User reviews

The film City of Men is a fantastic Brazilian film. It's directed by the same creator of City of God and the City of Men TV series. Now, personally, I recommend you watch the TV series before watching the movie due to many flashbacks throughout the film. The TV series also adds more depth to the characters that add to the overall enjoyment of the film. The film is still set in the favelas in Rio, but instead of focusing on the gangs as in City of God, it focuses on two 18 year old boys. The film is similar to City of God, but with a more light-hearted feel to it. The film also has similar cinematography. Overall, I prefer City of God to this film, but it is a worthy follow up to a fantastic film. 9 stars out of 10 in relation to City of God, but as a film in general, compared to the majority of films created this would deserve 10 stars.

I just saw it and despite of the rough theme is a sensitive and emotive movie, very different from City of God. City of God was frenetic, full of effects, City of Men is more traditional and the narrative is more conventional. The traffic and the violence is in the background, the theme here is the paternity. Acting is first class, music is melodious and integrate to the scenes, photograph is similar to City of God. Above the summary: Laranjinha and Acerola are preparing themselves to adult life! At the age of 18, each boy has his own problems: Child, women, family, job, forgotten wishes and dreams are some of this adventure's spices, which, to add another pinch of thrill, tells about a war on the hill that will expel the young adults from their community. Will be definite all those changes?

It has been estimated that 19 percent of the population of Rio de Janeiro live in favelas, shanties crowded onto hillsides not far from luxurious apartments and world famous beach resorts. Notorious breeding grounds for poverty, drug addiction, and gang warfare, the favelas with their picturesque street names such as Dead End Hill, have been the subject of critically acclaimed films such as Hector Babenco's Pixote and Fernando Meirelles' City of God. Based on a long running television series that ran on Brazilian TV Globo for four years and was watched by 35 million viewers, Paolo Morelli's City of Men is a follow-up to the more flashy Meirelles film. While it lacks the earlier work's kinetic energy, it is more emotionally satisfying and has characters that we care about.

The film focuses on two friends, both turning 18 and without fathers. The two boys, Acerola and Laranjinha, (given Americanized names Ace and Wallace in the subtitles) have unresolved father issues. Wallace is trying to locate the father he never knew and Ace wants to find out how and why his father was killed. Actors Douglas Silva and Darlan Cunha both appeared in the TV series and footage from the TV series is used for flashbacks in the film, shown in a faded color palette. Both are natural actors who do a remarkable job. Ace, though only 18, lives with his wife Cris (Camilla Monteiro) in one of the shanties and is the father of a young boy named Clayton (Vinicius Oliveira). Ace is immature enough to leave Clayton alone on the beach in an early sequence but must grow up quickly and assume complete responsibility for Clayton's care when Cris takes a job in Sao Paolo.

Shot by cinematographer Adriano Goldman who provides sweeping panoramas of the hills, mountains, and beaches, the film begins on the top of Dead End Hill on a day so brutally hot I could feel the sweat gathering on my forehead. Gang members with handguns and automatic weapons led by Midnight (Jonathan Haagensen) decide to head down to the ocean, establishing a perimeter of guards who tell the cops that they are on route. The emotional center of the film is the relationship between Wallace and his newly discovered father Heraldo played with strength and dignity by Rodrigo Dos Santos. Heraldo is out on parole after having served fifteen years of a twenty year sentence for robbery and murder. The circumstances of the murder that he committed becomes a central issue in the relationship between Ace and Wallace and secrets about both of their fathers' pasts threaten their friendship and lead to their involvement on different sides of a new eruption of gang violence.

Somewhat melodramatic but never manipulative or false, City of Men transcends the familiar format of hand-held camera hyperactivity and gangster clichés to become a tender and deeply affecting story about abandoned children and how the cycle is repeated from one generation to the next. While the film explodes into warfare between rival gangs led by Midnight and Fasto (Eduardo BR), it is devoid of typical heavily stylized and frenetic violence. Ace and Wallace are characters we get to know and identify with. We want them to defy the odds and survive until adulthood though the tragic history of life in the Rio slums is never far from our mind.

Along with City of God and Elite Squad, this film hooked me into Brazilian cinema. So real and gritty. Fantastic story telling. Very credible acting. Not to be missed.

This is the follow-up to one of my favourite films, City of God (2002). It continues the theme of life in the poorer parts of Rio and takes a closer look at how things are today. I really enjoyed it, although it doesn't have the depth of 'City of God', I still found the simple storytelling quite refreshing. I had better warn those scared of subtitles that it is in Portuguese with the dreaded words at the bottom of the screen. Here's a brief summary before I give you my thoughts.

Two friends, Acerola and Laranjinha are turning eighteen. Acerola is already married and has a son, Clayton. Laranjinha is less than content because he doesn't know who his father is. They both live on 'Dead End Hill', an area that is run by a gang lead by a character known as Midnight. Whilst talking about their plight one day a plan is hatched to discover just who Laranjinha's father is. They ask around and eventually get a lead, but I think it would be giving too much away if I told you any more about this. Meanwhile, one of Midnight's lieutenants defects to another gang and they decide they want to move into 'Dead End Hill'. Who will survive? Will Laranjinha find his father? As you can probably guess, I'm not going to tell you here of the Spoiler Police will be finding my corpse in the quarry.

Beautifully shot, I love the grainy look and feel to this film. It's almost like it was filmed on a home movie camera in places, but it still has a professional feel to it. Although it's quite hard to judge a performance in a foreign language, I must give praise to the young leads; Douglas Silva as Acerola and Darlan Cunha as Laranjinha. I thought they were both excellent.

This film will always be compared to 'City of God', but it doesn't have the epic scope of that film. Instead it is more compact and because of that it's much easier to identify with the characters. There are little flashbacks to when the boys were younger that is a neat way of bringing the audience closer to the story. Over all, it's a nice simple drama that has some really nice touches. I know it's not had a great deal of exposure, but it's certainly one I can recommend, particularly if you enjoyed 'City of God'. You can probably tell I really enjoyed this one.

My Score: 8.6/10.

IMDb Score: 7.2/10 (based on 6,016 votes at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 76/100 (based on 79 reviews counted at the time of going to press).