In the Heart of the World

This 2019 Brazilian film, directed by Gabriel Martins with Maurílio Martins, is set in Contagem near Belo Horizonte. It follows several lives that touch one another, all of them wanting out of where they are. Selma plans a robbery, another woman works towards buying a house, a young man tries to start a business. The narrative does not rank these lines and shows crime not as a separate genre but as part of the same economy. The directors come from a production group working on low budgets in their own town. The images are calm, the cutting slow and the music local. Grace Passô takes one of the principal roles. Who it's for: those who like Brazilian independent cinema and multi-character town narratives. Who it's not for: viewers expecting a single plot; the film leaves its lines unjoined.