Motorcycle Diaries director Walter Salles Jr. helms this story of a band of brothers intent on getting out of the Brazilian ghetto in a Media Rights Capital production. Co-directing is Daniela Thomas, from a script she wrote with George Moura (Moro No Brasil) and Salles. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi
This story of four brothers in São Paulo has a lively neorealist vibe that's utterly involving. And the characters are so vividly drawn by the filmmakers and cast that their mixture of hope and hopelessness really gets under our skin.
It is as authentic as Salles and Thomas can make it even if it sometimes seems that, apart from the football angle, we have seen it all before. But if you haven't, then it's a real eye-opener.
When a film strives this hard to be non-controversial and fashionably non-judgmental, it takes a lot of the sting out of its social comment. It just ends up as defeatist, liberal hand-wringing.
Where most pictures about families end with huggy closure, this one ends in splinters, in pain, and with five different kinds of sudden, desperate hope.
Heartfelt, well acted and confidently shot. But it is frustrating, because of a creeping reliance on favela-drama mannerisms and a culpable failure to think up an ending.
Salles and Thomas tritely conflate evangelism, soccer and crime as hollow alternatives for the characters, who end up reduced to static sacrificial lambs just so the filmmakers can state, restate and underline their suffering-poor points.
Sem qualquer indício de pieguice ou maniqueísmo, não apenas comove profundamente como ainda nos leva a torcer desesperadamente por um final feliz para os complexos indivíduos aos quais nos apresenta.
Linha de Passe is a noble effort, sure to find favor with audiences predisposed to its message, but unenlightening for those who have seen such material handled with more skill.
Engaging tale of 4 brothers' struggles to find themselves in the unforgiving maelstrom of Sao Paulo. The action sequences (especially the football) are shot with real dynamism and the ending is left bravely open but the themes are well worn.
March 4, 2009
Gordon A
Super Reviewer
My building was one of the sets... a typical middle class building in SP. The director is the great Walter Salles (with Daniela Thomas). The first movie (for me) with 5 protagonists. Worth watching if you appreciate Brazilian movie... or if you wanna know about Brazil.
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