City of God

[ono]

***Tiny little spoiler***
I saw the film about a year ago with my sister. She began to bawl uncontrollably when they shot that kid in the foot. She told me it was the most terrible thing she had ever experienced. She's into kids, I guess.

More spoilers.

I don't know, I kinda thought it was worse when he was shot in the head.

[Recce]

***Tiny little spoiler***
I saw the film about a year ago with my sister. She began to bawl uncontrollably when they shot that kid in the foot. She told me it was the most terrible thing she had ever experienced. She's into kids, I guess.

More spoilers.

I don't know, I kinda thought it was worse when he was shot in the head.

No, that part wasn't to bad, it was really the shooting in the foot and the kid crying tha got to her. Don't ask me to explain it, I rarely cry during movies...rarely.

[ono]

Hehe, I was being sarcastic (facetious, really).  Guess that wasn't clear.  Anyway, City of God left me rather unaffected emotionally, but I can see how that scene would be nerve-wracking for some.

[Recce]

Yeah, my sister is doing a ph.d in child studies, so i guess she likes them.

[Ravi]

Yeah, my sister is doing a ph.d in child studies, so i guess she likes them.

Does she get to dissect them?

[pete]

http://www.suntimes.com/output/answ-man/sho-sunday-ebert08.html

Fans baffled by Oscar snub, girl on a pier

February 8, 2004

BY ROGER EBERT

Q. I was thrilled that "City of God" got four nominations, but what happened to co-director Katia Lund? She is left out of the best director category, with only Fernando Meirelles listed. Was it too much to have two directors on one film or did they feel that Sofia Coppola was enough female directors for one category?

Katia is a wonderful director who created the short film that is the core of "City of God." I hope this gets corrected -- or is there something going on behind the scenes? There was some controversy when Miramax first bought the film and left Ms. Lund out of the credits, but it got corrected.

Gary Meyer, Berkeley, Calif.


The academy didn't list her as co-director. But Miramax president Harvey Weinstein tells me "we're working on that, trying to get her included." He says Meirelles was the actual director of the film, but Lund (who made the short subject that inspired "City of God") "selected all the actors and worked with them -- she directed the actors." He said if Meirelles wins the Oscar, he will certainly praise Lund in his acceptance speech.

My contacts suggest that Lund's contribution to the film was crucial, and that she has been unfairly shouldered aside during all the Oscar attention. In Brazil, her exclusion has stirred up a media controversy because some believe that her contribution was greater than Meirelles'.

I am told by a well-informed production executive: "If you watch Katia Lund's DVD and then watch Meirelles' two previous films, 'Crazy Boys' and 'Maids,' I think you will gain a wonderful insight regarding 'City of God,' and if you read the official 'Cidade de Deus' Web site, you will learn what each of the directors did. Katia has always taken the position that she would not do anything which might hurt the film; therefore she continues to take the high road and has not and will not go public with this grave injustice. Katia has filmed in the favelas [slums] of Rio for the last seven years and her priority is that the film will be a vehicle that can help the social and political problems faced every day by those living in the favelas."

Despite what others may believe, Meirelles himself believes the situation is being overblown. In an interview last week with Sun-Times staffer Laura Emerick, he emphasized that Lund's role was limited to working with the actors, and that "she was not involved with the actual filming -- the cinematography, the editing, the location work, the art direction, and so forth." (That is, all the technical functions that largely constitute the director's role.)

But in the same interview, Meirelles was gracious about Lund's role and noted that it was his decision to give her a co-director's credit in the first place, "to acknowledge her contributions to the movie."

[cron]

note to self: never  accept when someone asks me to co-direct.

[Pubrick]

note to self: never  accept when someone asks me to co-direct.

next time, don't co-direct unless it's with ur wife, or brother.

also, don't most directors say "casting" is 90% of directing. or sumthin like working with actors is the most important part of directing, i know PT said it..

[The Silver Bullet]

also, don't most directors say "casting" is 90% of directing.

And yet there's no Oscar for Best Casting Director.

It's'a wacky!

[©brad]

altman says that a lot.

[Ravi]

The acting in this film is terrific.  Watch the kid who plays young Little Dice.  Knowing what he does later brings to him an intensity that I didn't catch the first time.  Lund deserves the nomination just as much as Meirelles.

[Jeremy Blackman]

Not just casting, but "directing the actors." That sounds like directing to me.

[pete]

seriously, the last time someone's done a great movie with this many kids was probably truffaut's small change or something.

[Pedro]

how're you kids seeing this thing?

[ono]

how're you kids seeing this thing?

It's back in theatres now.  It's playing at my local arthouse, and I imagine that's the case in a lot of places.  I've seen a couple commercials for it, too.