Committing crimes and inverting overall ethical values in order to hide and change one aspect of their live they deem to be immoral has become a surprisingly normal aspect of life in modern society. That’s certainly the case for actress Maeve Jinkings’ protagonist of Suelle in the new crime drama, ‘Toll.’
The movie was written, directed and produced by Carolina Markowicz. As one of Brazil’s most socially conscious voices in current cinema, with ‘Toll’ she has once again her singular gaze again on the dynamics by which a small family unit tries to stay afloat in the face of chaos. Much like her previous feature, last year’s dark comedy ‘Charcoal,’ in which Jinkings also starred, the filmmaker once again crafted a story that chronicles how a mother’s tough love has gone wrong.
‘Toll’ follows Suellen, a toll booth attendant, as she realizes she can use her job to help a gang of thieves steal prized accessories from the wealthy people driving between São Paulo and the coast. In the process, she convinces herself she’s committing the crimes for a noble cause: to send her teenage son, Antonio (Kauan Alvarenga) to an expensive gay conversion workshop led by a renowned priest. But she unwittingly triggers a chain of events that will leave no one happy, except maybe the thieves.
While Antonio’s unfazed take on adversity allows him to find his own voice every day, Suellen and her colleague struggle to not be overwhelmed by guilt. The mother and her son’s journeys are part of a changing social landscape, which seems to move as fast as the vehicles that are forced to pay their dues at the toll.
‘Toll’ had its World Premiere during the Centerpiece section during this month’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Following the drama’s World Premiere at TIFF, the feature is set to have its European Premiere at San Sebastian International Film Festival on September 29. The week before the movie’s World Premiere at TIFF, Markowicz generously took the time to participate in an exclusive interview over Zoom from Brazil to discuss scribing, helming and producing the project.
Film Factual (FF): You wrote the script for the new crime drama, ‘Toll.’ What was your inspiration in penning the screenplay for the film?
Carolina Markowicz (CB): Well, there have been times in Brazil that have been very hard and violent for the LGBTQ+ population. Even politicians and very important people would say not only violent, but also bizarre, things.
There was a senator who said people shouldn’t have (Elsa) dolls from ‘Frozen’ because she’s a lesbian, and that would influence their kids. Politicians have also said that men should only wear blue, and women should only wear red.
So things are getting so bad that I wanted to portray how it’s becoming the norm here. That was the genesis of why I wanted to speak about it as a filmmaker.
FF: In addition to penning the script, you also directed the movie. How did you approach helming the drama? How did working on the screenplay influence your helming style throughout the production?
CM: I started writing the script in 2017, but at that time, I didn’t know how the story would end. I went on to write about four or five different treatments of the script.
We then began shooting the film at the end of 2021. We had about five weeks of shooting.
I was also working on my previous film, ‘Charcoal,’ at the time, and then it premiered. We also did a festival run for that film, and are still doing it, actually. I then came back to edit ‘Toll,’ and it took a long time because I had the two projects going on at the same time.
FF: ‘Toll’ stars Maeve Jinkings, Kauan Alvarenga and Aline Marta. What was the casting process like for the film?
CM: I did a lot of casting, and saw a lot of people for the roles. For the boy role, I always knew I wanted Kauan Alvarenga to play Antonio because he was in a short film I made (the 2018 drama, ‘The Orphan).
As for Maeve Jinkings, I’ve always been a fan of her work, and she was in my previous film (‘Charcoal’). At some point, I realized she was the one again, so I wanted to cast her in (‘Toll’).
Aline Marta, who plays Maeve’s friend, is another great actress. As soon as she did a test, I decided I wanted to cast her in the role. After that, I asked her to also do my other film (‘Charcoal’).
So both Aline and Maeve are in both films. They’re actresses who I think have incredible range of emotions.
With the other actors, I did a lot of tests. As I always like to do, I put experienced, professional actors with unknown actors to see who worked the best together.
FF: Once the actors were cast, how did you approach working with them to build their characters?
CM: We had some rehearsals together here in São Paulo. I like to do some readings of the script. We rehearsed all of the scenes; we didn’t rehearse a lot, however, as we didn’t want to get tired of it and make it feel as though it wasn’t natural anymore. But we did rehearse until I thought the scenes were working. We also went to the set and began rehearsing at the location.
FF: How did you decide how you would visually shoot ‘Toll’ with your cinematographer, Luis Armando Arteaga?
CM: Well, Luis is a cinematographer from Venezuela who has been living in France now for many years. It was a really good collaboration, and I really enjoy his point-of-view in not only looks and aesthetics, but also in the narrative and script.
We thought about doing something that was raw and had references that had a lot of texture, truth and dirty. So we didn’t want the film to look sharp; we wanted it to be grainy, and that was our main concern.
So we chose older lenses that already had these textures. After that, when we were working on the color grading, we added even more textures. We never forgot about the colors in this life; we wanted them to reflect the fog of the city. These colors also reflected the characters of the film.
FF: In addition to scribing and helming the drama, you also served as one of the producers. How did your producing and helming duties influence each other throughout the production?
CM: I like to be very involved in production, but not in terms of the budget. I like working on the strategy and with the partners we have, as well as which labs we’re going to and where the film’s going to screen, so I’m very involved in that.
I always use the same production person here in Brazil, Karen Castanho, and her production company, Biônica Filmes. She’s an amazing person and I’m very close to her; we get along very well together. I’m happy and lucky to have this collaboration. Since we do everything together and I trust her taste, I ask her for her opinion on the artistic things. I trust that she’s always thinking about the film, as well. So I think these collaborations are very important for what happens to the film artistically.
FF: ‘Toll’ (had) its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8. What does it mean to you that the drama (had its) premiering at the festival?
CM: I’m so excited. I love TIFF audiences – they’re so participative and interested in films. I (was) excited to see them at the premiere. But there’s also some fear when you share your movie with the world for the first time, and you get people’s genuine reactions. But overall, it’s been a beautiful experience.
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