BACK in 2004, City of God, Fernando Meirelles's visually astonishing film about life and death in Rio de Janeiro's shantytowns, became a hit TV series called City of Men featuring two of the film's youngest stars, Douglas Silva and Darlan Cunha. Now
comes the big screen spin-off of that show, once again featuring Silva and Cunha, who reprise their roles as Ace (Silva) and Wallace (Cunha), now young men grappling with issues of fatherhood amid the poverty and violence of the favelas.
For Ace this means dealing with being the reluctant father of a toddler, for Wallace, it's trying to forge a relationship with his own father, an ex-con newly released from prison. When a turf war breaks out between the rival Pool Hall Hill and Dead End Hill gangs, family connections dictate that these best friends inevitably find themselves on opposite sides. But though both are smart enough to realise they're the other's best chance of escape from this life, matters are complicated by a dark secret held by Wallace's father. Director Paulo Morelli deploys a similarly visceral shooting style to City of God and, while some of the thrill has gone, he works hard to draw out the humanity of his protagonists.
• Selected release: Eden Court, Inverness only
The full article contains 232 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
