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

variety.com:

Murtada Elfadl Shot in 2019 and set entirely in the Mozambican city of Inhambane, “Balane 3” has a kinetic rhythm that brings the city to vivid life on screen.

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.