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‘Balane 3’ Review: A Bold and Invigorating Portrait of a Bustling City in Motion


Filmmaker Ico Costa astutely observes the people of a bustling town in Mozambique.

Director Ico Costa, who has made other documentaries in Mozambique, has a roving camera that manages to tell a place’s story through its people while never identifying anyone by name or following them in the traditional cinéma vérité style. Costa and cinematographer Hugo Azevedo Aip place their cameras mostly at a distance, producing an outsider’s vision that commemorates the faces and conversations that make up a bustling city. The film, named after the neighborhood where it was shot, captures life by observing how people talk to each other — on the street, in hair salons, while working together, in restaurants, at a birthday party.

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