Linha de Passe and The Wire
On Saturday I dropped into the on impulse to watch Walter Salles' latest film and found myself drowning in a sea of Wire fans. I was at the epicentre of The Wire Weekender; that's the whole of season five, watched over two days and sprinkled with stardust in the shape of Q&As with the series' creator David Simon and star Dominic West. As I fought my way down to my screening I was tickled to see Simon holding court, surrounded by fans clutching (no doubt now signed) copies of his book Homicide. I don't know that I would have the stamina for an entire series in two days, but it was delightful to see David Simon chatting away beside the popcorn concession.
As for Linha de Passe, it's the tale of four brothers who live in a poor area of Sao Paolo with their mother, who works as a cleaner, and who is pregnant for a fifth time. The brothers are all pulled in different directions: one is a talented footballer; another is a reformed criminal who has found God; the third is a motorcycle courier drifting into crime while the youngest is obsessed with finding the identity of his father. Well-paced and convincingly acted, the film is enjoyable but unremarkable, and suffers from the stories of the brothers being forced to a simultaneous crescendo in the final scenes. Not bad, but not in the same class as other portraits of modern Brazil like or Bus 174.
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