The Netflix series Sintonia closes the book on a central character with the routine spinoff Nando Between Two Worlds.
A criminal lord exiled in Serbia chooses to take on one last job while balancing the pressures placed on those who suffer most from his actions: his family back in São Paulo. That’s the overall premise of Nando Between Two Worlds — A Sintonia Film, a spin-off follow-up to Netflix’s hit Brazilian series Sintonia. After five seasons, the show returns as a film that shifts to one of its main characters, giving the titular Nando a sort of cinematic swan song. Yet, while the premise is compelling, the film itself falls into familiar genre clichés, trying too hard to say goodbye to established characters rather than telling a story that can stand on its own.
The impulse makes sense. Over five seasons, Sintonia built a strong following in Brazil and became one of the country’s most successful Netflix productions. Created by screenwriter and producer KondZilla, the series follows three childhood friends from the outskirts of São Paulo whose lives take them through music, religion, and organized crime, using their intertwined trajectories to explore different facets of life in the city. One of those friends is Nando, who rises from a neighborhood drug dealer to a powerful crime lord at the expense of his relationship with his family. That contradiction has always been at the heart of his tragedy: the criminal life he embraced to protect his family ultimately became the very thing that tore them apart.
Another story of the criminal’s final job.
Photo Credit: Netflix
Director Johnny Araújo extends by taking us with Nando (Christian Malheiros), who is exiled in Serbia, where he’s now involved in international drug dealing operations. When negotiations with his European partners take an unexpected and very violent turn, Nando is forced back to São Paulo to protect his family. He returns only to face threats from the criminal world and tensions at home, particularly with Bruninha (Duda Pimenta), his eldest daughter, who has grown into a teenager largely without him. As Nando takes on a job protecting his organization’s finances, he confronts the question that has followed him throughout Sintonia: whether he can continue balancing his family and criminal life or whether he finally has to choose between them.
As an epilogue to the series, this narrative structure feels like a logical conclusion to Nando’s arc. Yet, the setup suffers from relying on one of the most familiar archetypes in crime cinema: the criminal drawn back in for one final job. From Carlito’s Way to The Town, variations on the reluctant criminal attempting one last score or discovering that the cost of his lifestyle on his personal life is too high have become standard fare in crime-related movies. Most recently, Peaky Blinders used a similar concept in the film Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, which Araújo himself has cited as an inspiration.
From the get-go, the film struggles under the weight of the familiar genre beats it imposes on itself: the rebellious teenage daughter who wants her father back, the suffering mother, the strained relationship with his partner and the social repercussions of his criminal actions. These elements are all present but rarely given enough depth. The lackluster dialogue and uneven pacing also hampers the movie. At least that dialogue is often rescued by the cast’s committed performances, of which Pimenta is a highlight. The result is a viewing experience that too often invites the audience to remember the many crime films that have taken the same narrative challenges and handled them with greater nuance.
A swan song for Sintonia.
Photo Credit: Netflix
Part of the issue is that, at nearly two hours, the film has very little room to say something new. Fundamentally, this is because it’s trying to achieve two purposes at once. It wants to tell the genre story of Nando’s last job, but it also wants to serve as a swan song for Sintonia. As a result, scattered throughout the film are multiple sequences of Nando meeting secondary characters who, while relevant to the show and sometimes useful in adding depth to Nando, ultimately make this character study stumble. While it’s cool to see Doni and Rita, the other main characters of Sintonia back, their presence fails to add substantial depth to the story at hand.
It makes the movie feel like an extended finale of the series rather than a film that can stand on its own. This approach might be appropriate and justifiable, but it severely hinders the film when the emotional resonance of its plot becomes so dependent on these cameos. People unfamiliar with the series should still be able to connect with Nando and the struggles of his life, but the film’s dual purpose makes that difficult.
There’s also a familiar trope at play, one that is far too common in stories of Latin American; “los narcos también lloran” or “Narcos cry too.” In it, behind the violence and power, the crime lord reveals himself as a family man whose choices hurt the people he originally wanted to protect. Nando’s character in the movie, and his central conflict, embodies this trope nearly to perfection. In itself, it’s not an issue, but the fact that the film misses an opportunity to use it to say something differently is frankly disappointing.
The bottom line.
Ultimately, Nando Between Two Worlds works better as a goodbye to Sintonia than as a film of its own. There is a compelling final chapter for Nando somewhere in its familiar tropes and crowded reunions, but the movie never quite gives it enough room to emerge, which is a shame. Longtime fans may be satisfied with this; for everyone else, it is difficult not to wish Nando’s last job had taken a few more risks.
Nando Between Two Worlds – A Sintonia Film is now streaming on Netflix. Watch the trailer below.
Images courtesy of Netflix.
REVIEW RATING
-
Nando Between Two Worlds - A Sintonia Film - 6/10
6/10
Based in Mexico, Pedro Graterol is the News editor for TV and Film of InBetweenDrafts. He is a Venezuelan political scientist, violist, and a nerd of all things pop culture. His legal signature includes Sonic The Hedgehog’s face.
