| You know, you really have to hand it to Miramax. These guys would market ice to Eskimos if they could (and they probably have for that matter). When I was managing a video store back in the late 90s, there was a new direct-to-video "indie" release from Miramax about every month and, wanting to keep up our store’s variety, we usually took on a chance on buying them. A little useless insight here as to the way these stores used to run: this was back when the cassette was still the reigning home video king: "rental-priced" titles could wind up costing you in excess of $80 if you did not receive a distributor discount for buying a slew of big, A-list titles in bulk (read: a legal scam) and overnight rentals cost about $3 (max). The problem with buying these B-titles was that there was no way in hell you were going to make your money back anytime soon…not unless a frat kid rented it, forgot about it, returned it, and actually paid the late charges that is (which never happened - they either argued that it was my fault or I wound up sending their asses in to collections).
I know, I know…"$80 for a fucking videotape? What the hell, man?" Look, that is seriously the way the ball rolled back then. Sure, there were ways to avoid those high prices (such as Rentrak, a company that gave you mass-quantities of titles for cheap, took a percentage, spied on your inventory, and wouldn’t let you sell any used copies until several months after your customers had already purchased them used somewhere else).
 OK, so I really went off-topic there (what else is new, right?), but to head back to the general direction of my original observation: Miramax’s Marketing Gurus could very well be the most faceless, soulless, and spineless sellouts I have never met (although I would apply for a job if I did meet them). Every other "indie"/B-title our store ordered would have an anonymous quote reading various incarnations of the words "Fun!" and "Sexy!" if it had a cute girl on the front (never-you-mind whether she appeared in the film or not!) and "Cool!" "Fresh!" and/or "Hip!" if the movie featured a black actor (I shit you not, either…go to the thrift store and look for old Miramax releases on VHS…I speak the truth, kids).
Much like my tendency to stray from the topic at hand, Miramax’s repetitiveness in false or inept advertising and an almost criminal lack of an extensive vocabulary is annoying at best.
 Or rather, it was: after the fall of the analog cassette and the rise of the digital disc, wholesale prices dropped and every video store in the country could now pick up a copy for just under twenty bucks or so, charge $4 for a few nights’ rent, and then sell the DVD for $15 either in-store or online and make most (or all) of their money back. With the days of poor revenue were history (hence the reason you see DVD rental kiosks everywhere now - anyone can do it), the folks at Miramax (whose parent company is Disney, FYI) no longer needed to push these B-titles that hard anymore, so the need to play a movie up for something that it was not seemed to die.
In 2004, Miramax took a chance on releasing Fernando Meirelles’ superb 2003 masterpiece City Of God (Cidade De Deus) and struck pay dirt. Score. Now Miramax brings us 2007’s City Of Men (Cidade Dos Homens), the highly anticipated follow-up to a Brazilian television series of the same name (which ran from 2002 to 2005) with many of the same cast and crew as City Of God. Unfortunately, some old advertising habits die hard, and Miramax has deliberately (and incorrectly) labeled this title as a sequel. It isn’t. Not by a long shot. Even some of the film’s crew suggest it’s a spin-off. I still disagree. The only similarities are the fact that they both take place in the favelas (slums) of Rio De Janeiro and the drug/gun trafficking inherent in them.
 City Of Men brings us the further adventures of Acerola (Douglas Silva) and Laranjinha (Darlan Cunha), two fatherless boys growing up in Dead End Hill (several other folks from the series return to bring the multiple storylines to a conclusion, including Jonathan Haagensen - the Brazilian Benicio Del Toro - as drug lord Madrugadão/Midnight). Now, if you’ve seen the series, you’ll know these characters and it won’t take you long to know what’s going on. If you haven’t seen the series, chances are you might think there is a lot of character development missing. Either way, it won’t take long for you to settle in for the ride.
As our two main characters reach manhood, they’re still facing problems…whether it be in the guise of that vastly uncomfortable first-time feeling of fatherhood, or the equally unsettling mood of meeting your long lost father. In a nice touch, the film takes an almost Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead approach by viewing the street war segments from the eyes of the community.
All in all, it’s a good film that doesn’t fail to entertain, and while some of the characters’ almost infant-like naivety can be grueling on the viewer at times, in the long run these scenes only help to (inadvertently?) create an additional sense of realism: these youngsters were forced to grow up too soon…so that which we know to be "right" or "wrong" is not as easily distinguishable to them.
 Presentation
City Of Men is supposed to look like real life, so at times the film is very gritty (and grainy). The movie is presented anamorphic with a 1.85:1 ratio. True to Miramax form, they have totally neglected to mention that THIS IS A FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM anywhere on the box (and why should they deter Wal-Mart shoppers from spending money…it’s not like Americans are too lazy to read…right?) but the Brazilian Portuguese 5.1 Sound comes through just fine (there is little mixed into the rear channels, incidentally) and English, Spanish, and French subtitles accompany.
Extras
Building A City Of Men (15:12) is a Behind-the-Scenes Featurette which interviews many of the film’s cast and crew. Also included on the disc are several Trailers: Meirelles’ Blindness; Step Up 2 The Streets (how many times are they going to remake the Breakin’ movies, anyway?); The Nightmare Before Christmas (wha, wha, what?); Smart People (the story of Miramax’s marketing reps) ; "Lost" - The Complete Fourth Season (with a little plug for ABC, also owned by Disney); and a Promo for Miramax Films.
The Bottom Line
Fun! Sexy! Fresh! Hip! Cool!
What the hell, give it a shot (who knows, you might even learn how to read in the process).
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