Bacurau

This movie gets you going in a way that maybe you weren't expecting from an action thriller and shows genuine characters that you come to care about really early. It also introduces you to a place that's rough and angry and you realize that there's a perfect symbiosis with this rugged land and with its people. The problems they suffer on a daily basis ( lack of water, food, unwilling and corrupted government officials ), make them to the eye of certain people and corporations as second class citizens and maybe PREY!!!

An ingeniously veiled & viciously incisive slice of Brazil's sociopolitical affairs that refuses to be confined by genre definitions, Bacurau is a blazingly original, deftly layered & thoroughly engaging delight that takes its inspirations from the works of both Sergio Leone & John Carpenter but creates something that's truly unique & relevant to the nation's endemic concerns.

Written & directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho & Juliano Dornelles, the film is not only strange & mysterious at first but also dreamlike & unpredictable but as plot progresses and dots connect and stakes become clearer, it gives way to a vivid & violent showdown that's gleefully barbaric & extremely cathartic. Taking its time to cement the foundations, this is smart, subversive storytelling.

The story digs into Brazil's violence-fuelled history, political corruption, structural injustice & social gap through the small-town community, investing in its bustling life before acquainting us with the sinister threat that's lurking in the vicinity. The performances are solid throughout, the collective whole turning out to be greater than the sum of its parts. And the background score adds its own synth-flavoured bits to the final print.

Overall, Bacurau is a cleverly scripted, intelligently directed, finely photographed, expertly edited, steadily paced & strongly acted cinema that's thrilling, riveting & entertaining from the first frame to the last. A potent & powerful combination of sharp commentary & tangy extravaganza that's exquisitely balanced on all fronts, Bacurau is one of the best films of last year and is accomplished enough to find a spot amongst Brazil cinema's finest. Highly recommended.

I was in a mood to see a western aft watching too many horror movies. This movie's name cropped up. I saw this without checking the trailer and without reading any thing bah it. What a pleasant surprise i got. I am generous with a 9 cos i enjoyed this. Simple, aint no wannabe critic. The film moves at a slow pace without getting bore. It has lots of twists n turns n some wierd stuff. People roaming naked, people taking bath openly, etc. The showdown in the end is amazingly done n Western fans will definitely enjoy it. The cinematography is awesome.

The plot without any spoilers - A village consisting of very few close knitted people and suffering from severe water shortage experiences a series of unusual events after the arrival of two tourist bikers. The entire village's mobile signal goes down, the village's name n location suddenly disappears from online maps, a flying drone is seen hovering above n horses from nearby farm are set loose.

One of my faves of the past year. Literally have nothing bad or negative to say about it. So I'll keep this one short.

Man this movie really goes for it.

A wild, wild movie that feels like both a nod to Sergio Leone by way of Quentin Tarantino (though that's basically just saying this is like a Tarantino movie) and something wholly its own, "Bacurau" is a fiercely original howl of rage at white oppression and exploitation. The inhabitants of Bacurau, a small village in rural South America, are in a literal fight for survival against a band of gun-crazed killers, most of them American, who don't seem to have a motive for wiping them out beyond the exhilaration of killing people. They decide to fight back. That plot summary seems simple and linear. But as it plays out in the movie, it's instead a tangled knot of teased plot strands, information strategically withheld, and a gradual spiral from straightforward storytelling to almost surreal narrative.

I would normally complain about a movie like this that wants us to cheer on brutality just because those committing it have themselves been brutalized. But despite, or maybe because, this movie is so unapologetic in its violence and rage, it's utterly captivating and exhilarating. Disturbing to be sure, but also tremendously exciting.

Grade: A.