Lower City	Image courtesy of Palm Pictures
After tackling the making of the classic Brazilian film Limite by Mario Peixoto in the documentary, At the Edge of the Earth, director Sérgio Machado is now switching gears and trying his hand at fiction. Produced by Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries), Machado’s latest film, Lower City, Machado delves into an unlikely love triangle set against the harsh reality of Brazil’s waterfront underbelly of Brazil’s waterfront nightlife. Deco (Lázaro Ramos) and Naldinho (Wagner Moura) are childhood friends who make a living hustling and delivering cargo to various ports along the coast of Brazil. At one of their stops, they meet a prostitute, Karinna (Alice Braga), who barters her way to Salvador via her profession. Before too long, Naldinho's male ego kicks in when he loses all of their money betting on a cock fight, somehow gets into his own fight, and winds up stabbed. Naturally, Deco comes to his defense; but, when he fatally wounds Naldinho’s attacker, the three are forced to flee the city. Now living as a trio, Karinna starts stripping and Deco throws boxing matches in order to make ends meet while Naldinho is healing. That’s when the soap opera element of the story takes over. The three are slowly sucked into the emotional whirlwinds of jealousy and rage as they transform from acquaintances into friends and eventually lovers. Predictably, the men who swore that no woman would ever come between them start asking Karinna to choose between Deco and Naldinho.
Image courtesy of Palm Pictures			What stands out most about the film is its cinematography. Lower City mirrors the visual theme of The Motorcycle Diaries through Machado's masterful utilization of splashing vibrant colors the dark shadows of Brazil's underbelly to show the beauty of this otherwise ugly, criminal world.
However, all of the aesthetic beauty of the film can’t hide its weaknesses. Obviously, Machado intends for Lower City to be a character study, but it’s hard to see where he’s trying to go with all of these raging emotions. Part of that could be due to the translation factor with the film being in Portuguese with English subtitles. At times, it seems as if you aren’t getting the entire translation which makes you feel like you’re missing the emotional connotations. Another other major problem with Lower City lies in its fragmented narrative structure. The story consists of chain of events with very little transitions to help connect them into something tangible. One minute you’re in the middle of Deco’s emotional ploy to win Karinna. The next minute you’re blankly staring at Naldinho rob a drugstore, wondering how in the hell you got there. Overall, the film is aesthetically pleasing to the senses with its rich cinematography and haunting score. Unfortunately, neither are ever really able to connect the story with the emotional plight of these characters and turn it into what it could have been: a raw, heart-wrenching tale of love, jealousy, and betrayal in the last place you would expect to find it.
Sometimes I wonder if removing all of the dialogue and leaving the visceral qualities would have given the film the extra punch it needed to be effectual? On the other hand, I could just learn how to speak Portuguese. Nah…I’m too lazy. © Kelly Bartley 2006		Image courtesy of Palm Pictures