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Brazil · 2019
2h 11m
Director Kleber Mendonça Filho, Juliano Dornelles
Starring Bárbara Colen, Udo Kier, Sônia Braga, Thomas Aquino
Genre Mystery, Thriller, Western
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A Brazilian village finds its sun-dappled day-to-day disturbed when its inhabitants are targeted by a group of armed mercenaries led by the violent and vicious Udo Kier. But the mercenaries may have met their match in the fed-up, resourceful denizens of little Bacurau in this bitingly satirical and violent revisionist Western.
There are those who will surely argue that this is not a tonally coherent film. But I was nonetheless rather elated by the way Filho weaves in so many outside touchstones while still maintaining his core interests in social dynamics and anti-capitalist sentiment.
The Playlist by Bradley Warren
There may not be a map for navigating this gonzo film, but nevertheless, Bacurau is a blood-soaked adventure worth seeking out.
At once both more forceful and more inscrutable than Filho’s previous work, Bacurau plunges deeper into midnight territory as its core ideas take hold, its ghosts become literal, and its heroes take up arms.
Los Angeles Times by Justin Chang
The resulting genre stew is rich and flavorsome, if also somewhat chunky and uneven. The characters are thinly drawn by design, but Mendonça Filho and Dornelles know how to use the magnetism of their actors to maximum advantage.
This might not be the film you’re quite expecting from the director of arthouse dramas focused on modern life in Brazil, but it fits right in as a variation and continuation of Mendonça Filho’s pet themes.
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
It is a really strange film, beginning in a kind of ethno-anthropology and documentary style, becoming a poisoned-herd parable or fever dream and then a Jacobean-style bloodbath. It is an utterly distinctive film-making, executed with ruthless clarity and force.
Though shot in striking anamorphic widescreen and laced with references to John Carpenter, Sergio Leone and the like, Bacurau doesn’t quite work in traditional genre-movie terms. Rather, it demands the extra labor of unpacking its densely multilayered subtext to appreciate.
The Hollywood Reporter by Stephen Dalton
Though handsome in style and admirable in ambition, this sprawling neo-Western never comes together as a satisfying whole.
It’s disturbing and messy, a fever dream for a disturbing and messy time in Brazil. And occasionally, it’s a lot of fun, too.
The combination of satire and savagery is pretty fierce and intriguingly unique.
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Please login to add films to your watchlist.
During the Civil War, a Southern civilian narrowly escapes execution and begins his escape toward home.
Life in a neighbourhood in Recife, Brazil takes an unexpected turn after the arrival of an independent private security firm.
Sometimes staying put is the greatest challenge.
The story of runner Usain Bolt, from his youth in Jamaica to his fourth and final Olympic Games in Rio.
For nine women, it's more than just a bathhouse: it's a sanctuary.
Clowning around can cost your soul
When 23-year-old Jeanne is dumped by her boyfriend, she moves in with her father and his new girlfriend, also 23.
A lonely middle schooler befriends a mermaid whose singing causes humans to compulsively dance.
There's nothing more bittersweet than letting your kids grow up.
After her triumph against the English army, Joan of Arc is captured by the Burgundians and imprisoned for heresy.
A disturbing exploration into the complex truths behind the unraveling of two Brazilian presidencies.
An unconventional recovery drama focusing on one man’s struggle for stability.
A day in the life of the Petrov family in post-Soviet Russia during a flu epidemic.
Bacurau is an incredibly interesting dystopian political satire focusing on the racism and classism experienced by poorer northeastern Brazilians. The film pulls no punches in critiquing western capitalism and the historical colonization of the global south. While Bacurau can be sharp and serious, there are also moments throughout the film that allow it to be darkly hilarious. Despite the rather gruesome violence, you won't be able to stop watching.