Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
Bacurau, a small town in the Brazilian sertão, mourns the loss of its matriarch, Carmelita, who lived to be 94. Days later, its inhabitants notice that their community has vanished from most maps.
Bacurau is a genuinely singular piece of Brazilian genre cinema — a politically charged, allegorical thriller that blends spaghetti western, horror, and social commentary in a way that feels wholly its own. Its premise (a village erased from maps, hunted by foreign sport-killers) is a sharp postcolonial allegory delivered with visceral energy. The cinematography by Pedro Sotero captures the arid sertão with a mythic, sun-baked intensity that elevates the material considerably. The plot construction is inventive and bold, building dread methodically before exploding into violent catharsis. Acting is solid across an ensemble cast, though few individual performances rise to truly exceptional heights. The ending, while satisfying in its collective-resistance payoff, is somewhat more conventional than the audacious first two acts promise, leaning into genre resolution rather than pushing further into ambiguity.