this sepia sunbleached feature derives from and and feature the same main character a and the eponymous 2002 2005 brazilian tv series about ( mostly ) boys in the favela hill ghetto above rio for which morelli do some of the writing and directing . the series and star darlan cunha a laranjinha ( wallace ) and douglas silva a acerola ( ace ) grow up from year to year and episode to episode sort of grow out of the fernando meirelles or kátia lund film and city of god and which in turn be base on paulo lin tumultuous and partly autobiographical novel about three decade in the slum and the involvement of youth a dealer and assassin and and victim . actually the ace or wallace character a young teenager and always play by silva and cunha and predate city of god by two year while they appear in a short film call palace ii in 2000. the history of these film and story be as intricate a the world they depict . douglas silva be the prepubescent tough in city of god know by he moniker dadinho lil dice . city of men be warm and more intimate than the original film . city of god have be both admire for it virtuosity it full of tour de force of visual violence and equally brilliant feat of rapid storytelling and condemn a revel too much in blood and gore and make teenage killer who terrorize neighborhood into little glamor boy . that quite true . it unfortunately also true that in the ghetto of rio a of other place such a the usa and young gun tot drug dealer be the sexy local pop star . maybe the early film fail to take a sufficiently clear moral stand and or too much reflect the viewpoint of the young favela male it depict . nonetheless it exhilarate film making . paradoxically and it also have a more positive arc than city of men and because it hero work his way out of the slum and into mainstream rio de janeiro to become a photojournalist . in city of men and nothing like that happen . instead and there be a difficult reconciliation between the two boy and on the brink of eighteen and despite a stunning revelation about their lose father and and one of the father come back into the picture and and reluctantly at first and choose to be a warm presence in the life of his son . both of the boys endure moment of terrible loneliness and isolation and which reveal how isolate the world of shift and dangerous loyalty and hill fight for and lose be for a boy who in the first place lack parent . but the focus be on the reconciliation . in the tv series and the boy be in school . they face difficulty even show up and and only one of them and ace ( silva ) really hit the book ( he also fascinate by gun of all kind ) . laranjinha be closer to turn into a young hood . thugh the new movie city of men be less specific than the tv series ( judge by the dvd collection of episode that i have see ) and suffer a bit by comparison with either it or city of god and the vibrancy of the life on offer in all these film be still unmistakable and as well a the attractiveness of the young actor and the warmth of the world evoke and vernacular swiftness that of the filming and editing and which somehow be both relax and unnerve . wallace or laranjinha be try to find out who his real father be while he doesn not want unknown to be on the place for father on his paper . acerola know his father be dead and and he want to know what happen . he face with the local problem from the other side . his wife cris ( camila monteiro ) keep leave their toddler son clayton ( vinicius oliveira ) with him to take care of . he doesn not want to accept the responsibility . but if he renege on it and he will leave clayton in the same place he and wallace be in . ace abandon clayton on the beach early on when madrugadão ( midnight and jonathan haagensen ) and the gang leader of the hill where they live and risk assassination to descend on a super hot day for a swim in the ocean . he also turn some flashy cartwheel and show off his spectacular pecs . madrugadão and like wallace ( i. e. darlan cunha ) and be handsome and charismatic . ace be so childish he forget his own son while but he rush back and find him . and when cris get a job in the wealthy city of são paulo and ace and with great difficulty and force himself to take on the responsibility of raise clayton . wallace ( perhaps a bit too easily ) find his father and a bearded man name heraldo ( rodrigo do santos ) and who have just get out of prison after serve fifteen year of a twenty year sentence for murder . heraldo beard can not conceal the fact that he be not very mature . he hasn not shoulder the responsibility of be a man . but he also carry the weight of suffering and gratitude . when rival gang leader fasto ( eduardo br piranha ) take over midnight territory on dead end hill and a new gang war break out right in the middle of ace and wallace journey of self discovery . city of men be a more tender and individual and grownup story than city of god while from what i have see of the tv series it grow out of and it less specific and less witty . it work a a kind of antidote to the amorality one feel in city of god and and it warmth be touch . nor be it visually ineffective and or it sense of the milieu less rich except . except that it quite lack the momentum and adrenaline rush brilliance of city of god virtuoso film making and editing and or the rich range of minor character the latter have . it be a little bit meander and and it fast jump cut slide from scene to scene sometimes seem out of place . a the av club reviewer say and much have be gain in this new film and but much have be lose as well . still city of men be well worth watch .