You can choose a password length of not more than 50 characters. Do not forget to switch keyboard layout to the English. Do not choose a password too simple, less then 4 characters, because such a password is easy to find out. Allowed latin and !@#$%^&*()_-+=., characters
Create Free Account
Already have an account? Enter
Back
Welcome back!
Please enter all the fields
Incorrect login or password entered
Sign In
Forgot your password?
Don’t have an account? Create Account
Back
Forgot your password?
Please enter your Email
This Email is not registered in Simkl
Failed to send email, try again later
Don't worry. It's easy to reset.
Please enter your Simkl username or E-mail from your account to start the password recovery process.
Reset Password
We have sent instructions to the email address you provided during signup. Please follow the link from the email to continue.
bacurau (2019) - a messy weird western that falls flat on its own grave - (6/10)
set in a fictional town of brazil, bacurau is a psychedelic weird western that fails to explore the concept it creates to its full potential.
directed by juliano dornelles & kleber mendonça filho, bacurau tells the story of the idyllic life of general southern brazil. it captures the mood and tone of the lifestyle of any brazilian village with utmost authenticity. the movie is also the tale of bonding under adversity, and ultimately triumphing overall odds only to go back to the lifestyle you are used to.
bacurau explores political corruption, and it's adverse effect on people like very few films can. within the first act, you know how the local mayor is using the misfortune of the village to propagate his own political agenda. after the first act, the film takes an about-turn and turns interesting, it shows a blood game, where people hunt other people just for the fun of it. the corruption has spread so much to the bone of the society, that the crooked mayor now authorizes touring mercenaries to practice their craft on these people from bacurau. the later part of the film explores this cat and mouse game where the mercenaries try to kill the natives for fun.
the screenplay is decent, i recently learned portuguese, and bacurau is the first new film that i watched without subtitle. i had extensive preparation for watching bacurau, so i was used to the accent, i would say, the dialogue, monologues and accents are mostly accurate. the camera work is decent except for some shots (more on that later), the film does not hold your hand throughout every step of the way, it gives you a lot of room to build your own conclusion. the lighting and location are fitting, the story is a mashup between westworld, the most dangerous game and cannibal holocaust. it's mostly well made, if slow weird psychedelic western with tons of character depth and not enough development is your cup of tea, you won't be disappointed with bacurau.
the reason this film gets 6 and not a 7 or 8 is numerous. the first reason is its runtime. at 2 hours and 11 minutes, this film is a slog and a half. the first 45 minutes are devoid of any story and dedicated to character development, this very character development is absent for the antagonists, the bunch of antagonists do not get 8 minutes combined to explore their backstory. i would understand if this was an open-ended film, like midsommar, but bacurau is not midsommar. the first and the third act is starkly different from one another.
the villains are villain just because they are evil. there is no motivation or end goal of their being evil. unless you are sauron from lord of the rings, you can't pull off evil just for the sake of being evil. the discrepancy in time distribution behind character development is comically noticeable.
back to the camera, i did not need to see 9 god damn mouth shots, if you are swallowing something, and you just show the teeth, lips and tongue, you don't look like kubrick, you look like a pretentious amateur. i get it, they are taking psychedelic drugs, show me the facial expression. since the directors are versed in classic films, why could they not emulate what kubrick did with malcolm mcdowell in the clockwork orange?
bacurau was a mixed bag for me. i loved the acting, story, genre-blending gory romp and at the same time hated it's pacing, lack of character development in the 2nd and the 3rd act and most importantly, the lip shots.
bacurau has the chance of becoming a cult classic, but for me, it's a decent one time watch if you are in the mood to watch an authentic brazillian western.
You can paste URL of the image inside
your comment and it will be
automatically converted into the image
when reading the comment.
Find a GIF
Create a Meme
How to add a video:
To add a video paste video url directly into your comment. Example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7L2PVdrb_8.
Do not post links to copyrighted video content (TV Episodes,
Movies). Share them privately if
needed.