Ever since the release of the critically-acclaimed City of God, the favelas in Rio de Janeiro have been receiving a lot of attention in popular culture for their increasing state of lawlessness and overwhelming level of crime and gang violence. City of God spun off a successful TV series called City of Men that also took place in the Brazilian slums, and now this TV series has been adapted into a feature film as well. City of Men is not directed by the original team of Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund (although Meirelles is a producer on the project); instead it is under guidance from Paulo Morelli, who worked on some episodes of the TV show and also did a film called Viva Voz. I didn’t even know this was in the works, but now that the trailer has arrived, I am pretty stoked to see it. I question whether or not it can live up to the lofty standards set by City of God, but it does appear to have a similar style and an intriguing story too. Check out the trailer over at Apple in big shiny Quicktime. City of Men hits select theatres on January 18th.

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