a wee bit of 'Dreamgirls'(only without a slimy manager). As the film is subtitled, a bit of a search may be in order (you can bet your bottom dollar you won't find it at your local Showcase Cinema). As it was released in 2006, it may already be available on DVD (it does have an American distributor,and carries a PG-13 rating for some salty language and a rather disturbing image of the aftermath of a bloody violent attack).

Wow, is this movie bad. First of all, the plot: there is none. The band goes from four girls to one as a series of script contrivances -- the two involving street violence being especially poorly presented -- combine to make them the single unluckiest backup girl group in Brazilian history. The script is just very immature: each character has exactly one emotion, or one character trait, or one purpose to serve in the story. You know exactly what's going to happen, and even if you didn't you simply wouldn't care. The lead has a nice screen presence and all the girls can sing beautifully, but "Antonia" will be remembered, at least by this viewer, only for a set of English subtitles so consistently awful I was sure they had to be intended as a parody. We're talking "Kung Fu" dubbing here...

I have just seen this movie at the Toronto International Film Festival. What a beauty! Everything works in this Brazilian movie. Script, Direction, Cinematography, Acting, the incredible score, just to name a few. The lives of the young women in the outskirts of São Paulo are depicted with captivating and breathtaking images along with outstanding performances. This is the kind of movie you leave the theatre with a sense of how powerful film-making can be. I went to see this movie without any knowledge of what the plot was going to be. From the very first frame I was brought into the lives of the main characters and couldn't let them go even after the credits had stopped rolling. Tata Amaral has certainly placed herself on the A-list of Brazilian movie makers.