Lower City
Palm Pictures | Release Date: June 16, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
61
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
8
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Director Sérgio Machado, who worked as an assistant to Central Station's Walter Salles, lingers sensually over every wrong move his attractive tragic trio make. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Alice Braga owns this film. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. Musetto
The impressive first feature by Sergio Machado, a one-time assistant to Walter Salles ("The Motorcycle Diaries"), is a trip through a grungy world of crime, sex and cockfights. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
Whatever its pretensions of social relevance, Sérgio Machado's Lower City is essentially an exploitation movie, and not a half-bad one at that. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
Three potent performances readily compensate for the familiar plot. Read full review
70
VarietyDeborah Young
Though the storyline is dirt simple and not particularly meaningful or involving, the action in this character-driven film is scintillatingly sexy. Read full review
70
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
In the end, Lower City is never quite as energetic as it wants to be, touched by the strange, milky lethargy that steeps every waterfront film. Read full review
70
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
Despite the lurid content, this is a beautifully made film that reaches for moral seriousness and resists facile judgments. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKevin Crust
The themes are all familiar and the plot unfolds slowly and in predictable ways, but there's plenty of heat generated by the three leads. Read full review
70
Washington PostStephen Hunter
Lower City is sexy, but in a nice, dirty way. Everyone in it is deliciously low and sleazy, and so underdressed in the blazing heat that they are just dying to strip. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Even though Lower City ultimately leads nowhere (the movie doesn't end so much as simply stop), you won't mind having taken the trip. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterFrank Scheck
From its actual and figurative scenes of cockfighting to its copious use of throbbing Brazilian music, there's little here that rises above the level of formula. But director Machado displays a sure touch in his ability to convey the sultry atmosphere of his exotic setting, and he has elicited admirably naturalistic performances from his highly attractive, youthful performers. Read full review
50
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
A bone-tired tale underneath. Read full review
50
The New York TimesDana Stevens
The movie turns out to be a predictable and somewhat sentimental lower-depths love triangle, but Ms. Braga almost makes it work. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Machado establishes a realistically seamy environment for his erotic triangle, and there are some surprisingly tender moments amid the squalor. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
The story wears thin long before it's over, but Machado draws strong performances from his leads and makes excellent use of its rundown locations. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
This frenetic potboiler about a love triangle on the Salvador waterfront smacks of liberal slumming and bristles with faux authenticity. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeMichael Hardy
Everyone involved in the film seems better than the material. Read full review
50
Seattle Post-IntelligencerBill White
In trying for realism, Machado only achieves dramatic inertness. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
Two guys panting over the same babe leads to tedium, despite a near-record number of overheated sex scenes. Read full review
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