Une famille brésilienne

Absolutely outstanding film. A slice of sometimes gritty, sometimes funny, sometimes boring life in Sao Paolo seen through a lens. Much as I enjoyed City of God and other similar 'favela' style films, having been to Brazil I do get the impression that they sensationalise a certain lifestyle that just doesn't apply to your average city-dwelling Brazilian. Which is partly why I loved Linha de Passe - there was no gun-toting gangsters, just a single parent family struggling with the day to day Sao Paolo life. And lots of football. The main characters were magnificent - all of the sons and the mother were just so incredibly believable that you feel that they can't possibly be actors. The cinematography was beautiful - the football scenes didn't feel clichéd and the urban environments were used to stunning effect.

Linha de Passe isn't something you're going to enjoy if you need a film with a parcel-wrapped storyline dressed up with a pretty ribbon on top. It just offers you an often moving glimpse of what feels like very real life in one of the most populous cities on earth.

This movie is a striking portrait of Brazilian lower class which focuses on a poor family's story. Avoiding an agitative langue, it presents sanctuaries and small gates of hope of poor people like religion or football.

This is a sorrowfull lesson for those who are only aware of funny dancers in Rio festivals and of famous football teams in Brazil.

Absolutely should be seen, especially by the ones loving "Mondays in the Sun" by Aronoa, "City of God" by Meirelles or "Amores Perros" by Inàrritu.

Linha de Passe (2008) tells the story of 5 characters whose lives connect naturally, because they are a family. Cleuza is pregnant and is a single mother of four sons: Dênis, Dario, Dinho and Reginaldo. Their stories are very interesting, well thought out and relate in a great way. Besides, it has a smart writing, an escalation in the narrative... Through this 5 stories, George Moura and Daniela Thomas explore many important social issues in Brazil, such as poverty, unemployment and inequality in an entertaining way. The realism in the screenplay and in other aspects I'm gonna mention, add to this movie a strong documentary appeal. The lines are fantastic.

What reinforces realism the most is the set, with many real locations, the costume design, make up and the acting. It's not by chance that Sandra Corveloni (Cleuza) won the Cannes Film Festival (2008) Best Actress prize. She is brilliant in Linha de Passe, with a very believable acting and an amazing chemistry with the boys, as if she was really their mother.

João Baldasserini is very charismatic as Dênis; Vinícius de Oliveira owns every Dario scene, he is very natural; Geraldo Rodrigues nailed in portraying somebody who passes through a roller coaster of feelings, like Dinho does and Kaique Jesus Santos stealed the attention with his sarcasm and irony as Reginaldo. One of the best child actings I've ever seen.

In addition to all of this there are the perfectly simple and beautiful Gustavo Santaolalla scores; Mauro Pinheiro Jr. Clever cinematography, that utilizes the city light and Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas sensitive shots.

Everything named contributed to a very worth watching drama that, unfortunately, still represents a lot Brazil.

I haven't many comments to add, but something I really noticed in this good movie is that Walter Salles got a lot of inspiration, specially camera takes and editing, by Alejandro G. Iñarritu, not to mention the instrumental background music. The tone of Salles movies remains focused in the hope and good heart of the poorest despite deep unfairness of Brazillian society. Unfortunately, we do not watch good actor Vinicius Oliveira acting more often. The "moto boys" were admirably portrayed as well as the church followers. By the way, Corinthians, the football team supported by The Mother indeed went to 2nd. division in real life, as she worried at the beginning of the movie.

Walter Salles and his longtime partner Daniela Thomas come at their best with 'Linha de Passe'. After shooting Dark Water (which I haven't seen but only heard bad things about it) and the predictable Motorcycle Diaries, Salles focused on his best ability: showing the real Brazil to the world and - even more important - to Brazilians themselves. The acting is so accurate that sometimes the movie looks like a documentary about people who strive to have a decent life despite living in a poor suburb in São Paulo. Not only Sandra Corleoni - who won the Palme d'Or - is brilliant, but nearly everyone, even the characters who are not so much in evidence. I would say that this the movie captures the contradictions of the urban Brazil in such a profound way that it leaves you with little else to talk about the subject. Although each character kind of represents a particular stereotype of Brazilian people, there's so much subtlety in each of them (because of the screenplay and the acting) that the plot sounds completely natural, which doesn't happen with 'Crash', the awarded American movie that 'Linha de Passe' reminds me of. In my opinion, Salles' masterpiece is still 'Behind the Sun' (Abril Despedaçado), but if a foreigner asked me to explain what's to be Brazilian, i would suggest him to watch this movie.