This or City of God? - Pixote: A Lei do Mais Fraco (1981) Discussion

[–] Falconeer 17 years ago

Yes, Pixote is alot better, IMO. A lot more sincere, less like a "movie," more like the real thing. See it when you can. "City of God?" A bit overrated.

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[–] mrnomore 17 years ago

i don't think COG is overrated but i do agree that this film is more real

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_•| i just love to read...subtitles |•_

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[–] prodigylover 16 years ago

Pixote a 1000 times over. COG, for all its obvious shock value, still somehow glamorized all that violence and crime. I can imagine real Brazilian gangs loving that film the ways the Mafia in America loves Goodfellas.

Pixote revealed the horror of these kids' situation without wallowing in it for exploitative purposes.

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] jeek 16 years ago

I liked both films alot. "Pixote" is way more brutal and shocking.

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[–] iradao 15 years ago

I have seen more than 100 brazilian movies and I think the two better movies ever made in Brazil are Pixote and City of GOD. Both are very well directed and both are realistic.
But I prefer Pixote, because it is more artistic and more shocking. But it is not a documentary or a semi-documentary, although it is based on a true story. The child actors were not from the FEBEM, former brazilian prison for minors. They were poor children, from the favelas, but not young criminals.
The Pixote movie was based on the book "Infância dos mortos" by José Louzeiro while City of God was based on the book of same name from Paulo Lins.

So Pixote is a little better, but City of God is also very very good.

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[–] billybutts 15 years ago

City of God is the best movie ever made

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[–] ManicMuse 15 years ago

i agree with billy butts. if i had to choose, there would be absolutely no comparison. city of god is one of the best movies ever made imo. still it should be said that though the movies share similar subject matter, they are completely different.

if you want to see a documentary style movie that will shock you, and make you feel uncomfortable with what they get away with putting on screen, then pixote is the movie to watch. it is specifically about a group of young street kids/criminals. The main character pixote is the youngest, so it was hard for me to watch him in some of the situations he was faced with. This movie holds very little back when it comes to sex & violence.

what i love about city of god is that it isn't "documetary style". it is history as told through the memories of a aspiring photographer. images still shock, but are shot so beautifully that i couldn't look away. It's multiple stories told by one character, making up the violent history of his favela, through his photographic eye. the bystander himself is not a criminal, just a witness. The stories are considerably watered down from the book, but still leave a huge impact.

both movies also use young actors from favelas who are amazingly good. I don't think there is one bad performance in either of them.

I think both movies are certainly worth seeing, though i would only watch city of god repeatedly.

"WHO'S ON TOP & WHO'S ON BOTTOM NOW, huh?! WHO'S ON TOP & WHO'S ON BOTTOM NOW!"

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[–] Boisansoif 14 years ago

City Of God is gritty, fast paced, perfectly edited, well acted and visually very inventive, it's a great movie well worth the top 5 movies of it's year on a world scale.

Pixote is an essential masterpiece of cinema, one of the most powerful, poetic, vibrant & authentic films I have ever seen, it's perfect on so many levels, I watch it about every 2 years or so and every time I'm completely speechless, a treasure.

I love City Of God but Pixote is on a superior level that very few films have reached.

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[–] vex- 14 years ago

City of God is the better movie but Pixote is more genuine.

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[–] 14 years ago

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[–] snes4u 12 years ago

Pixote has, at least, 500 more shots with kiddie ding-dongs in it. I'm all for hanging dong, but not child dong. I'll go with CoG.

Furthermore, Pixote's English subtitles (on the R1 USA DVD) are inferior. Big time.

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[–] Supernaut123 8 years ago

All this time and nobody called this post out on how idiotic it is?

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[–] rudeboy_murray 11 years ago

I think that both are tremendously powerful, emotionally draining films. City of God has immense energy and admirably epic scope but the more intimate Pixote has the slight edge for me. A devastating movie.

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