Socrates

Fifteen-year-old Socrates (Christian Malheiros), who lives in the slums of São Paulo, loses his mother and suddenly finds himself trying to navigate an adult world of job interviews, paying rent, and ridiculous bureaucracies, all while fending off child welfare officials. Fighting for his independence, Socrates’s anxiety grows as he enters into his first relationship—with an enigmatic character (Tales Ordakji) who tries unsuccessfully to keep Socrates out of certain corners of his own sketchy existence. When Socrates’s long-lost, abusive father shows up to claim the boy, Socrates runs and hides deeper underground, eating from garbage to stay alive. Everything leads to a predictable moment of despair, but there is no resolution, making this little more than an obvious story about a kid with nothing but the worst possible luck. Which is a shame, since filmmaker Alexandre Moratto and his teenage actors do a fine job of keeping the action moving briskly and knowing how to ratchet up the sometimes explosive energy. Optional. (T. Keogh)