Producer Fernando Meirelles returns to the mean streets of Rio and the shantytown favelas of his Oscar-nominated masterpiece City of God with the coming of age drama City of Men directed by longtime collaborator Paulo Morelli. While this new (far more conventional) slice of Brazilian life does not have the passionate vitality or the nakedly raw bravado of the first film, it is still highly engrossing stuff, the filmmakers infusing it with just enough emotional chutzpah to make this a return trip well worth savoring. 

Darlan Cunha and Douglas Silva in Miramax Films' City of Men

Two young men, Acerola, AKA “Ace” (Douglas Silva), and Laranjinha, AKA “Wallace” (Darlan Cunha), are quickly approaching their eighteenth birthday. Growing up on the gang controlled Dead-End Hill, the former tries to deal with the stark reality of teenage parenthood while latter begins a desperate search for a long-lost convict father he’s never known. When their home explodes into violence, a devastating secret forces these two friends into a confrontation pitting them on opposite sides of a gang war and forcing them to make choices which will shape their and their families’ lives forever.

Both of these young men appeared in City of God (other returning costars include Jonathan Haagensen and Eduardo BR, while veteran Rodrigo Dos Santos is gently moving as Wallace’s estranged father Heraldo) in small roles. This time they are the stars, the two actors literally plucked right out of the very same favelas each of these pictures takes place within.

And they are stunning, both giving their hard-knock characters a potently visceral immediacy that’s immediately intoxicating. While their range is not large, their ability to bring these two figures to life is easily without bounds. I was captivated from the very first moment, watching these boys try to become better men than those who had come before them as absorbing an adventure as any I’ve had this year.

There are some drawbacks this time, unfortunately, not the least of which is that it is virtually impossible not to feel a strong case of déjà vu while sitting in the theater. More, while Meirelles showed a passionately innate ability to turn the city of Rio into a full-fledged character, Morelli doesn’t seem to be able to do the same. Dead-End Hill is just another faceless slum, and while it appears to be (at least on the surface) filled to the brim with disparate and intriguing personalities of all shapes, sizes and temperaments the filmmaker never makes any of them shimmer and shine like I kept hoping they would. 

Still, City of Men is a very good film on multiple levels, not the least of which is that the relationship between Ace and Wallace is continually intriguing, emotional and dynamic. More, the story takes us into a world and into a society that very seldom sees the light of day, Morelli, Meirelles and the rest of their creative team (including returning Oscar-nominated editor Daniel Rezende and composer Antonio Pinto) pulling out all the stops to bring this drama to life.

Film Rating: êêê (out of 4)

Additional Links:

-  City of Men Theatrical Trailer