Laundry and Tosca (2004) User Reviews

Smart, Elegant, Real.

[wes-90 · 9/10 · 31 July 2005]

I'm not particularly an Opera fan but bumped into this film at a festival and was enchanted by it in a very literal way. The makers of this film were able to untangle a jumbled knot work of vision amidst confusion, empowerment amidst terror and euphoria amidst sobriety.

This documentary grabbed me because unlike most one dimensional media today, it indiscriminately grabbed armfuls of reality and arranged it in a way that made me feel like I was watching a real life fairy tale. I'm compelled to write my comments because while re- watching it I found myself baffled at how seamlessly someone could weave together so many angles of a story. I think the many layers of almost dreamlike visuals do a wonderful job simultaneously moving the different angles forward while the calm honest narration anchors me in reality. The added depth, the enchanting I mentioned is from the heart cry of the main characters voice. While all these other things are ebbing and flowing within the story this woman's haunting voice is piercing into me and sending a sharp, clear message through her lyrics.

I'm hard pressed to actually call this film a documentary because it's got more story and drama than many feature films I've seen. It's real life presented in such a masterful way that it burs the lines of literal and fiction. Common every day relatable things are metaphors for fantasy. It left me thinking I could do the unachievable.

I look forward to seeing what comes next from Farrer, Lee, Name and Roberts.

Laundry and Tosca is appropriately titled because it is the story of a middle aged working woman with a tremendous operatic voice.

[dboone-2 · 10/10 · 18 August 2005]

Laundry and Tosca is inspiring because it exudes hope! Hope that an ordinary, hard working woman will one day experience the rich reward of being discovered for the gift she was given, and worked to perfect for twenty years. Marcia Whitehead is all of us who have relatively mundane lives with real dreams and aspirations alive inside of us.

Laundry and Tosca left me loving opera when I never have before, and loving Marcia Whitehead whom I've never met. Marcia uses her tremendous voice to to move people and glorify God. Her voice teacher sheds tears as he works with her; a lady in Wal Mart cries upon experiencing her tremendous voice; and Marcia's father weeps when he hears his favorite hymn sung by his daughter.

In Laundry and Tosca, the film makers are in New York just after 9/11, and to their amazement people are deeply interested in Marcia's story! A story of hope well told by a budding film maker.

I am anxiously awaiting the sequels...

Well Done!

[ElysiumJoy · 10/10 · 18 September 2010]

This film is short, sweet, and frankly inspiring! It is attention-grabbing from the beginning, and it's message is one that never gets stale but just ripens with the telling anew as another individual heeds the call of their true Self. I felt a kinship with Marcia almost immediately-that somehow I had experienced much the same kind of pull towards some destiny of which I could only get a partial glimpse in my present moment of awareness. Her determination and drive to follow her inner voice is an echo from the earliest thought. We are put here, on this Earth, for something far greater than ourselves. And, rather than question ourselves constantly with ego as our guide some of us who are fearless, brave, and courageous simply follow that voice. Marcia is one of those brave few. This film is an homage to all who are willing to break out and follow willingly and with conviction!