Customer Reviews

Lower City

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The first six plot keywords in IMDB sum up - in an unintentionally humorous way - the essence of 'Lower City':

* Cockfighting
* Nudity
* Blood
* Sex
* Boat
* Prostitute

Yup, that's basically your entire movie right there. It's not the type of film you want to watch while your mother-in-law visits, because it's a real seat squirmer. In fact, another reviewer on these pages made mention of being at "Lower City's" premiere and passed along the observation that there was a lot of seat-squirming in the audience. No doubt.

While I think the film does a fantastic job showing depicting the squalid underbelly of a teeming Bahia, the 'plot' is sort of a loop of those key words - the characters have a boat; they meet a prostitute; they have sex on the boat; they go to a cockfight; they fight there and there's a lot of blood; they go back to the boat; they have sex; there's a fight; they have sex. At the end of the movie, they fight, there's a lot of blood, and the prostitute cleans them up. You get the idea.

I salute Alice Braga for her bravery here in this role. She really leaves nothing to the imagination. And I really liked Wagner Moura ('Naldinho'), who struck me as a Brazilian Mark Ruffalo, both in terms of looks (a striking resemblance) and acting chops. But, there's not much of a plot here. I think 'Lower City' will wear on you pretty quickly.

I didn't know what to expect from the Brazilian film "Lower City." Having no preconceived notions, I was rather intrigued by the synopsis--"a prostitute comes between two lifelong friends." (That probably tells you more about me than I'd like to admit, huh?) Well, who says there isn't truth in advertising? If someone asked me to explain the plot of "Lower City," I'd say it was about a prostitute who comes between two lifelong friends. Perhaps expecting an overheated melodrama, I'd say that the film exceeded my expectations by being very naturalistic in style. The actors are likable and charming, the performances are good--but as a character driven drama, something still misses the mark.

With lurid settings, graphic content, and abundant nudity--"Lower City" attempts to depict a seamier side of life. But strangely, the film is hard to view as the gritty urban tale it might want to be. Instead, I found the film almost sweet. Yes, I said sweet! Lázaro Ramos and Wagner Moura as the two young friends have such a natural chemistry, their relationship captivated me. Moura has a playful charm and Ramos has a quiet intensity, and their interactions are central to any success that "Lower City" may enjoy as a film. It's hard not to reference "Y Tu Mama Tambien"--a film that also depended on the likability of its cast and the ease of their relationships. Like the boys from "Y Tu Mama Tambien," the protagonists of "Lower City" both share and then are divided by a woman. Alice Braga does a wonderful job as the sexy centerpiece of this triangle.

So far, so good. But the thing that keeps "Lower City" from being a very good film are not the characters, but the characterizations. In truth, we know very little about the trio. We end up liking them (despite their sometimes unlawful behavior) without ever really understanding them. The viewer has to do all the work--there are hints given to the character backstories and their present circumstances. But the film never presents us with anything to sink our teeth into. Without this understanding, the dramatic affect of the film is somewhat muted. A prime example is when Braga leaves the guys near the beginning of the film. Her exit is done off screen and so is her return. She just ends up in a scene with the guys with no mention of her ever leaving.

I wanted to love "Lower City." I really did. Unfortunately the script doesn't support the actors. Some great performances, therefore, get lost is a film that is way too vague in its character development. If you like any of the performers, I'd still recommend the film--it just misses the mark on being truly memorable. KGHarris, 11/07.

Sergio Machado's Cidade Baixa (Lower City) is the tale of two lifelong friends Deco (Lazaro Ramos) and Naldinho (Wagner Maura) who allow their friendship to be tested when they both meet and fall in love with a young stripper named Karinna (Alice Braga). As far as plot that's about it. What makes this film worth seeing is the interaction between the characters. Much of this interaction was supervised by the great acting coach Maria Fatima Toledo who coaxed the best performances possible out of her young cast.

The film's title refers to the tropical city of Salvador da Bahia where the film was shot. The location was crucial to the production. The camera work of Toca Seabra brins the city to life. We feel the heat and decay. It becomes so that we almost smell the docks and the streets. Location filming can be a nightmare but in this film the location has the distinction of becoming another character in the film.

Brazilian filmaking is starting to become recognized. While this may not be the best Brazilian film of the last few years it certainly deserves a viewing. It should be noted that the film is fairly graphic and may offend some. In an interview with Machado he states that his film is about life. Here we get a life experience warts and all.

The Palm DVD offers the film in its original Portuguese with subtitles, a making of featurette that contains footage of Fatima Toledo preparing her actors for emotionally challenging performances; some deleted scenes that really do not add a lot to the presentation; and a more detailed feature on the rehearsal process.

This small film is well worth a rental and while not great shows the great strides that have been made in South American film making.

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.

"Lower City" was quite good. As a whole, I enjoyed this film but was far from being blown away. All three of the leads are give an opportunity to make an impression. The script however, leaves a bit to be desired. After watching this yesterday the movies that came to mine was City of God/ Amores Perros/ Y Tu Mama Tambien simply because it was to be expected. It is one of the good films that had recently came out of South America. However, "Lower City" doesn't quite live up to its comparative brothers but does manage to create a feel of its own. I empathized with each of the characters and felt they were played brilliantly by the actors involved. There was a real sense of raw passion with the helplessness of the poverty/ crime lifestyle they find themselves in.

In this film we have two childhood friends, Deco (Lazaro Ramos) and Naldinho (Wagner Moura) whom both meet Karinna (Alice Braga), a stripper looking for a cheap ride to the city of Salvador, in exchange for sexual favours with the boys. Deco first, and Naldinho later, fall in love for Karinna, who likes both of them, forming a triangle of love and jeopardizing the friendship of Deco and Naldinho. "Cidade Baixa" is a real and cruel triangle of love, having the landscape of the red light district in the lower zone of Salvador and the environment of hopeless people that lives in the limit of the marginality of the society, prostituting, robbing, and fighting for surviving. The plot is actually unpredictable, with many possibilities and an open end. But the great surprise is the unknown actress Alice Braga, niece of Sonia Braga, performing a very erotic and searing character and dignifying the name of her aunt.

Even though this is a low budget movie it exhales sexual tension and mild eroticism. The pace of the story does dips in the middle but the end delivers excitement and resolution. If you are a fan of Brazilian movies like myself, this is a must watch since it's casted by two of the new generation of great Brazilian actors.

Though Sonia Braga's niece, Alice Braga generates a lot of heat, "Lower City" as a whole tends to shrink away from her innate sexuality and screen presence.
The story involves two men (Deco and Naldinho) and one woman (Braga as Karinna) all of whom love each other both sexually and platonically: a situation rife with conflict that never really materializes on screen due to director Sergio Machado's droopy, lax handling of this material.
The obvious comparison here would be with "Y tu Mama Tambien" but "Lower City" pales in comparison to "Mama's" knowing, intelligent and sexually-charged mise en scene.
Deco and Naldinho are lifelong friends and their attraction and eventual bedding of Karinna gets in the way of their friendship as neither is mature and sophisticated enough to be able to exist as a threesome though worldly Karinna would have no problem being the jam in this Pb&j sandwich.
On the plus side there is palpable life and energy in the Brazilian locales which are appropriately steamy, wet and decayed: if only you could say that about "Lower City" as a whole.

I was fotunate to see this movie with Ms. Braga and director at the Miami Film Festival last February. Gritty? yes if you grew up in suburban America behind a mall. The real streets of Salvador are alot more dangerous when not being filmed. The sexual tension was maintained to the point of making many in the audience squirm in their seats.
I really loved the story and Braga was outstanding. She recieved a standing ovation at the screening.

Lower City does not pretend to be the Titantic or some nice production staring Sandra Bullock. Lower City is a love story injected with spice and fierce realities of a much different world, than say some small town in Idaho. It is a movie that will - without apology - deliver you to the doorsteps of this Ghetto and masterfully remind you of the power of love - I hope when you watch this movie - you will find your mind at crossroads of right and wrong and even love and lust - if it accomplishes that - then you will get why this movie delivers - it may not deliver in a popular space for many viewers - but it will shine on its own terms. The plot may be predictable, but the world it portrays is a great vicious circle as well. This greatness of the movie is in fact what many are complaining about.

Horrible movie- the characters go through sh** and back and the ending has no comfort. A lot of nudity, sex, and fighting. But not worth watching unless you like this director's type of movie, where the ending makes you use your imagination to find out what happens to the characters.