Last year, acclaimed Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho pulled a bit of a fast one when he showed his new film Bacurau at festivals. Fans of his restrained, realistic dramas Aquarius and Neighboring Sounds thought they were getting more of the same with Bacurau, maybe with an added western tint since the film is set in rural Brazil. This was not the case.
Instead, Filho and co-director Juliano Dornelles gave audiences a-- Actually, I'll let the trailer speak for itself:
Festival critics had their minds blown when Bacurau ended up being a hyper-violent weird western with just as much socio-political commentary as Filho's other films. The New York Film Festival screening I attended didn't know whether to make heads or tails of it, but the film brought out some of the most lively reactions I've seen in the stoic and jaded NYFF atmosphere.
I don't want to give away any more than the trailer already has, so go see what Bacurau is all about when it hits theaters March 6 in the United States. The film stars Sônia Braga, Udo Kier, and a lump sum of resentment towards American cultural homogenization. It's pretty good.