Linha de Passe reviews
Review by on 26 Sep 2008
Great character study of the family trying fo find a way out of squalid conditions against the backdrop of an enormous ramshackle city.
Great character study of the family trying fo find a way out of squalid conditions against the backdrop of an enormous ramshackle city.
Review by on 19 Sep 2008
An engaging and thoughtful film following the desperate lives of a family in the sprawling mega-city of São Paulo, Brazil. Slow to start, the film increases in pace as the different stories of the four sons pan out to tragic, comic and hopeful ends. Kaique Jesus Santos is especially good as the youngest son Reginaldo, injecting some needed humour into the film as well as being the most lost of all the brothers.
An engaging and thoughtful film following the desperate lives of a family in the sprawling mega-city of São Paulo, Brazil. Slow to start, the film increases in pace as the different stories of the four sons pan out to tragic, comic and hopeful ends. Kaique Jesus Santos is especially good as the youngest son Reginaldo, injecting some needed humour into the film as well as being the most lost of all the brothers.
Review by on 19 Sep 2008
I loved the way this was shot and how the scenes were so carefully paced. Although the final plot developments were not always entirely convincing its deeply felt humanity was very affecting.
I loved the way this was shot and how the scenes were so carefully paced. Although the final plot developments were not always entirely convincing its deeply felt humanity was very affecting.
Review by on 19 Sep 2008
This film was gripping from the start. Four brothers and their mother struggling to find a life for themselves in their own different ways. At the end there was delight for one, hope for others, but fear and anxiety for all.
This film was gripping from the start. Four brothers and their mother struggling to find a life for themselves in their own different ways. At the end there was delight for one, hope for others, but fear and anxiety for all.
Review by on 16 Sep 2008
Co-directors Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas etch out a picture of modern Brazil that is chaotic, poverty stricken and next to impossible to escape from. Shown through the lives of four fatherless brothers and their loving (if temperamental) mother, LINHA DE PASSE offers glimpses of hope and salvation through common dreams and struggles, but the overall tone is one of bleak desperation.
Eldest brother Dario (Vinicius de Oliveira; the only principal cast member who is a known entity) attempts to use his skill as a football player to pull himself up out of the social struggle. Unfortunately, at eighteen, his chances are all but over. Salles and Thomas use his character to demonstrate the cruelty of a system where talent and ambition go unrewarded.
Denis, a motorcycle courier with a child to support, turns to crime to meet monetary demands. While appearing mostly uncaring, there lurks something decent at his core. He frequently antagonises brother Dinho, who finds solace in his somewhat delirious Christian faith. God, while an ever-present theme, is either uncaring or inactive. It is not quite clear whether Salles and Thomas are condemning religion for offering false hope, or merely using it to demonstrate another form of escapism. Either way, such sequences offer an interesting counterpoint to the less optimistic turns.
Youngest brother Reginaldo is perhaps the most tragic figure. His endless hunt makes him a pure victim of this cold world that Salles and Thomas have crafted with enduring humanity.
Jules Garnett, Festival Daily
Co-directors Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas etch out a picture of modern Brazil that is chaotic, poverty stricken and next to impossible to escape from. Shown through the lives of four fatherless brothers and their loving (if temperamental) mother, LINHA DE PASSE offers glimpses of hope and salvation through common dreams and struggles, but the overall tone is one of bleak desperation.Eldest brother Dario (Vinicius de Oliveira; the only principal cast member who is a known entity) attempts to use his skill as a football player to pull himself up out of the social struggle. Unfortunately, at eighteen, his chances are all but over. Salles and Thomas use his character to demonstrate the cruelty of a system where talent and ambition go unrewarded.
Denis, a motorcycle courier with a child to support, turns to crime to meet monetary demands. While appearing mostly uncaring, there lurks something decent at his core. He frequently antagonises brother Dinho, who finds solace in his somewhat delirious Christian faith. God, while an ever-present theme, is either uncaring or inactive. It is not quite clear whether Salles and Thomas are condemning religion for offering false hope, or merely using it to demonstrate another form of escapism. Either way, such sequences offer an interesting counterpoint to the less optimistic turns.
Youngest brother Reginaldo is perhaps the most tragic figure. His endless hunt makes him a pure victim of this cold world that Salles and Thomas have crafted with enduring humanity.
Jules Garnett, Festival Daily
Film details
Linha de Passe
NEW FEATURES
Director: Walter Salles
Director: Daniela Thomas
Actor: João Baldasserini
Actor: Sandra Corveloni
Actor: Kaique Jesus Santos
Actor: Vinícius de Oliveira
Director: Daniela Thomas
Actor: João Baldasserini
Actor: Sandra Corveloni
Actor: Kaique Jesus Santos
Actor: Vinícius de Oliveira
Brazil, 2008.
108 mins. Portuguese with English subtitles.
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