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Bacurau – One Fun Brazilian Genre Free For All

WARNING: SPOILERS

Bacurau is one fun genre film with a bunch of memorable cult action film characters on the level of Arnold Schwarzenegger in Predator or Song Kang-ho in Snowpiercer. Problem is, it builds up the cult vibe a bit too high, which leaves the ending doomed to underwhelm.

However, that’s not to say you shouldn’t watch this film. On the contrary, you should. It’s still exciting. Plus it presents a positive message (in a High Noon esque conflict with a lot of violence that I cannot advocate) of a diverse community in rural Brazil that comes together to stand up to attacks from local politicians and foreign interests. It’s an obvious allegory to a Brazil that has become increasingly polarized due to the rise of the Brazilian far right, led by President Jair Bolsonaro. It is interesting to see that this adaptation of The Most Dangerous Game arrived in the U.S. the same weekend as The Hunt, a U.S. adaptation of the same book, considering both countries are led by right-wing leaders.

Bacurau is the name of the fictional isolated town in the heart of Brazil where the film takes place. The town is a Brazilian copy of the towns you’d expect to see in an American western. It’s surrounded by dusty land and sparse vegetation, with only one road leading into the town. The same road all the town’s buildings are built on. The residents also represent a diverse range of backgrounds, like you’d expect to see on the American frontier (see First Cow), with black, white, and brown people, young and old, from a variety of professions. It’s almost a utopian community of the future, where everyone gets along and respects each other, or maybe it just feels utopian because communities like this are disappearing.

They’re rightly suspicious of and prepared for anything that tries to break their community. A couple stationed a mile outside of their town uses walkie-talkies to inform the DJ in town of any visitors, who then uses his speakers to pass their warnings onto everyone in town. Their lines of communication allow them to avoid interacting with the lying local politician and prepare themselves from the attacks of foreigners. They can survive by embracing outcasts and standing together in the face of danger.

There are even a few clues that the community has done this before. The town’s museum is full of memorabilia from countless rebellions against the government. The town’s residents encourage outsiders to visit the museum to show off their pride in their independence, and also warn them of what might happen if they don’t receive respect. In one of the last scenes, the museum curator asks the clean up crew to leave the mark of a bloodied hand on the wall to serve as another mark of their resistance. Their respect for their local museum indicates a respect for their history. Knowing their past, allows them to be better prepared for the future. In this case, their experience defending their town from the government and foreigners in the past has made them more wary of the same people today. It’s a lesson for everyone living today: know your history or fall victim to a cycle of racism and division that has been reborn in the rise of the prejudiced right-wing governments of the world.

If you liked Bacurau, director Kleber Mendonça Filho and co-director Juliano Dornelles handpicked an assortment of films that map the rich cinematic universe to which their inventive creation belong for the Lincoln Center in New York. Whilst the film series had to be cancelled due to Coronavirus, many of the films listed are available for streaming. Check out their program here or the link below, featuring works by John Carpenter, Sergio Corbucci, Eduardo Coutinho, and more.

https://www.filmlinc.org/series/mapping-bacurau/#films

Beginning – A Mother’s Existential Crisis in a Targeted Outsider Community

Beginning Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

If you’re looking for a provocative transcendental film that captures a mother’s existential crisis you’ve come to the right place. Beginning uses slow pacing and a classic film look to shock Yana’s humble existence within a Jehovah’s Witness community in rural Georgia to the core. As her peace is shockingly disrupted, she’s forced to reevaluate her life as a mother as part of her remote community.

From: Georgia, Asia
Watch: Trailer, JustWatch, Mubi
Next: Fire Will Come, Loveless, Taming the Garden

Beginning – The Breakdown

Beginning follows Yana, a failed TV actress that has been ‘saved’ from the entertainment industry by her religious husband. She’s taken on some of the responsibilities that are expected of a mother in a Georgian Jehovah’s Witness community but always looks like an outsider within an outcast community. As religious extremists infringe on their world and corrupt, power hungry detectives stalk the group, Yana’s small bubble begins to collapse with shocking consequences.

The most noticeable feature of Beginning is the film’s look. It’s grounded in the foundations of transcendental film, using takes that linger longer than you expect. These long takes force you to watch minute of ‘dead time’ in which the character’s aren’t doing much. It’s also shot on 35mm at a 1:33 aspect ratio, which eschews width and the modern look of digital film for the narrower and grainier classic film. The character this adds to the film heightens the dramatic long takes by eliminating the distractions of a widescreen aspect ratio whilst giving the film a more epic, classical look. The long takes and film style both set up the shocking images that are scattered through the film (such as the church on fire). Within the context of the high amount of ‘dead time’ and narrower, grainier film, these images are even more of a surprise. They look more powerful, like a piece of classical art in an empty museum. Beginning practices serenity to make these few chaotic moments feel even more disruptive.

The film’s style mimics Yana’s inner self. Her life is mostly peaceful; working with the kids in the community and raising her son. This is emphasized in the many moments of peace on screen – such as a very long shot of her lying, eyes shut in the woods. However, these serene moments are punctuated by moments of chaos that cast doubt on her otherwise serene life, signifying her existential crisis. Despite her family ties, she appears more and more uncomfortable with her life as an outsider living within an outsider community. The uncertainty surrounding the terrorist attacks isolates the community even further from Georgian society whilst the suspicious detective isolates her even more from her family. She’s questioned by her husband and feels more distant from her son as he grows to resemble him. In her existential crisis, the chaotic moments, emphasized by the film’s style, offer her a twisted olive branch to free herself from both the community and her family.

What to Watch Next

If you’re looking for more brooding films that patiently unravel, check out Oliver Laxe’s Fire Will Come. It features the return of a notorious arsonist to his small hometown in Galicia where he is treated with scorn whilst he tries to adapt to his new life. You could also try Loveless by Andrey Zvyagintsev, a slow burn thriller that captures another mother uncertain about motherhood and her role within her family.

Or for more great films from Georgia, try Taming the Garden. It’s a slow paced documentary that highlights the wealth inequality in the country through a billionaires tree theft.

Snapshot of Beyond Fest 2022 – Los Angeles’s Most Popular Film Festival

If you’re looking for a film festival that’s just as likely to screen a cult horror film as a classic John Woo action alongside a bunch of film premiere’s from Hollywood and abroad, you should check out Beyond Fest. It claims to be the highest attended genre film festival in the U.S. – which we can definitely believe as both premieres we saw were sold out. Plus, the slate catered brilliantly to the genre community in Los Angeles with screenings from a diverse range of films that spanned from Tollywood and Indian Cinema legend S.S. Rajamouli to premieres of the latest Park Chan-wook and Hollywood horror films.

Beyond Fest Premieres

We only saw two film premieres at the 2022 edition of the festival. Holy Spider, Ali Abbasi’s long anticipated return following his amazingly weird fantasy-romance-thriller Border, as well as Park Chan-wook’s latest (no introduction needed) Decision to Leave.

As expected, Holy Spider was a very well made true crime thriller set in the holy city of Mashhad. It follows the killer violently taking out his victims simultaneously as a rogue journalist reporting the story. The violence is a little exploitative, and the killer’s perspective in these moments comes across a bit distasteful situated within the current popularity of the true crime genre in which serial killers have been turned into celebrities. The focus on his perspective also diminishes the impact of the anti-patriarchal quest of the female journalist, which generates the film’s political message. The violence is more shocking than the anti-patriarchal society, and the film leans into this by showing both sides. Following the originality of Border, it was also surprising to find a very ‘by the book’ true crime thriller. Apart from one speaking corpse, there was nothing to identify this film as something from the same director. It’s a well-made film, but not as original or biting (politically) as desired.

Our film viewing history also affected expectations for Decision to Leave. Having only seen Oldboy and Handmaiden, we expected Park Chan-wook’s latest to be defined by some weird sexual scenes too. Instead, Decision to Leave proved to be one of the best modern noirs we’ve seen, complete with a very normal romance, at least in comparison to the films mentioned above. It follows a bored in marriage detective that falls in love with the suspect of a murder case. The brilliance in the film comes from the little things, such as the humorous clues of a brewing romance (including expensive sushi), and a hilarious way to take part in a knife fight. Park Chan-wook also uniquely meshes two shots into one to more efficiently convey the detective process. One example of this is when he merges the detective on stakeout with shots of the suspect by placing the detective ‘in’ her apartment talking through the detective process with the suspect. Another is when Chan-wook edits the detective into the reconstruction of the murder. These innovative scenes along with the injections of humor make Decision to Leave immensely engaging to watch.

Tollywood Takeover – S.S. Rajamouli Tribute

Following the success of the Netflix release of RRR, S.S. Rajamouli’s latest was re-released in a broader range of cinemas nationwide (notably those that don’t regularly show new Indian releases, outside of areas targeting large Indian communities). Without the Netflix buzz, we may not have received a Rajamouli tribute at Beyond Fest as not many people turned out to watch it in the U.S. in its initial release. We wrote about Rajamouli’s films deserving to be seen on the big screen a few months ago, so we were thrilled to see that 7 of his films were programmed across Los Angeles as part of Beyond Fest- most hosted at The Aero. As expected, it was a great experience, with audiences cheering throughout the film for all the iconic moments, and even getting up to dance for the big musical numbers. Whilst it probably doesn’t compare to screenings in India, it was amazing to watch immensely fun films with an audience that was equally up for it. Despite the premieres from Park Chan-wook and Ali Abbasi, these Rajamouli screenings were the highlight of our Beyond Fest 2022 experience.

Refer back to the Beyond Fest website for updates on future editions of the festival.

Andorre (Andorra) – A Dystopian Vision of the Modern City

Andorre Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Andorre presents a dystopian vision of Andorra without dialogue in twenty minutes. The city is constructed with slow pan shots of glass buildings, duty free shops, and skiers backed by a futuristic electronic soundtrack. It’s a commentary on the vapidity of life in Andorra and a critique of the culture draining effects of globalization.

From: Andorra, Europe
Watch: IMDb, YouTube
Next: Androids Dream, Ascension, Notturno

Andorre – The Breakdown

This observational documentary short reminded me of Jessica Kingdon’s Ascension. Like in Ascension, Andorre features a lot of still and pan shots of everyday situations to create a picture of their subject country. In Andorre these pan shots focus on icons of globalization, such as duty-free shopping shelves (cigarettes, alcohol, candy) and fitness centers. These shots are book-ended by shots of people entering and leaving the country at the border, highlighting the transient status of the people in the city. Add in the lack of dialogue and there is no sign of local life or culture.

It’s not just local life that is absent, but human life is also overlooked in this short. Commercial products are the focus of most of the pan shots. We’re shown aisles of duty-free shopping (cigarettes, alcohol, candy, jewelry) complemented by commercials for the same type of products. Culture has been sucked away in this place and replaced by commercials.

The spacey-electronic soundtrack completes the short’s dystopian globalist portrayal of Andorra. It sounds eeire and futuristic, like a Bladerunner soundtrack composed by a knock-off Vangelis which sets the tone of the shots we’re shown. The only other sounds that we’re allowed to hear are the ambient sounds of cars, footsteps, and a few words from a tour guide. They’re always heard at a distance, behind the spacey-electronic soundtrack, making reality feel further away. The sound completes the short by adding a dystopian tint to the vapid globalist images we’re shown.

Conclusion

The director, Virgil Vernier, creates a dystopian vision of Andorra by editing together a range of everyday shots of the city alongside a futuristic electronic soundtrack. It’s simple, but very effective. If you’re interested in visiting Andorra, watch this before or after you go.