This week, Virtual OKCMOA is partnering with Kino Lorber to beam one of the year’s most strikingly original and critically acclaimed new releases straight to your living-room. A box-office smash that racked up over one million views in its native Brazil, 2019 Cannes Jury Prize winner Bacurau is an audacious and timely, post-modern Western that pits the resourceful residents of a fictional Northeast Brazilian village against a wave of unexplained phenomena and menacing invaders.
Five-day screening passes are on-sale now for $12. Your purchase supports OKCMOA.
All pass-holders are invited to join in a free YouTube Live Q&A with Udo Kier and filmmakers Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles on April 1 at 7 pm! Visit this link to set up a reminder or access the Q&A.
When Teresa returns to her sleepy hometown of Bacurau, she instantly notices that something isn’t right. A palpable sense of unease hangs over the dusty streets, empty coffins dislodged from a passing truck litter the roads, cell service is non-existent, crucial medical supplies and drinking water are in short supply, while homegrown psychotropic drugs flow freely. The villagers watch with increasing dismay as the whole town of Bacurau begins to disappear from digital maps and a mysterious pair of neon-clad tourists ride into town on matching dirt bikes.
Then things start to get weird…
From here on, the less said about the specifics of Bacurau‘s shape-shifting plot the better. Much of the fun of this deliriously inventive art-house oddity comes in watching the unexpected way it morphs from one thing to another—fusing low-key small-town melodrama; dystopian, sci-fi-tinged satire; nail-biting, John Carpenter-inspired thrills; and fatalistic, Sam Peckinpah-style town-square shootouts into a wildly entertaining and genuinely thought-provoking genre pastiche.
Co-directed by celebrated Brazilian filmmakers Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles (Neighboring Sounds, Aquarius) and featuring an eclectic international cast that includes iconic Brazilian actress Sônia Braga and B-movie mainstay Udo Kier, Bacurau uses complex sound design and richly textured wide-screen cinematography to foster close identification with the film’s scrappy band of small-town revolutionaries, and to fully immerse us their topsy-turvy, near future world.
Much like Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite or Jordan Peele’s Get Out, which both ground their powerful social critiques in a carefully modulated progression from surreal dark comedy to horrific violence, Bacurau draws on the kitsch iconography of Spaghetti Westerns, 70s exploitation films and low-budget horror movies to make a potent critique of colonial oppression, white supremacy and global economic inequality that culminates in a brutally cathartic, Tarantino-esque explosion of history-reversing, mass carnage. (A modern midnight movie in the best sense, Bacurau is not recommended for younger viewers.)
At once hyper-local and universal, Bacurau offers a deeply ambivalent (but ultimately hopeful) portrait of contemporary Brazil that celebrates the region’s resilience, rich cultural heritage, and ability to unite in the face of adversity. Fusing eye-popping hallucinogenic style with urgent, eye-opening substance, Bacurau is a cutting-edge dispatch from the front lines of global art cinema and a raucous cult classic in the making. We’re so pleased to be able to share it with you during this exclusive virtual preview.
Stay tuned for more virtual screening events in the coming weeks!
-Lisa K. Broad, PhD, Film Programmer
More on Bacurau
Read: Brazil in a Black Mirror: How Bacurau Turns the Western on its Head Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles talk with the BFI about Bacurau‘s wide-ranging cinematic influences
Read: Brazilian Director Kleber Mendonça Filho Is Escaping From Dystopia Into Older Films Bacurau co-director talks about his self-quarantine experience with Vulture
Listen: Mysterious Events Disturb A Small Brazilian Town In Genre-Busting ‘Bacurau’ film review from NPR’s Fresh Air
Watch: Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles introduce Bacurau
Watch: The Directors of Bacurau & Sônia Braga on the Making of Their Brazilian Thriller at the 2019 New York Film Festival
