AFTER a year's research into the ins & outs of Toronto's omnipresent rub & tug joints - massage parlors that offer "full body" treatment to men - director Soo Lyu is revving up to make her feature-film directorial debut with Rub & Tug, starring Don McKellar.

Financed by Telefilm Canada's low-budget feature film fund, the $300,000 film tells the fictional tale of three massage girls who are worshipped by their clients and feared by their boss. But when the owner of the Magic Touch parlor hires a new manager (to be played by McKellar), who decides to stand up to the girls, all hell breaks loose.

"The film centres on female empowerment, breaking the stereotype that these woman are victims and whores," says producer and cowriter Edward Stanulis of Toronto upstart Willow Pictures.

"What Soo Lyu discovered in her research is that rub & tugs are actually the softest end of the sex trade [although full-service parlors that offer sex do exist, the full body parlors generally go as far as hand jobs and nude reverse - where the client massages the girl]."

In the full body shops, girls are in high demand, confirms Stanulis. "In many cases, they take 60% of the profit and they're smart. They actually perpetrate some of the stereotypes for their own survival. Like, if a place gets busted, they play up the victim role. They're urban survivors."

Lindy Booth (Century Hotel), Tara Spencer-Nairn (New Waterford Girl) and Kira Clavell (The Immortal) were hired through ACTRA's CLIPP program to play the three main massage girls.

The film will be shot in Toronto Aug. 7 to Sept. 6 on HD and be blown up to 35mm.

"It's not a docudrama. It's very slick with a lot of product placement [hmm]. We have a stylist, not a wardrobe designer. Really, it combines the sensibility of music videos and commercials with features," says Stanulis.

Avion Films' Daniel Palmer is the editor.

The film is intended to make its world premiere at the New Directors/ New Film Series out of New York's Museum of Modern Art, a screening series for first-time directors (through which such films as Run Lola Run were debuted).

Meantime, it has been presold to TMN-The Movie Network and Superchannel.

Distribution negotiations are underway.

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