Cidade Baixa

This is a gutsy and challenging film in the vein of City of God. It has a similar energy with frenetic camera work and it's depiction of people at the lower end of the food chain. It is set on location in various seaside cities and towns in the northeast of Brazil, showcasing beautiful vistas (though rarely in postcard fashion) and urban decay that I found very photogenic. It wasn't as dark or frenzied as City of God.

Producer Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries, Central Station), director Sérgio Machado and writer Karim Ainouz are regular collaborators. Machado wrote for Ainouz's Madame Sata (2002), which had a limited release in Australia last year and both Machado and Ainouz wrote for Salles' Behind The Sun (1998). The style and subject of Lower City had much in common with Madame Sata, though the latter was based on a true character (a bandit-turned-transvestite performer) earlier last century.

Right from the start, sex is a confronting element of the film, as we follow the exploits of a young woman, Karinna (Alice Braga) who is readily prepared to sell herself in order to hitch a ride with a pair of men, Deco (Lázaro Ramos) and Naldinho (Wagner Moura) on their boat to Salvador.

We get glimpses into the shady past of the men. One is attempting to reform while the other appears to be sinking into bad habits. This is not their only conflict. While they profess their brotherly love for each other, jealously grows over each man's sexual interest in Karinna.

Deco and Naldinho are of different races. An early scene of a cock fight between a black and a white bird seems prophetic. The deterioration of brotherly love was a major focus of the story, and it was well detailed with subtlety – much of it by glaring looks rather than the spoken word. The actors' performances were all passionate, credible and their characters well-developed and interesting. The film's depiction of the darker side of a society was a fresh change to the homogenous, polished middle-class of Hollywood.

The film seemed to struggle slightly at times with continuity but remained emotionally gripping throughout. The exotic music – both traditional and contemporary – was used to good effect and greatly enhanced the cinematic experience. There was a satisfying level of ambiguity in the film, both in motives and the finale. We are not handed everything on a plate for immediate consumption, so we can come out of the cinema ruminating about the experience.

Eroticism is a significant but incidental element in the film, used as a vehicle for revealing aspects of the characters, and how destructive it can be to a relationship. While love triangles are not a new subject, its depiction in Lower City was achieved with depth, originality, gritty realism and emotional honesty. This aspect was a little reminiscent of the scenario in Y Tu Mama Tambien, but in a much seedier way.

Lower City, despite its depictions of sex and violence, is at heart both gentle and non-judgmental. For me, it didn't reach the greatness of City of God (to which it is being compared), though it really is a very different film. Serious film-goers will appreciate it for its sensual and raw eroticism, ambiguity, grittiness and emotional depth. It is well worth seeing.

The "tart-with-a-heart" theme is slightly overdone in this otherwise touching film about a love triangle, but 'Lower City' is saved by some fine camera work and the sheer chemistry manifest between its participants; you can really believe in the camaraderie, lusts and jealousies of its characters. Stealing the show is Alice Braga, who doesn't even have an exceptionally pretty face, but whose body oozes sexuality in every scene. Add in skilfully chosen music, and perceptive insights into the nature of life in the Brazilian underclass and the dangers of a culture based on machismo, and the result is short, sweet, and unexpectedly strong. It's hard to imagine a version set in England - but the film exploits the Brazilian self-image perfectly, keeping one step ahead of cliché throughout.

Reading the IMDb comments from non-Brazilian reviewers, I get the impression "Cidade Baixa" has been mismarketed internationally -- it's far from the ambition, impact, range or scope of "City of God" or "Central Station". It's rather a modest chamber movie about a love triangle setting apart lifelong friends Deco (the incredibly overrated Lázaro Ramos, here in a one-note-so-minimalist-it's-really-lifeless performance) and Naldinho (intense, charismatic Wagner Moura) over the sexual attention and ultimately the "true" love of stripper Karinna (newcomer Alice Braga, sexy, lovely, inexperienced and unconvincing).

Director Sérgio Machado's only previous solo feature effort was "Onde a Terra Acaba", a well-researched documentary on Brazilian legendary filmmaker Mário Peixoto and his single finished film, the 1931 classic "Limite". Like many directors who cross the bridge from documentaries to fiction, Machado here is completely taken over by "the magic of acting". While Machado's undisguised fascination with his three lead stars is overwhelming, the characters in "Cidade Baixa" lack real essence -- the emotional outbursts are there, but the motivations are never clear. The great performance and best designed character comes from veteran José Dumont: he creates a multi-layered, throbbing character in five minutes and has more truth and energy than the three stars combined.

The plot is painfully predictable, it has been told before (and better) countless times. The film's ultimate point -- that a threesome is as good an arrangement as any -- is only shyly hinted at, and probably won't come across for many viewers, but the sexual tension is tangible the whole time. The film is professionally accomplished, but I'm not sure the director's choice for claustrophobic settings and overuse of close-up shots is helpful to the story-- indeed it's a shame that we hardly get to see the open spaces and the entrancing population of Cidade Baixa (the lower part of the city of Salvador, capital of Bahia), which, after all, is the title of the movie! If you blink, you'll miss the falling-to-pieces but still impressive colonial architecture, and you may not see the low-life poverty and fight-for-life vibrancy typical of that neighborhood, because the camera only has eyes for the three stars. Even the Lacerda elevator (the architectural landmark that divides the Lower from Upper City) is seen but for a few seconds. And, for those of us who know and love Salvador for its magical spiritual and carnal energy, the life-affirming music, the irrepressible live-and-let-live savoir-vivre, it's really hard to believe how grim, bleak and sullen all these characters are.

Anyway, the film is never boring, has some good scenes and it's thankfully unpretentious, but the loose ending can be a letdown for many viewers. Maybe next time the talented but still unimposing Sérgio Machado will find a finer balance to his elements, adding a thicker, less tired plot and widening his framings to fully explore his locations, all of which deserves his attention as much as his cast.

Penned as the next City of God/ Amores Perros/ Y Tu Mama Tambien simply because it is the next good film to come out of South America, is to be expected. However, Lower City doesn't quite live up to its comparative brothers but does manage to create a feel of its own. I empathised with each of the characters and felt they were played brilliantly by the actors involved. There was a real sense of passion with the helplessness of the poverty/ crime lifestyle they find themselves in.

One problem with the narrative that I felt was the rather instant impact the female love interest has on this supposed solid friendship. The film doesn't really know what it wants to express: is it an incite into the underbelly of south American society or an erotic platform for the characters and their drama. The pace dips in the middle but the end delivers excitement and resolution.

As a whole, I enjoyed this film but was far from blown away

The performances in the Lower City were quite good. All three of the leads are given an opportunity to make an impression. The script however, leaves a bit to be desired. The motives and motivations seem about as clear as mud. Why does this triangle exist? What does she see in each of the men that makes them indispensable to her? When one walks away, why does she pursue him to keep him in the fold and in the game? And finally, and most importantly, why .do men that seem to have no problem with her plying her trade of prostitution with other men, suddenly want to beat hell out of each other when one or the other of them sleeps with her? "Because the script says so" is the only answer I can come up with. That is the weakness of this film. If these questions had been answered we would have had better film and I would have been able to rate it higher. Even some hinted at answers would have been appreciated. Maybe next time....