Power Alley: Review. By Simon Thompson.

Writer/director Lillah Halla’s Power Alley is a rapid and punchy feature debut that, while being impressively shot and edited, ultimately falls short when it comes to its narrative structure. While Power Alley is a movie with a lot to say about the socio-political situation for gay people in Brazil, the movie’s relatively short run time of roughly an 1 hour and 30 odd minutes doesn’t leave it much time to do it. 

The plot of Power Alley, focuses on Sofia (Ayomi Domenica Dias), a 17 year old, prodigiously talented, volleyball player who is close to realising her dream of gaining an athletic scholarship so that she can attend university. This is put in jeopardy, however when Sofia, although identifying as gay like most of her teammates, suddenly finds herself pregnant as a result of a brief fling with a boy. She decides to have the pregnancy aborted so as to realise her athletic dreams, and undergoes the dangerous journey of trying to get an abortion in Brazil, a country with incredibly strict laws around the procedure.

The positives of Power Alley are the fact that Halla is a very skilled technical filmmaker, whose use of a vibrant cinematography scheme and striking close up in some of the movies’ most dramatic scenes demonstrates real talent behind the camera. Ayomi Domenica Dias’s performance as Sofia, is another highlight, with her understated portrayal, imbued with a subtle stoicism (given the character’s situation), that never spills into over-dramatic Lifetime movie territory, being another feather in this film’s cap. 

Where Power Alley suffers however, is within its narrative structure. Caught halfway between being an underdog sports story and a coming of age social realist drama the movie never quite commits to either one, leaving the supporting cast of Sofia’s volleyball teammates feeling underdeveloped as a result. The movie’s b-plot, centring around the volleyball team trying to win a trophy, constantly diverts focus away from the pregnancy a-plot that frankly is far more narratively compelling. The c-plot, involving a group of religious fundamentalist types within Sofia’s neighbourhood who disapprove of homosexuality, further adds to the lack of focus that the movie suffers from.

While Power Alley is a brave, well directed, and commendable piece of filmmaking centred around  highly topical subjects it’s unfocused script becomes more and more frustrating to contend with as the movie goes on. Power Alley is a film which very much could have done with at least an extra 45 minutes so as to allow Halla and co-writer María Elena Morán more time to flesh out the supporting cast and specific aspects of the plot. 

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