Perfect cast and a good story

Admirable film.

The acting in this movie is really good.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Why do American audiences find poverty, ignorance and misery in foreign countries so compelling? Is it the same instinct that makes TV crime/prison shows like "Oz" so popular? Well, "Lower City" lives up to its title. This mindless, plot-free, formulaic piece of Brazilian flesh shots evoked a rare reaction in me, a confessed movie addict. I was outraged that I had wasted my time watching it in the optimistic hope that something of value would develop. In fact, this movie is a Brazilian version of the soft-core sex shows which were easy to find on premium cable stations after 11 PM back in the early 1990s. I fear this confirms my suspicion that the current world trend is toward greater stupidity in the visual media. Lázaro Ramos, as Deco, was the only dim light in this murky opus. Sonia Braga's niece, Alice Braga, the heroine of the piece, certainly played trashy with seemingly natural talent for it. If you have a choice between watching paint dry and watching "Lower City", I would suggest you choose the former.

Having heard and read so many good reviews about this movie, I had pretty high expectations. But you can easily summarize this movie in 1 sentence and some cheap sex-scenes. There's really not much to tell, camera work wasn't that good, it's a wannabe movie. They must've been thinking: Cidade the Deus was a big hit, let's make a crappy movie and sell it by comparing it to this masterpiece. Music makes good some things. Emotions are not well worked out, especially for a movie like this. I really don't understand all the fuss about this. Go see it if you want to, but it's a waste of time and money. The acting isn't bad, but it isn't good neither.

This movie got the Cannes film festival's audience crazy! It is superb the way director leads those three Brazilian actors. They made me think YEAP, they are completely into the movie, and YEAP, they know what they are doing and like it! Threesome has never been discussed this way in the history of movies... There are those whom compare this film with François Truffaut's "Jules et Jim". The plot is the same (a love triangle concerning two friends and an impulsive woman)... I loved and I've read it's been succeeding every film festival it goes. I believe the director is the Brazilian's new director to be wildest projected, as Fernando Meirelles did 3 years ago with the superb "City of God"

Cidade Baixa is more of an accomplished film than you might think. The locations and the camera-work are well presented, The acting is very realistic and the main actress is beautiful as well as talented. It may not be City of God or even Central Station but this film is well paced and full of energy. The Cane and Abel style relationship between the two male leads becomes integral to the film's message: should you let a woman get in the way of a friendship. Well quite frankly you shouldn't as love and lust can be destructive as well as invigorating - how this manifests itself in the film is something I won't go into so as not to spoil it for you. Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the film and I would recommend anybody to watch it.