Linha De Passe Review

The on-off directing duo of Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries) and Daniela Thomas (Paris Je T’Aime) yields an engrossing portrait of São Paulo. Centred on pregnant working-class mother Cleuza (Sandra Corveloni) with four fatherless sons, the film charts the clumsy swipes at a better life made by a family in a pressure-cooker city. The eldest son joins São Paulo’s tribe of motorcycle couriers, the next braves taunts to attend an evangelical church, another hopes for soccer stardom, while the youngest is obsessed with finding his father. Expertly crafted, you leave the cinema with São Paulo’s dirt under your fingernails.