Leisure

Boys and death in a City of Men

In an early scene from Brazilian director Paulo Morelli’s City of Men, best friends Ace and Laranjinha pester Laranjinha’s grandmother for clues about his absent father. The grandmother scoffs at the questions, asking them what good could come from a father who abandons his own child. Ace (Douglas Silva) and Laranjinha (Darlen Cunha) exchange a terrified look, run out the door and scramble through the favela shouting the name of Ace’s young son, Clayton (played by twins Vinícius and Vítor Oliveira), who has been dropped off with acquaintances somewhere in the slum. His father has no idea where he could be.

Ace and Laranjinha’s frantic quest to find Clayton reflects the film’s central themes of fatherhood and maturity. City of Men is based on the TV series that was inspired by Fernando Meirelles’ 2002 film City of God. City of Men shares with that movie its setting in a favela of Rio de Janeiro, an area of violent gang crime; the characters differ, although some of the actors return. While City of God made gang wars the centerpiece of the film, though, City of Men accepts them as a part of life in the slum and focuses on what Morelli sees as the root of the problem: absentee fathers.

By Sara Carothers March 13, 2008

Leisure

Not very “Impressed by Light”

The National Gallery’s new photography exhibit, which displays British calotype photography from 1840 to 1860, may be called “Impressed by Light,” but whether you’ll be impressed by the collection is up for debate. Though the 120 photographs presented in the exhibit are historically important as some of the first photographs in British history, their subject matter is often fairly unadventurous and most of the photos are too small and modest to make an impression on our minds, which have been conditioned with flashier modern work.

By Justin Hunter Scott March 13, 2008

Sports

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Georgetown to take on 10th-seeded Davidson tomorrow

A win tomorrow against Davidson would mark another huge accomplishment for Georgetown: a third straight trip to the Sweet 16 after many college basketball fans had left it for dead before Thompson took over just four years ago. Tip-off in Raleigh is set for 2:50 p.m.

By Mike Stewart March 13, 2008