dannyjapan

This film is a little bit of a letdown. Dame Judy Dench is a cut above the rest as always and Bob Hoskins puts in a good performance, whereas it is the story that lets things down. The mixture of realism and fantasy doesn't really work and Mr Van wot-sit (Hoskins' character) has a wife in a bit-part and she is not convincing as being his partner in the first place. There are moments of joy and good humour along with tragedy and brief titillation. This is more of a family movie than anything and in this it succeeds. Although I wouldn't have thought you needed to be 15 years old to see what nature gave us. Ther film is very British and nostalgic so it will go down well on that front. However the ending is an anti-climax and does not do justice to the narrative.

Cidade Baixa is more of an accomplished film than you might think. The locations and the camera-work are well presented, The acting is very realistic and the main actress is beautiful as well as talented. It may not be City of God or even Central Station but this film is well paced and full of energy. The Cane and Abel style relationship between the two male leads becomes integral to the film's message: should you let a woman get in the way of a friendship. Well quite frankly you shouldn't as love and lust can be destructive as well as invigorating - how this manifests itself in the film is something I won't go into so as not to spoil it for you. Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the film and I would recommend anybody to watch it.