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08/05/06
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Lower City (2006)
60
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Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:53
Fresh:32
Rotten:21
Average Rating:6.2/10
Consensus: This familiar story of a tension-fraught love triangle wavers between brutality and steamy sex.
Theatrical Release:Jun 16, 2006 Limited
Synopsis: Steamy sex, glistening sweat, dark photography, grungy ghetto colors, and sudden violence pervade this Brazilian feature from director Sergio Machado. Alice Braga (CITY OF GOD) stars as Karinna, a... [More]
Starring: Alice Braga, José Dumont, Wagner Moura, Lazaro Ramos
Director: Sérgio Machado
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Reviews for Lower City
Any social comments the film might contain fall by the wayside in your brain, pushed aside by the bullet: 'Karinna's topless again!' That's life in Lower City.
08/04/06
Strong performances by the three leads ... help to make up for the story's sliver of a plot.
08/04/06
Tells a familiar story with an emotional intensity and a high eroticism that makes a lacerating impact.
07/28/06
Top CriticBrazilian filmmaker Sergio Machado scores a strong debut with this look at young hustlers in a lovers' triangle.
07/28/06
Machado ... saturates his directorial debut with rich, golden color, defining it with close, handheld shots that accentuate the feeling of skin on skin.
07/27/06
Machado, a former assistant to Central Station filmmaker Walter Salles, doesn't seem to have a particular cinematic destination in mind for these characters, and the rather abrupt ending doesn't work.
07/21/06
The result is something you've seen many times but never quite like this.
07/06/06
Top CriticMachado allowed his actors plenty of space to internalize and create their moments, which consist of rage hidden behind subtleties, libidinous pressure at the edge of containment.
07/06/06
As universal as the plot may be, it must be said that Karinna, Deco and Naldinho's longings, resentments, economic desperation and confusions are unnervingly palpable throughout.
06/30/06
The themes are all familiar and the plot unfolds slowly and in predictable ways, but there's plenty of heat generated by the three leads.
06/29/06
This frenetic potboiler about a love triangle on the Salvador waterfront smacks of liberal slumming and bristles with faux authenticity.
06/29/06
Brazilian actress Alice Braga (niece of legendary Sonia Braga) is something special: beautiful and innocent without make-up, seasoned and hard in a pair of short shorts and a gold push-up bra.
06/23/06
This is nothing really special, but it gets the job done.
06/17/06
The story wears thin long before it's over, but Machado draws strong performances from his leads and makes excellent use of its rundown locations.
06/16/06
The film is gritty and graphic, with 'artsy' takes where the camera holds on a motionless actor. But art it isn't.
06/16/06
Machado remains nonjudgmental while getting convincing performances from Braga and, as the young men, Lazaro Ramos and Wagner Moura.
06/16/06
There's also something patronizing about the zeal with which Machado wallows in the muck, especially since his characters' lives revolve entirely around sex.
06/16/06
Another fine example of Brazilian cinema at its best.
06/15/06
The movie turns out to be a predictable and somewhat sentimental lower-depths love triangle, but Ms. Braga almost makes it work.
06/15/06
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