Bacurau

Nighthawk is an unbelievable ride that leaves you staring with your jaw on the floor. It cannot be compared to anything else and is difficult to write about. With its very captivating drive and a skilfully hidden but strong political subtext, it is a great festival flick offering a riveting, even “action” allegory of haughty evil and simple life professing resistance that has to resort to violence. The opening scene of the truck driving through the Brazilian wilderness suggests a unique experience – a promise that the masters Dornelles and Filho more than fulfil. In short, Nighthawk is an explosion of filmmaking creativity. [Cannes] (16/05/2019)

“This is only the beginning.” Transplant Schorm’s The Seventh Day, the Eighth Night into the Brazilian sertão, add tropicalism, Italian westerns and American B-movies (especially action and sci-fi), political satire, electronic music, extreme violence, a carnivalesque blend of disparate elements, the (Bakhtinian) logic of excess, grotesqueness and corporeality, the lack of differentiation between the categories of “high” and “low” art, a mix of social criticism and a utopian vision of a community that preserves the traditions of Brazilian culture and Udo Kier... and you will have only a vague idea of the truly strange nature of this film, which – like the village that serves as its title – rebels against the seamless fusion of different cultures. One of the most striking and refreshing yet, at the same time, most difficult-to-describe film experiences of the year. 80% (18/10/2019)

It’s been a long time I saw a movie that would mix genres as frantically as this one, but still managed to make sense in the end. When I saw it in the synopsis that one of the genres is sci-fi and moreover it was made in Brazil, I was ready for basically anything. I had no idea, however, that it will start as a standard social drama from near future, over time turn into a very decent Western (the scenes with the two bikers were awesome), and end up as no less decent brutal action flick. The masterfully shot atmosphere of a little town that the local government wiped from the world map to get rid of it seems almost fantasy-like. A mysterious, but also clearly amicable place where people like each other. At times there are hints of absurdity, which however fit so well into the overall context of the movie, that I find myself quite enjoying this phase of the Brazilian new wave, as the creators behind the Film Brasil festival call it. Had it not been for a few scenes that ran for too long, I might have given it five stars. Anyhow, my thanks go to the creators of the festival for introducing this film to me, as I really enjoyed it! (04/11/2019)

This much praised Brazilian festival film from Cannes didn't blow me away like the others, but it is definitely an unusual and interesting experience. The story focuses on a gated Brazilian community somewhere near the desert that is rejected by the system. Not only does the town get wiped off the maps, but they also run out of food, water, electricity and American tourists come to hunt. The film flows at a slower pace, but once it moves from social drama to an almost western-thriller with Tarantino-like gore, it's a solid spectacle that doesn't shy away from violence. Admirable for Brazil, but there were a few elements that distracted me (the acting and visuals aren't the film's strongest points, even though that may have been the intention). 6/10. (05/12/2019)

Bacurau is a properly viewer-friendly and, at the same time, agitatingly angry contribution to the category of folk murder tales and primitive (not in the sense of stupid, but as a way of communicating with the lowest levels of the audience) socio-political metaphors. Therefore, it has room for straightforward symbolism, elements of trash genres, unique characters, blood and shallowness, as well as motifs associated with the sense of togetherness of rural communities and pride in their history and heritage. (19/05/2019)

When you feel that nothing can surprise you as a viewer, once a year we get a solid indie flick that bends your expectations and stomps them under the hot Brazilian sun. I won’t say that it took my breath away or made my eyes pop in admiration for the creators – at the end of the day, it’s nothing but a relatively trite concept that only pretends to be an untraditional multi-genre revolt. And yet, it works almost admirably, without ever feeling overstuffed or messy (both filmmakers work with a focused and slow pace and don’t forget about the characters and the dialogues that hide many interesting social motifs), and it also can be taken as a distinctive homage to several popular subgenres that the mainstream can rarely play with. And the more it remains unsaid and untouched, the more interestingly and nicely solid it is. Those “Zahler” references are great, too. 80% (01/04/2020)

The socio-politically engaged drama, which begins as an inconspicuous intimate insight into the life of a closed village community in the Brazilian countryside, gradually transforms into a captivating (almost) thriller, in which this community must come together to defend itself against oppressors. This is carefully constructed film, innovative in a number of creative approaches, follows a consistently slow pace of storytelling that slowly dispenses information, just enough for the viewer to be able to imagine everything necessary. The point is striking and well executed, and the culminating plot is accompanied by clear criticism and a number of metaphors referring to the hidden power of the common people and their history. Perhaps only the introduction of the film is too lengthy. In any case, it is a film with an original story, realized in an unprecedented form. (10/10/2019)