User reviews

One of the strangest films I've seen, in any language, but it must have been good because I'm still processing it a day or two later. The underlying meaning and the intent are not too far off the mark - we're all targeted, hunted and sacrificed by factions that seek to profit from our misfortune, lack of opportunity, demographic, vulnerability and fear; especially when amplified by poverty - if we don't look after ourselves, nobody will. One for all and all for one!

Perhaps the most recent entry of weird western genre, this is a wild ride form start to finish. imagine mixing Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns with science fiction, horror and disturbing scenes, psychedelic drugs, Udo kier as a former nazi with his squad of savage american-eoropean villains and cultural themes of a local brazillian village and the result is Bacurau.

Written and directed by Kleber Mendonca, an acclaimed brazillian filmmaker, Bacurau is a roller-coaster of a film. It manages somehow to be both 1. reminiscent of Jodorowsky's surrealists westerns and 2. a very modern social commentary film about foreign invasion and colonialism. You may or may not like this film, but you will surely appreciate it's accomplishments.

Bacurau embraces so many strong topics: the endemic violence in Brazil, the gun culture and god complex of the US, social gap, political corruption, historical resistance of Nordeste (Brazil's Northeast region) and the "complexo de vira-lata" (inferiority complex) of the people by their own country. These are all packed in a mystery/thriller/western entertaining film set in the Sertão. It's already a classic and an important addition to Brazilian contemporary cinema.

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.

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.

Easily the strangest film I saw in 2020. The Brazilian actors feel so genuine and legit, and all the American actors are the polar opposite: Cinemax caliber acting. The juxtaposition between the two is really off-putting, but it's one of the things that gives this strange movie it's own identity. Somehow it feels like there is some sort of symbolic parallel with the weird drone UFO that you see very early in the film. At first when you see it, you think "they can't really expect us to accept how cheap looking this thing is, can they?", but it turns out it was a conscious decision and served a purpose. I have to wonder if the production team purposefully did the same thing when they cast the American actors - I wouldn't doubt it, but I can't determine why they would metaphorically.

Bacurau is not exactly a super enjoyable film to watch, but it's a very intriguing experience with a unique tone of it's own. It's rather grim overall - almost completely humorless, but there's accomplishment in that. There is plentiful violence, as it is one of the main themes of the film. I enjoyed the music throughout the film, as disjointed as it felt - the John Carpenter song felt totally out of place, but as a big fan of it, I enjoyed it anyhow. The Geraldo Vandre song is the one that stands out the most - sounds like a Spanish King Crimson - it's great! Udo Kier was also a nice addition to an otherwise unknown cast - total legend - always equally creepy and enjoyable.

I wouldn't recommend this to the average person, but if someone asked me about it and they were curious, I would definitely tell them it's good. I'd be curious to see what this director would choose to do with a higher budget. Time for me to read up on them a bit...

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.

'Bacurau (2019)' is many things, but unoriginal isn't one of them. The film begins with a young woman returning to her remote home village with supplies such as vaccines, but it eventually morphs into something rather unexpected. I won't spoil anything specific here, but it's safe to say that the flick doesn't conform to any one genre. It doesn't even flip fully between its varying tones; it consistently carves out its own versions of them. It's difficult to describe, in a way. Essentially, it's never quite what you expect it to be, even when it seems to be heading in a specific direction. In many ways, it's all the better for it. It truly feels like its own thing, an amalgamation of influences that emerges as a distinct experience in its own right. There's nothing especially groundbreaking about any of its individual elements, but it finds freshness in the way in which it puts them all together. It's fairly long and it drags a little in places, but it's typically an enigmatic and entertaining affair that does a good job pulling you into its idiosyncratic world. It's at its best when focusing on the inhabitants of its eponymous village. Whenever it cuts to its other major set of characters, it loses quite a bit of steam and feels a bit tonally incongruent. There's a lot going on here, both in terms of plot and theme. Though it isn't fully cohesive, it's impressive that it manages to come together as nicely as it does. Apparently a lot of it plays out as satire of Brazil's current political landscape, but I don't know anything about Brazil's current political landscape; I'm unashamed to admit that most of the political satire went over my head. Ultimately, the picture is an enjoyable and well-written genre mash-up that's impressive in its ability to avoid labels and still deliver a compelling narrative.

This movie deserves to be nominated for an Oscar 2020. It's sensational.

After watchin Bacurau the first thing that came to my mind was that only Quentin Tarantino could have shot this movie better. He would for sure like this script. And now after reading some reviews I see I'm not the only that thought like that, must be some truth in it then. That aside Bacurau is fun to watch, an entertaining movie that starts slow but that get your immediate attention as you wonder what the hell is happening. Good performances from the whole cast, nice and violent action scenes, it's just a good movie that deserves a bigger audience.

I don't like movies that are too formulaic, and I hit a jackpot with this one. I simply cannot ascribe it to genre. If I had to, the closest would be social satire. The movie to which it is most comparable is Relatos Salvages, and it is equally good. It is witty, violent and touching.

The power of the collective, a message that we anywhere in the world must keep in mind and practice to protect us from any system that wants to kill us.

.. but totally lost its edge half way thru

I'm not going to spend many lines dissecting this film. In short without spoilers: Promising buildup turned lukewarm social justice zombie splatter with predictable ending. I feel cheated

Hence the score 5/10 reflects the average of the first and second part together.