Data
Title: Cidade de Deus
Year: 2002 (Brazil), 2003 (US)
Length: 130 minutes
Directors: Fernando Meirelles & Kátia Lund
Writer: Bráulio Mantovani, based on the novel by Paulo Lins
Starring: Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino
Music: Ed Cortês, Antonio Pinto (and non-original music)
Distinctions: Oscar nominations for Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography and Best Editing (2004); currently #19 on the IMDb's Top 250
My reaction
Synopsis: gang violence escalates in the neighborhood of a kid who wants to be a photographer
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Concept: Indifferent.
Story: Good.
Characters: Indifferent.
Dialog: Indifferent. I have no idea; half of it isn't translated in the subtitles.
Pacing: Good.
Cinematography: Indifferent. It very deliberately is what it is, and has the intended effect, but I don't like it. It's a lot like Slumdog Millionaire, except it's on film, isn't nearly as awful, and isn't ripping off City of God.
Special effects/design: Great.
Acting: Great.
Music: Good.
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay). It's a fairly interesting story, I guess. I never really got behind any of the characters. It seems like they had to make a choice between focusing on an unlikable character (a cold-blooded murderer), or on a relatively boring character (the protagonist/narrator). They went with the unlikable one, which is certainly the better of the two, but they shouldn't have had to make that choice in the first place. I mean, if your protagonist is boring, make a different movie.
Objective Rating: 2.7/4 (Good).
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