Bit of a nostalgia trip here, this was the first film I ever watched in an academic context, when I was 16. It's been five years.
Bloody hell.
But I have always loved it since then, so I figured it should be added to the record I've been building on here someday...and that day is today. Because of reasons. Reasons including the fact that, while it certainly isn't the film I'd give the most credit to for my love of film today, I think it must be up there. Because if nothing else, it was the first film I was ever forced to watch with a critical eye, and I guess it must have been somewhat responsible for me realising that I liked doing that.
It was also one of the first films that I ever really had to think about the editing in, and I remember coming to the conclusion back then that the common phrase about the best editing being invisible isn't true. The best editing is completely visible and mooning you, but also making you love it. And surprisingly, I think 16 year old me kind of knew what he was talking about, because watching this again, I was immediately smacked in the face with how perfectly this is edited.
It's often frantic, can be cutting more than once per second in the most intense scenes, but also has such memorable edits that aren't like that, like the apartment scene, the disco, and to such an extent that I think this might just be one of the best edited films I've ever seen.
It's directed and shot amazingly too, everything in this looks so gross and in a state of disrepair, there's so many memorable looking moments, and it being filmed on 16mm film to make it look like crap actually helps with this feeling massively.
It helps because it makes it feel authentic, which is the key word here: everything about this feels so real. It was shot in an actual favela, it's somewhat based on a true story, the dialogue strikes me as incredibly realistic too, nearly all of the actors were actual residents of the City of God, and so on. And you'd never know that almost none of them were professional actors, every one of them is just that damn good.
But as for issues...unfortunately it comes down to the story. I don't think it's bad, it's just a little...been done before. I can't say I was ever particularly surprised by anything that happened, even if the characters do make it stand out a little more than it otherwise would...well, except for a few.
One of the Tender Trio in the beginning has a resolution so out of nowhere it's laughable, a certain young character has a twist towards the end that was also out of left field, but unfortunately I think the worst offender is Rocket, the main character.
He can disappear from the film for so long at a time that you start to forget he even is the main character, and he's frankly just boring. He barely does anything other than narrate, talk about how much he wants to be a photographer, and be horny, and on that note, his sort of relationship with Angelica never goes anywhere. You'd think the fact that she ends up getting together with another major character might lead to some tension between the three of them, but nope, he just has to stay exactly the same for the whole runtime.
So while that's unfortunate, I still have to admire a lot about this film, and you certainly could have chosen a much, much worse first film for me to look at critically, so thanks Mr. Lower. Hope you're still doing okay if you're reading this.
Bloody hell.
But I have always loved it since then, so I figured it should be added to the record I've been building on here someday...and that day is today. Because of reasons. Reasons including the fact that, while it certainly isn't the film I'd give the most credit to for my love of film today, I think it must be up there. Because if nothing else, it was the first film I was ever forced to watch with a critical eye, and I guess it must have been somewhat responsible for me realising that I liked doing that.
It was also one of the first films that I ever really had to think about the editing in, and I remember coming to the conclusion back then that the common phrase about the best editing being invisible isn't true. The best editing is completely visible and mooning you, but also making you love it. And surprisingly, I think 16 year old me kind of knew what he was talking about, because watching this again, I was immediately smacked in the face with how perfectly this is edited.
It's often frantic, can be cutting more than once per second in the most intense scenes, but also has such memorable edits that aren't like that, like the apartment scene, the disco, and to such an extent that I think this might just be one of the best edited films I've ever seen.
It's directed and shot amazingly too, everything in this looks so gross and in a state of disrepair, there's so many memorable looking moments, and it being filmed on 16mm film to make it look like crap actually helps with this feeling massively.
It helps because it makes it feel authentic, which is the key word here: everything about this feels so real. It was shot in an actual favela, it's somewhat based on a true story, the dialogue strikes me as incredibly realistic too, nearly all of the actors were actual residents of the City of God, and so on. And you'd never know that almost none of them were professional actors, every one of them is just that damn good.
But as for issues...unfortunately it comes down to the story. I don't think it's bad, it's just a little...been done before. I can't say I was ever particularly surprised by anything that happened, even if the characters do make it stand out a little more than it otherwise would...well, except for a few.
One of the Tender Trio in the beginning has a resolution so out of nowhere it's laughable, a certain young character has a twist towards the end that was also out of left field, but unfortunately I think the worst offender is Rocket, the main character.
He can disappear from the film for so long at a time that you start to forget he even is the main character, and he's frankly just boring. He barely does anything other than narrate, talk about how much he wants to be a photographer, and be horny, and on that note, his sort of relationship with Angelica never goes anywhere. You'd think the fact that she ends up getting together with another major character might lead to some tension between the three of them, but nope, he just has to stay exactly the same for the whole runtime.
So while that's unfortunate, I still have to admire a lot about this film, and you certainly could have chosen a much, much worse first film for me to look at critically, so thanks Mr. Lower. Hope you're still doing okay if you're reading this.