Cidade Baixa (2005)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Sérgio Machado

Writers:

Karim Ainouz (writer)
Sérgio Machado (writer)

Release Date:

17 November 2005 (Israel)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Love to live. Live to love.

Plot:

Lifelong friends Deco and Naldinho, who own a small steaming boat in Bahia, meet strip-dancer Karinna. Both men fall for her and their friendship is deeply shattered.

Plot Keywords:

Friendship | Boat | Friend | Rain | Bar

Awards:

18 wins & 20 nominations

Cast

Lázaro Ramos	...	Deco
Wagner Moura	...	Naldinho
Alice Braga	...	Karinna
José Dumont	...	Sergipano
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tinho Bahia	...	Lutador de Boxe
Harildo Deda	...	Careca
Fernanda de Freitas	...	Nilma
Luís Olho de Gato	...	Sparing
Andréa Elia	...	D. Lenita
Felipe Ferreira	...	Joilson
Nonato Freire	...	Escrivão
Fernando Fulco	...	Delegado
Carolina Kahro Ribeiro	...	Jamily
Agnaldo Lopes	...	Cliente Karinna 2
Ricardo Luedy	...	Cliente Karinna 1
Olga Machado	...	Médica
Wilson Mello	...	Ferreirinha
Maria Menezes	...	Luzinete
João Miguel	...	Edvan
Dois Mundos	...	Himself
Marcos Pedroso	...	Seu Marquinhos
Adelena Rios	...	Dançarina Strip 1
Leno Sacramento	...	Rufino
Débora Santiago	...	Sirlene
Guiga Scott	...	Locutor Xanadu
Ricardo Spencer	...	Marcelo
Divina Valéria	...	Zilu
Taís Wagner	...	Prostituta 1

Also Known As:

Lower City (International: English title) (UK)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong sexual content, nudity, language, some violence and drug use.

Runtime:

98 min | Brazil:110 min | Argentina:100 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival)

Country:

Brazil

Language:

Portuguese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Brazil:16 (theatrical rating) | Brazil:18 (DVD rating) | USA:R | Singapore:R21 | Netherlands:12 | Malaysia:(Banned) | New Zealand:R18 | South Korea:18 | Australia:MA | UK:18

Filming Locations:

Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

Company:

VideoFilmes

Goofs:

Continuity: In closer shots of Karinna on the stripper pole, we can see that she is wearing panties. In farther-away shots, she appears full-frontally nude, putting said panties on.

Movie Connections:

References The Hot Chick (2002)

Claustrophobic threesome movie has tired plot, inconsistent characters, but high sexual tension

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.