LOWER CITY aka CIDADE BAIXA
Year: 2005
USA: Palm Pictures
UK: Verve Pictures
Cast: Lazaro Ramos, Wagner Moura, Alice Braga, Maria Menezes, JoAo Miguel Leonelli, Debora Santiago, Hugo Rodas, Divina Valeria, Dois Mundos, GerOnimo, Fernando Fulco, David Herman, Olga Machado, Fernanda Freitas, Ricardo Luedy, Leno Sacramento, Wilson Melo, Zeca Abreu, Nonato Freire, Ricardo Spencer, Adelena Rios, Tais Wagner, Carolina Ribeiro, Andreia Elia, Marcos Pedroso, Alessandra, Guiga Scott, Agnaldo Lopes, Rai Alves, Tinho Bahia, Luis Olho de Gato, Carlos Pronzato, Felipe Ferreira
Director: Sergio Machado
Country: Brazil
Language: Portuguese (English subtitles)
USA: 98 mins
UK: 97 mins
USA Rated: R for strong sexual content, nudity, language, some violence and drug use
UK Certificate: 18 contains strong sex and violence
USA Release Date: 16 June 2006 (Limited Release)
UK Release Date: 2 December 2005
UK Distributor
Synopsis
Deco (Lazaro Ramos) and Naldinho (Wagner Moura) have known each other since they were kids. They make their living together doing cargo jobs and petty hustling on board the Danny Boy, a motorboat they own as partners. The story begins when the two friends offer a ride to Karinna (Alice Braga), a stripper set on finding work in Salvador. Karinna sleeps with both men in return for the lift.
After unloading cargo in the town of Cachoeira, the two friends go out to have some fun. Naldinho bets the money they made on the cargo, gets mixed up in a fight, and ends up getting stabbed. Deco comes to his friend's defence, fatally wounding the aggressor. They are forced to flee to Salvador. While Naldinho is recovering, Deco sets out to make some money to help his friend, and Karinna starts working in the Xanadu nightclub.
Despite now being in the big city, the two friends keep crossing paths with Karinna. As the story unfolds, the attraction grows between Deco, Naldinho, and Karinna, and they are faced with the possibility of life as a threesome. Desire soon turns to obsession.
Deco and Naldinho are sucked into a whirlwind of jealousy and petty grudges that ends up undermining their friendship as they realise that they don't want to live without Karinna anymore. They start visiting her separately and contending to win her heart.
The relationship between the three begins to fall apart, and they go their separate ways. Deco goes back to boxing, Karinna keeps working in the nightclub, and Naldinho starts holding up drugstores. Suffocated, unable to go on without each other, the three come together once again. This new reckoning leads them down a path of no return.