Review of Linha de Passe (2008) by William J — 25 Sep 2008
This will appeal to fans of The Motorcycle Diaries, one of Walter Salles' previous works. Like that film, Linha de Passe is very poetic in a visual sense. Salles frequently creates scenes, images and situations that demand to be...just...observed. And he does it very well indeed. This is especially impressive when you consider that virtually all of the performances come from non-professional actors.
The film deals with the lives of four brothers struggling to live in the slums of Sao Paulo, each going in a different direction in an attempt to find their place in the world. When they all come together, it's to play keep-ups with a football, a game that requires all participants to show off their own skills whilst stepping in to help others when they're struggling. It's a nice analogy of their lives in general.
Comparisons with City of God are inevitable, which is a shame really because the two films do quite different things in quite different ways...so I won't dwell on this any further.
I very much enjoyed the film, and found it quite powerful at times. But more than anything, I loved the cinematic, poetic nature of it, and felt that it was a wonderful complement to The Motorcycle Diaries.
This review of Linha de Passe (2008) was written by William J on 25 Sep 2008.
Linha de Passe has generally received positive reviews.
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