Sorry, this movie sucks

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Trying way too hard to re-create the splendor of City of God, Lower City falls way too short of being a good piece of Brazilian cinema. With all the good ingredients, violence, steady-cam shots, sexuality, and adult language, one would think that this would be a good rival to City of God. Unfortunately Lower City tries to be too raw for its own good. Filled with over 30 minutes of strictly sex scenes that amount to nothing, this film turns out to be a better idea on paper than on film. Although the film tries to be as realistic as possible, being filmed out on the streets and in old buildings throughout Brasil, it ends up being somewhat atrocious and silly at times. Another film that compares itself to a masterpiece on the DVD sleeve and ends up disappointing, let us hope this will not be a trend.

The words "steamy" and "sultry" are thrown around and placed on the cover of the DVD, but while this movie does have its share of sex scenes, most of them come across as desperate and depressing.It's a sort of underworld these characters inhibit (therefore "Lower City") and when sex isn't dealt with in terms of business, it's motivated by primal lust. But really - after decades of porn taking over the mainstream, are there still filmmakers left who hope to get some mileage out of this? "Y tu mama tambien" worked because the sex was hardly ever just about the act of doing it, but about an innocence lost and about well established rivalries. Here, the drama reaches the complexity of a bar fight.There is actually something of a bar fight that marks the climax of this movie - about 10 minutes in. From here on the momentum is grinding downwards, slowly. The rest of the story consists of one guy looking jealously at the other guy making out with the girl. Reconciliation. Repeat. And some routine CRIME! thrown in to spice up the hot hot hot, um, boredom.

Lower City has several problems, the primary being that the story is a tired retread. We've seen it all before..the financial desperation causing people to do anything to survive, and an old fashioned love triangle. Director Sergio Machado brings nothing fresh to these well-worn story threads. Another complaint is although the film was shot in Salvador Brazil, we barely see any of the CITY in Lower City. Most of the film takes place on a boat or within the interiors of clubs, hotel rooms, and apartments. Another major fault lies in the fact that there is little to like about the three main characters. The men practice misogyny, rob, steal, and enjoy watching a good cock fight in their down time. The woman is a career prostitute. I felt quite detached from these characters rather early in the film. The ending was one that most could clearly see coming up Quinta Avenida (Fifth Avenue).What DID work was the sexual chemistry between the three leads. The love scenes were passionate and convincing. I only wish the rest of the film had the same energy.5/10

Reading the IMDb comments from non-Brazilian reviewers, I get the impression "Cidade Baixa" has been mismarketed internationally -- it's far from the ambition, impact, range or scope of "City of God" or "Central Station". It's rather a modest chamber movie about a love triangle setting apart lifelong friends Deco (the incredibly overrated Lázaro Ramos, here in a one-note-so-minimalist-it's-really-lifeless performance) and Naldinho (intense, charismatic Wagner Moura) over the sexual attention and ultimately the "true" love of stripper Karinna (newcomer Alice Braga, sexy, lovely, inexperienced and unconvincing).Director Sérgio Machado's only previous solo feature effort was "Onde a Terra Acaba", a well-researched documentary on Brazilian legendary filmmaker Mário Peixoto and his single finished film, the 1931 classic "Limite". Like many directors who cross the bridge from documentaries to fiction, Machado here is completely taken over by "the magic of acting". While Machado's undisguised fascination with his three lead stars is overwhelming, the characters in "Cidade Baixa" lack real essence -- the emotional outbursts are there, but the motivations are never clear. The great performance and best designed character comes from veteran José Dumont: he creates a multi-layered, throbbing character in five minutes and has more truth and energy than the three stars combined.The plot is painfully predictable, it has been told before (and better) countless times. The film's ultimate point -- that a threesome is as good an arrangement as any -- is only shyly hinted at, and probably won't come across for many viewers, but the sexual tension is tangible the whole time. The film is professionally accomplished, but I'm not sure the director's choice for claustrophobic settings and overuse of close-up shots is helpful to the story-- indeed it's a shame that we hardly get to see the open spaces and the entrancing population of Cidade Baixa (the lower part of the city of Salvador, capital of Bahia), which, after all, is the title of the movie! If you blink, you'll miss the falling-to-pieces but still impressive colonial architecture, and you may not see the low-life poverty and fight-for-life vibrancy typical of that neighborhood, because the camera only has eyes for the three stars. Even the Lacerda elevator (the architectural landmark that divides the Lower from Upper City) is seen but for a few seconds. And, for those of us who know and love Salvador for its magical spiritual and carnal energy, the life-affirming music, the irrepressible live-and-let-live savoir-vivre, it's really hard to believe how grim, bleak and sullen all these characters are.Anyway, the film is never boring, has some good scenes and it's thankfully unpretentious, but the loose ending can be a letdown for many viewers. Maybe next time the talented but still unimposing Sérgio Machado will find a finer balance to his elements, adding a thicker, less tired plot and widening his framings to fully explore his locations, all of which deserves his attention as much as his cast.