Bacurau
Directed by the ex-critic Kleber Mendonça Filho in collaboration with Juliano Dornelles, Bacurau tells the story of an isolated Brazilian village that must confront the strange happenings surrounding their town. One year ago today, it won the second-highest honour, the Grand Jury Prize, at the Cannes Film Festival. However, while at first, it may seem undeserving because of its calm and unambitious nature, it soon devolves into a different beast that proves why it received the honour in the first place.
Held down by its unambitious script from its co-directors as well as muted performances (barring Sonia Braga) from the start, Bacurau, at first, seems to slowly meander and have no purpose, aimlessly going from event to event without a gripping story to carry it. Despite the weakened presence of an exploration of themes of community, loss and identity (surrounding the death of the town’s matriarch), the way it is shot and directed provides something closer to a low-budget “day in the life” documentary than the ambitious film that had been promised. Upon further research, early versions of the synopsis included a filmmaker documenting the town, yet the recent ones have scrapped that entirely, pointing to the possibility that it may have been an ill-advised directorial choice. However, even as it fails to engage to a deeper extent in over an hour, the audience soon begins to get glimpses of a greater conflict going on behind the scenes.
Consequently, as the second half of the film builds up, it quickly becomes a different feature, taking narratively shocking turns only rivalled by last year’s Cannes winner Parasite as the script and level of narrative engagement begin to show promise. New characters and themes of class conflict are soon introduced, with the power dynamics between the town and the surprisingly fleshed out central antagonists (bolstered by a brilliant performance from Udo Kier), as well as the presence of masterful cinematography from Pedro Sotero and the heightened score and sound design from Tomaz Alvez de Souza, Mateus Alvez, Ricardo Cruz, Cyril Hotz, and Matheus Miguens.
Nevertheless, all those aspects build up even further as the last act of the film is reached. Now taking inspiration from films such as The Most Dangerous Game, The Dollars Trilogy and other genre-bending weird westerns, the audience get what they were promised as the tense final act leaves one in shock as the previously solidified power dynamics between the characters began to change and morph by the second, resulting in a bloodcurdling finale that could rightfully be deemed some of the most inventive work of the year.
Overall, while Bacurau does take its time to reveal its hand due to its unfocused first act, ultimately, it provides its promise and morphs into an unexpectedly shocking and thrilling head trip that rightfully deserves its Cannes accolades one year ago.