|
CITY OF GOD
"Divinity is nowhere in sight in 'City of God,'
a jauntily brutal documentary-style drama by Brazilian TV and commercial
director Fernando Meirelles...'City of God'' moves in where even
cops fear to tread, embracing the mess, misery, and violence with
a matter-of-factness at once riveting and disconcertingly MTV-cool...Undeniably
powerful, the work also comes with its own built-in shield against
feeling any one character's difficulties too deeply, or for too
long." --Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment
Weekly
"'City of God' is undeniably powerful, but also rather numbing...The
distinction between the depiction of violence and its exploitation
is paper-thin. We are made to witness horrific acts of cruelty,
and yet there is something unseemly in the way Meirelles glamorizes
them with fancy effects: split screens, slo-mo, jump cuts. He's
trying to turn us on." --Peter
Rainer, New York
"This gripping story of life, death and drug turf wars in a pulsing
Rio de Janeiro slum moves ahead at a machine-gun clip...The spectacular
visuals at times overwhelm the story, but the young non-pro actors--real-life
gang members with faces straight out of Carnaval--are electric,
and there are scenes of such power that they will haunt you." --Diane
Baroni, Interview
"From beginning to end, 'City of God' doesn't just hold you; it
clutches your lapels with its lurid exuberance. Meirelles made his
name directing Brazilian TV (lots of commercials) and has a hyperkinetic
panache to make Guy Ritchie weep. ...But if 'City of God' whirs
with energy for nearly its full 130-minute running time, it is oddly
lacking in emotional heft for a work that aspires to the epic...
for all its pretense to social significance, 'City of God' is essentially
a tarted-up exploitation picture whose business is to make ghastly
things fun." --John Powers, LA
Weekly
"'City of God' is like a bomb exploding in a fireworks factory:
It's fierce and shocking and dazzling and wonderful...The level
of cruelty is bone-chilling, as seething hatreds fester and trigger-happy
kids kill each other, but the sheer brilliance of Meirelles' filmmaking
is in presenting the ultra-violence in a way that is neither heavy-handed
nor blasE`...that rare film that manages to be seductively entertaining
without ever compromising its authenticity and power." --Megan
Turner, The New York Post
|
