Linha de Passe: 7.5/10

Life is lived on the edge in Walter Salles's gritty take on the realities of life for Brazil's down-at-heel. Linha de Passe tells the story of Cleuza, a poor-but-proud working class woman with four children from different fathers. One dreams of playing for Corinthians, Carlos Tevez's old club. Another is a motorcycle courier. The third has found Jesus. And the little one hopes to find his dad.

The film draws you into the lives of the four. The gulf between the haves and the never-will-haves. And how each member of the family is just an argument, a sacking or a pregnancy away from falling into the abyss of crime and poverty even more grinding than the one they're already stuck in.

Perhaps surprisingly the violence portrayed so vividly in City of god is only glossed over here. This is not a tale of drugs and Uzis in Rio's favelas. These are normal Brazilians just trying to make their way in the world, and earn an honest wage. It's not easy. Brazil may finally be realising its potential on the economic stage. But not everyone is feeling it.

in-i - Juliette Binoche & Akram Khan: 8/10

When my girlfriend told me she'd bought tickets to this dance production at the Nation Theatre, I didn't know what to expect. I know nothing about dance; seldom go to the theatre; and hadn't even heard of Akram Khan, even though he is one of the world's leading choreographers. All I knew about Juliette Binoche was that she was a moustachiod French actress who'd appeared in the mind-numbingly dull English Patient.

But I was amazed. By the movements, both of Khan and the 44-year old Binoche; by the narrative, the lighting, the humour, the tenderness. I loved it. And despite my sleep-deprivation of the night before, I stayed alert and awake. Now, I feel smugly cultured, like I'm in on a secret that no-one else knows about. If you get a chance to see in-i, do.