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One of the few art-house films to be released next year is City of Men. Sound familiar? Well it should, as it’s tied in with the excellent 2002 film City of God, Fernando Meirelles’s powerful drama set in the slums of Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro.

City of Men feels like a cynical cash-in off the success of a distinct film. It feels like a rehash. It’s story actually comes from the Brazilian TV Series of the same name. Produced by Merielles, the 4-season series followed two young teenage boys who lived in the favelas and tried to make something out of their lives. Highly successful in Brazil, it seems like a genuinely good idea, carrying on from the dozens of open strands that City of God left dangling and developing a long, in depth narrative strand. The forthcoming cinema version of City of Men, however, makes less sense. It lacks any originality, either in terms of narrative or of visual style, appearing more like a diluted version of the 2002 film.

For those still interested, it hits the US on January 18th, and will pop up around the rest of the world later.