Best movies like Streets of Rio

Situated just above the awe-inspiring Ipanema beach in Rio is the Cantagalo slum. Every day, floods of Cantagalo residents make their way down the mountain, only to disappear into their surroundings as part of the invisible working-class that cleans apartments, works in restaurants, and sells food along the scenic, sun-drenched shores. Young Dé (Thiago Martins) is just such a man. Dé lives with his mother Bernadette (Cyria Coentro) in a cramped Cantagalo apartment, selling hot dogs on the beach in order to make the rent. His brother Beto was killed when Dé was just a young boy, and his adopted brother Carlão (Rocco Pitanga) has been jailed for a robbery that he didn't commit. One day, while working on the beach, Dé meets Nina (Vitória Frate). Nina is the only child of a successful lawyer named Evandro (Paulo César Grande), who's none to happy to discover that his daughter is dating a member of the lower class. How...

On a scorching summer day in Rio de Janeiro, five impoverished black boys venture out of their favela to peddle peanuts throughout the bustling city. As they navigate the various districts of Rio, they bear witness to a series of unfortunate events and encounters, unfolding a vivid tapestry of urban life in Rio de Janeiro during that period. These true misadventures shed light on the gritty reality of the city, unveiling its vibrant urban tapestry.

“Rio 2096 – A Story of Love and Fury” is an animated film that portrays the love between an immortal hero and Janaína, the woman he has been in love with for 600 years. As a backdrop to the romance, the feature highlights four phases of Brazilian history: colonization, slavery, the Military Regime and the future, in 2096, when there will be a war for water.

A group of strangers from different countries end up on Rio's beaches. Seeking self-fulfillment, they look for answers to existential questions. Yet it isn't until their different paths cross that they begin to understand why they came.

Documentary depicts what happened in Rio de Janeiro on June 12th 2000, when bus 174 was taken by an armed young man, threatening to shoot all the passengers. Transmitted live on all Brazilian TV networks, this shocking and tragic-ending event became one of violence's most shocking portraits, and one of the scariest examples of police incompetence and abuse in recent years.

An emotive journey of a former school teacher, who writes letters for illiterate people, and a young boy, whose mother has just died, as they search for the father he never knew.

Discovering your wife is sleeping with your boss can make a man do strange things. For a Samba-obsessed London clerk, robbing a bank and boarding the first flight to Rio are just the beginning.

Best buddies Acerola and Laranjinha, about to turn 18, discover things about their missing fathers' pasts which will shatter their solid friendship, in the middle of a war between rival drug gangs from Rio's favelas.

In the slums of Rio, two kids' paths diverge as one struggles to become a photographer and the other a kingpin.

Former cop Brian O'Conner partners with ex-con Dom Toretto on the opposite side of the law. Since Brian and Mia Toretto broke Dom out of custody, they've blown across many borders to elude authorities. Now backed into a corner in Rio de Janeiro, they must pull one last job in order to gain their freedom.

Young lovers Orfeu and Eurydice run through the favelas of Rio during Carnaval, on the lam from a hitman dressed like Death and Orfeu's vengeful fiancée Mira and passing between moments of fantasy and stark reality. This impressionistic retelling of the Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice introduced bossa nova to the world with its soundtrack by young Brazilian composers Luiz Bonfá and Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Ace is an impressionable young man working for a dry cleaning business. His friend, drug dealer Mitch goes to prison. In an unrelated incident, he finds some cocaine in a pants pocket. Soon, Ace finds himself dealing cocaine for Lulu. Via lucky breaks and solid interpersonal skills, Ace moves to the top of the Harlem drug world. Of course, unfaithful employees and/or rivals conspire to bring about Ace's fall.

In 1997, before the visit of the pope to Rio de Janeiro, Captain Nascimento from BOPE (Special Police Operations Battalion) is assigned to eliminate the risks of the drug dealers in a dangerous slum nearby where the pope intends to be lodged.

Death and violence anger twelve year old drug courier Fresh, who sets his employers against each other.

A tale of an inner city drug dealer who turns away from crime to pursue his passion, rap music.

Fourteen-year-old Mo is a lonely, sensitive boy whose hunger for the rant and banter of buddies makes him prone to tread dangerous territories. He idolizes his handsome older brother, Rashid, a charismatic, well-respected member of a local gang, whose drug dealing enables “Rash” to provide for his family. Aching to be seen as a tough guy himself, Mo takes a job that unlocks a fateful turn of events and forces the brothers to confront their inner demons. It turns out that hate is easy. It is love and understanding that take real courage.

Set in Brazil, three kids who make a discovery in a garbage dump soon find themselves running from the cops and trying to right a terrible wrong.

In 1970, the Esquadrão da Morte (Death Squad)' crimes for the refinement of violence provoked a wave of reactions throughout the country. The photos of the victims, adorned by the skull, symbol of the group, caused an uncomfortable indignation. This is the story of Mateus Romeiro, the most famous of the policemen, who was part of the Homens de Aço (Steelmen) group, one of the factions in which the squadron was divided.

Romão, illiterate and unemployed, feels destiny drawing him on an odyssey to Rio de Janeiro in pursuit of a job and a decent life. A family of seven journeys 2,000 miles across the hinterlands of Brazil on bicycles. Along the way, the story explores the inner dynamics of a family facing a great challenge with the courage to pursue dreams.

On December 31st 1999, destiny brings a fugitive prisoner and a depressed middle class teacher together, as the new millennium approaches bringing hope to everyone.

The South African multi-award winning film about a young South African boy from the ghetto named Tsotsi, meaning Gangster. Tsotsi, who left home as a child to get away from helpless parents, finds a baby in the back seat of a car that he has just stolen. He decides that it his responsibility to take care of the baby and in the process learns that maybe the gangster life isn’t the best way.

Rick and Melissa are a pair of young lovers hoping to get out of the slums for good and escape the poverty and crime their families and friends have gotten involved in. All this comes to an end when Rick feels he must rejoin his old gang to avenge the killing of his brother by a rival gang. In the course of getting even, Rick is arrested, leaving Melissa without anyone to protect her. She falls in with a crack dealer and quickly becomes addicted to the drug. When she gets sold to a drug kingpin by a minor dealer to pay off a debt, only Rick can save her.

Bossa Nova is a romantic comedy that enfolds many love convergences and divergences, in today’s Rio de Janeiro. It’s in the city’s “useless landscape” that the lonely hearts of nine characters will cross destinies and they’ll discover new passions. The meeting place for these journeys is a charming English teacher, Mary Ann Simpson, former airline stewardess, who’s been living in Rio for two years, since she became a widow, and the newly separated Pedro Paulo. They approach each other without a hint that their lives will be linked by many characters and incidents.

Filmed over a five-year period, Chronically Unfeasible dissects Brazilian problems, using six people who meet in a restaurant in São Paulo as models to illustrate political, sociological and economic disparities between Brazil's upper and lower classes.

Orfeu is a popular composer from a samba school. He lives in the favela and falls madly in love when he meets Euridice, a newcomer to the neighborhood. But the local drug boss Lucinho stands between them and will drastically change both their lives.

Paulo works as a high school literature teacher, his wife Teresa is a local shopkeeper, and their daughter Bel is still in school. They live in a rented flat in Saens Peña Square, in the heart of Tijuca, a neighborhood in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro. An unexpected and alluring job offer may have a profound effect on the routine of this family and even jeopardize a 20-year marriage.

Working incognito at his rich dad's company to test his own merits, Teto falls for Paula and tells her he grew up poor, a lie that spins out of control.

Based on true events in Rio de Janeiro, in 1960, when a gang having the infamous outlaw Tião Medonho as a leader performed a sensational railroad hold-up on a train carrying a small fortune.

An uplifting feature documentary highlighting the transformative power of art and the beauty of the human spirit. Top-selling contemporary artist Vik Muniz takes us on an emotional journey from Jardim Gramacho, the world's largest landfill on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, to the heights of international art stardom. Vik collaborates with the brilliant catadores, pickers of recyclable materials, true Shakespearean characters who live and work in the garbage quoting Machiavelli and showing us how to recycle ourselves.

In the 1990s, two brothers were accused of murdering eight women, one man and one child in the Serra dos Órgãos region. In the eyes of the suspects, Sergeant Téo realizes that the trial of the press, police and local society is fundamentally racist, and begins to have doubts about the conviction of one of them. Based on a true story, the film is a work of fiction about the famous case of the "Necrophil Brothers."

The story of William da Silva Lima, the last survivor of the group that founded the Comando Vermelho at the end of the 1970s. It shows him living together with the political prisoners incurred under the same National Security Law and his leadership in the Ilha Grande Prison creating a type of unheard of conduct and solidarity in the Brazilian prisons. The film goes on to tell of the group's actions on the streets of Rio de Janeiro during the beginning of the 80s when they irritated the police with their daring robberies, as well as portraying the surprising love story between William and Tereza. The narrative weaves its way between the intimate conflict and the spectacular assaults and escapes.

A teacher takes a student to his house in the slum, but on arrival discovered that drug traffickers killed his parents and now are at your demand.

The true story of João Guilherme Estrella ("Johnny"), a young middle-class bon vivant who became a big-time cocaine dealer in Rio de Janeiro in the early 1990s.

A group of playboys organizes the last party of the year in a slum before the change in weather. And for this night, beyond the usual drugs, alcohol and sex, they will receive special guests: an addict that uses and is used by the group, a country singer who was raised around the slum, a strange security guard and the owner of the place.

Edgar is a young upper-middle class man, close to completing 30 years old, he lives a full life crisis and is in a position common to the vast majority of Brazilians. On the one hand the power, represented by a corrupt state, abusive and absent in their taxes before their obligations. On the other, crime increasingly organized violence became a constant in the lives of citizens in large cities. Edgar responds to all this as a modern vigilante. With the help of ingredients such as technology, counter-information and manipulation, Edgar concocts a brilliant plan, using the greed of their opponents as the reason for its destruction. As the plot unfolds, we know more about the dark past of each character as Edgar fit the pieces together in an intriguing puzzle that makes up the film's plot.

Five undercover cops at Complexo do Alemão, one of Rio de Janeiro's most dangerous areas, have their covers blown by drug dealers. Arrested, they wait execution or to be rescued by police forces that would risk expose a larger operation.

Homeless children in the slums of Rio are driven out of their temporary shelters by ruthless gangsters in this somber drama. The kids survive by shining shoes, stealing, and cutting the strings of the kites to sell them later to others. Tired of life on the streets, one boy turns himself over to the police in hopes he will be sent to reform school in a last desperate attempt to survive. This feature from acclaimed Swedish director Arne Sucksdorff appeared at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival.

This docudrama portrays the true story of Flordelis dos Santos, a strong and courageous woman from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She resided in the Jacarezinho favela, located in the northern zone of the city. From facing drug dealers to challenging judges, she had an eventful life. Her determination led her to shelter and care for over 40 abandoned children, showcasing her unwavering resilience.

José Henrique Fonseca crafts an ambitious and long overdue homage to a central icon in Brazil’s 20th century history. Reminiscent of film noir classics, the biopic tells the glorious and tragic story of the legendary football striker Heleno de Freitas. The sumptuous black and white cinematography reflects the chic life of Rio de Janeiro in the 1940s as it fell under the spell of sports royalty. Heleno was no doubt one of the most popular players of his time for his bravura in the field and magnificent goal-scoring that lead the Botafogo team to the top and himself into a vicious downward spiral.

Things go from bad to worse when four co-workers decide to enjoy the extended holiday at a beach house with their families.

Marquinhos is in his early 20s and lives in Copacabana with his petits bourgeois parents and older brother. He doesn't have a job, he doesn't go to school, he just lives on the spur of the moment, watches TV, plays soccer on the beach by day and goes out with his mates by night. He meets Irene, a 40 year-old woman and they have a love affair that is going to change his life - for a while.

An attractive, 30-year-old successful graphic designer with a captivating personality hasn't had a good date in over a year, and she's not alone - her best friends share the same problem. They all dream about finding their prince charming and all too often settle for the frog. At the agency, instead of Mr. Right, Laura meets Miguel, a blue-collar, and Tiago, an irresistible, compulsive womanizer.

Daniel O'Neil is a promising writer who has to work hard when Dora, his rich girlfriend, breaks up with him. Expelled from the hotel where he lives in Copacabana, Daniel moves into the small apartment of Meg, his best friend. He puts them both in danger when he gets a ride with a drug dealer who ends up being chased by the police and asks Daniel to keep two packages of cocaine.

Larissa competed for the Rio Military Police in search of the ideal of “protecting the citizen”.

A public relations man is invited to guide an American millionaire during his stay in Rio de Janeiro. He gets involved in the most bizarre situations, from orgiastic mega-parties to confrontations with the police, meetings with drug dealers and movie stars, facing corruption and even murder.

Three young Brazilian try to help a terminally ill woman who lives in the slums of Rio de Janeiro. Their youthful idealism is shattered with the cruel reality of police brutality.

Over a tense day in the emergency hospital, we follow the surgeon's work Evandro and staff in three cases that require risk surgery: a drug dealer, a military police officer and a rich family child, all injured during a shootout in a slum next to the hospital.

Free adaptation of Romeo and Juliet translated to the harsh life in Favela da Maré, one of largest and most violent slums in Rio de Janeiro. Living in a slum divided between two rival gangs of drug traffickers, Analídia is the daughter of one of the gangs' leaders and Jonathan is a childhood friend of the other gang leader. Both study in a dance group situated exactly in the middle of the two territories, looking for solace in art.

Regina, a lonely 65 year old who works on the neighborhood watch for the police in Copacabana, believes to have witnessed a murder in the building across the street, and ends up getting involved with the suspect in a potentially dangerous chain of events that will force her to take stock of her life.

Marquinhos (Lúcio Andrey) lives in the Rocinha favela, in the city of Rio de Janeiro. He gets involved with Débora (Priscila Assum), a young woman from the upper middle class with whom she starts to face adult life and several difficulties that try to separate them.