Lower City
by Sérgio Machado
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DVD details
Actor: Alice Braga, Débora Santiago, Lázaro Ramos, Maria Menezes, Wagner MouraDirector: Sérgio Machado
Brand: Universal Studios
Writer: Sérgio Machado
Producer: Donald Ranvaud
Producer: Mauricio Andrade Ramos
Producer: Robert Bevan
Writer: Adriana Rattes
Writer: Gil Vicente Tavares
Writer: Karim Ainouz
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Portuguese (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 98 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-09-12
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Palm Pictures / Umvd
Product features:
- Lifelong friends Deco and Naldinho, who own a small steaming boat in Bahia, meet strip-dancer Karinna. Both men fall for her and their friendship is deeply shattered. DVD Features: , Available Subtitles: English, Spanish , Available Audio Tracks: Portuguese (Dolby Digital 5.1) , Behind-the-scenes featurette , Deleted scenes , Cast rehearsal , U.S. theatrical trailer Format: DVD MOVIE
DVD Reviews of Lower City
DVD Review: Something charming about it despite its shortcomings
Summary: 3 Stars
I have some major misgivings about this (and many other Brazilian) films. Despite that, I genuinely enjoyed this movie. My first misgiving is the setting. I am disappointed by how averse contemporary Brazilian film-makers to focusing on the basics - character development and plot - opting instead for the exotic, usually in the form of films that either are set in exotic locales (usually, but not always, the northeast), or focus on people from "exotic" life paths, or both. It is very easy for the "exotic" to be a shield behind which to hide poor character development or weak plotting - it was a flaw that Emile Zola and his imitators exhibited at their worst moments and has continued in "naturalist"-influenced art ever since. In this case, the Lower City combines both - marginalized young people in "exotic" Bahia (exotic because, despite the fact that there is a real Bahia, in the 21st century, where people of all economic classes, urban and rural, struggle to live lives like anywhere else, there is also a mythical Bahia in the Brazilian national imagination). In this case, I think the exotism of the setting goes a long way towards hiding the mundane simplicity of the plot: friendship of two young men is put in jeopardy and tried by love for the same young woman. Woman comes between them. They both fall in love with her. They fight. In the end, some resolution is achieved (although not clear what).
What keeps this movie alive, besides the exoticism of setting yet another Brazilian movie in the northeast, are the characters. To my surprise, I found them to be quite sincere, authentic and likeable. I know (or rather, knew, since I am an old man now) kids like that. I grew up around kids like that. In their own way, each of the three characters is a variation on a theme: the transition from youth to adulthood, from carefree fun to responsibility, with the added problem that these are people in very precarious material and economic conditions. Each one has his or her own baggage and has to deal with it in his/her own way. The 20 year old prostitute played by Alice Braga gets pregnant. The character played by Wagner Moura, who wants to be able to get ahead economically to be able to offer something more than a "good time" to the woman his in love with turns to robbing pharmacies, only to find himself falling under the control of a local neighborhood kingpin. Lazaro Ramos' character discovers a modest talent for boxing, but discovers that being a boxer doesn't solve his problems at all. Seeing the development of these young people in a tough spot is what gives this movie its charm. Unfortunately, so much of that character struggle is given short attention in this movie at the expense of the rather boring and predictable love-triangle plot.
Description of Lower City
Plot Outline: From the filmmakers who brought you CITY OF GOD and THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES, comes this sexy Brazilian drama chronicling a love triangle between two best friends, Deco and Naldinho (CARANDIRU?s Lázaro Ramos and Wagner Moura), and a sultry, beautiful young girl, Karinna (Alice Braga, CITY OF GOD). Burdened with unbridled passion, the threesome navigates the "lower city" of tropical Salvador Bahia, stumbling through a treacherous landscape of sex and jealousy. Suffocated and unable to go on, the three must accept one another as lovers, adversaries and ultimately friends; learning to overlook the defiance of their actions and joining one another down an unthinkable path. A startlingly intimate debut from director Sérgio Machado, LOWER CITY bursts with a sensuality and energy emanating from the unflinching performances of the vibrant young cast.Editorial Reviews:
Sara Brady, Premiere Two lifelong friends, Deco and Naldinho, fall for the same lady of ill repute (City of God's Alice Braga) when she hitches a ride on their cargo boat in this steamy drama from Sergio Machado (the 2001 doc At the Edge of the Earth).
The Bottom Line: An even sexier take on Y Tu Mama Tambien, this time in Portuguese.
A.O Scott, NY Times . . the woman in question is Karinna, a dancer and prostitute played by Alice Braga (''City of God''), one of the most forthrightly and powerfully sexual screen actresses in the world. Ms. Braga, niece of the Brazilian actress Sonia Braga, brushes aside any hint of glamour and gives a tough, candid performance.
The look of ''Lower City'' is impressively naturalistic. Toca Seabra's cinematography makes the sweat and grit of Salvador almost palpable, and the music, by Carlinhos Brown and Beto Villares, provides a sweet, lusty throb.
DVD Features: ˇ Making of featurette ˇ Deleted scenes ˇ US theatrical trailer ˇ Palm Previews ˇ Weblinks
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