The Middle of the World

I believe I've said many times before that I have never seen a bad Brazilian movie. I'm not sure if it was luck, a deep pool of talent, or just good selection for the films that leave the country, but I've been impressed by pretty much the entirety of their cinematic output until now. So, I'm not sure if I should be thrilled or disappointed that, for the first time ever, I've seen a Brazilian movie that I can't get behind, one I dare say is even, well, bad. The Middle of the World is a film I knew had to exist, being that no country is perfect, and even the best directors in the world have laid down some true stinkers in their time.

Immediately, however, I'm going to lessen the impact by saying that there are some very good things about this piece. It's beautifully shot, which makes me wonder if Brazil is somehow just really kind to film cameras and it's impossible to shoot a film badly there. The soundtrack is also excellent, and I was tempted to seek out several songs on it for my personal collection. There are good things here in both visuals and audio.

Given that it's a pretty film, it's clear that the problem has to be of a script based nature. The story, of a family bicycling across Brazil so the father of the household - or bikehold? - can find a job suitable for supporting them isn't necessarily bad on paper. In the mix is a bit of light teenage rebellion on the part of Antonio (Ravi Ramos Lacerda), who is discovering girls and that his father (Wagner Moura) is kind of an idiot - more on that later - and that he is finally blossoming into a real man, which is partially told through his ease of smoking cigarettes, which might make anti-tobacco activists rather unhappy. Also in the mix is Rose (Cláudia Abreu), who manages to bicycle, raise five kids and actually be somewhat useful to keeping the family alive in spite of not having a backbone for the majority of the picture.

So, of course, my problem rests on the shoulders of the father, Romao. Wagner Moura is a good actor, he's done a fantastic job in a number of films. Even here he manages to bring sympathetic qualities to a mostly unsympathetic character. Romao is stubborn, stupid, and a bit of an egoist. He searches in vain for a job that pays enough to feed his family, wandering from town to town on a fool's errand, not taking any job he sees as below his station. Until he finds that magical job, who makes the money to keep his family together? Well, not him, it's the rest of the family that works hard and keeps them from going hungry. Plus, when they find chances to make some and settle down, he makes them get on their bikes again, in search of his mythical job. He is essentially biking away from his responsibility, instead of confronting it. He's got pride, but is a coward.

He's also the core of the film, which is unfortunate since with such an unlikable character at the center it becomes difficult to get behind the journey. If the family was forced to move on due to circumstance as opposed to bald faced stupidity, it might have worked, but as is, not so much.

There's also the problem of the story of the kid. Lacerda is not as good an actor as Moura, and his quiet rebellion gets crowded out by Moura's dominating screen presence. He's just not a compelling enough personality to get any of the spotlight. A stronger kid in the same role could have contended a bit better, and had the conflict of personalities mean something. As is, they don't, and it's weakens the film as a whole.

Great sound and image do not a great film make, and while those elements work the film as a whole does not. It's a shame really, since I was hoping that Brazil's winning streak would continue. As it happens, they merely have a batting average much better than most countries, and that can't be discounted.

Lower City

One of the most nauseating trends in modern discourse is the term "bro", as it applies to male friendship. Giving the concept of male friendship it's own special term was completely unnecessary - men have been friends since the beginning of time, why does it need a cutesy term now? - and more importantly, the term used was chosen for pun potential more than anything. If someone says "bromance", they should be drawn and quartered, that's just how it is. Annoyingly, there's a phrase which actually describes the overall message of this movie quite well, but I will not employ it here, as if I did, I'd have to kill myself from the shame.

Lower City is about an attractive young prostitute named Karinna, played by Alice Braga. One day, she needs a ride to a nearby town, so she enlists the services of best friends forever Deco (Lazaro Ramos) and Naldino (Wagner Moura). Being an attractive prostitute, she pays for her ride the only way she knows how, by treating the boys to a lovely evening full of indifferently shot sex scenes. Eventually, this leads to much better shot sex scenes, which are cleverly used to indicate the growing lust between Karinna and the two men. While at the beginning, the friends would be willing to take a knife to the lower abdomen for each other, eventually the lady of easy virtue comes between them.

This is from Brazil, which has become the most reliable movie producing nation in the world. I have no idea how they do it, but I have yet to see a bad movie from the country. This, naturally, is no exception, the exploration of sexual politics is absolutely fantastic, in pretty much the same way that every other Brazilian film I've seen is fantastic. It's beautifully shot, using the camera in unexpectedly clever ways, as already mentioned with the progressively better sex scenes, and also an amazing dance sequence which pretty much sums up the entire film. It captures a place, a time, and the heat of the area.

Two things stand out above all else. One, I love how unpredictable it is. This isn't to say all actions don't flow naturally from others, but it doesn't follow any sort of formula, and it is almost impossible to predict what is going to happen next. Yet, the overall story is subtly foreshadowed throughout. You know essentially what is going to happen, but how it's going to happen is a complete mystery.

Another high point is the acting. Between the three leads, they have managed to tell entire films worth of stories with their eyes, conveying more emotion in one close up than some actors will do in their entire careers. Braga manages to make her character seem ultimately sympathetic in spite of turning two best friends on each other. Moura and Ramos seem to have given their characters lengthy and fully formed internal lives far beyond what any script could convey, just through the strength of their performances. The last scene, which consists almost entirely silent of closeups, is jaw dropping emotion and power.

It's got sex, violence, violent sex and sexy violence, and it all comes together in one of the most complete looks at the tricky politics of a love triangle I have ever seen. It doesn't try to make any of the characters remotely sympathetic - there are a series of dick moves on all sides - but you can understand the actions everyone takes, from the first scene right up until the credits roll.

After a run of movies with questionable approaches to interesting subjects, it's nice to see one where everything is bang on. It's a rare picture that I can't imagine how it could be improved, and as this little project continues into the future, I can honestly say that after this, I hope to see every single person involved in this production somewhere else (though the female lead was in City of God as Anjelica, and the two men both showed up in Carandiru). Everyone here was firing on all cylinders, and as a result it's an absolute winner.