City of Men: Poster One Sheet

When Cidade De Deus burst onto the world cinema scene it propelled Fernando Meirelles into filmmaking stardom (he has since worked on The Constant Gardener and will preem Blindness sometime next year) and it spawned a television series (which in turn has birthed a new film).

Since January is a month that is generally filled with plenty of holiday films and Oscar bait leftovers, I question whether a Jan.18th slot is the right approach – but looking back to 2003 I realized that the first film was release almost on the exact same day, so regardless of the theater release-strategy that will be in use, I'm still keen on seeing the City of Men (view the trailer here) – its a sequel but not in a normal sequel type of way. Have the characters evolved into bigger thugs or has the violence mellowed down?

Back in the game for a second outing, Miramax boarded the projec from the very start. Directed by Paulo Morelli (who helmed 3 episodes of the show) and scripted by Elena Soarez and Fernando Mereilles, this sees (City of God kids turned into teenagers. Acerola (Douglas Silva) and Laranjinha (Darlan Cunha) have become close as brothers. With their eighteenth birthdays fast approaching, Laranjinha sets out to find the father he never met, while Acerola struggles to raise his own young son. But when they suddenly find themselves on opposite sides of a gang war, the lifelong friends are forced to confront a shocking secret from their shared past.

Click for a larger version of the poster.