Bacurau
Dir. Kleber Mendonça Filho, Juliano Dornelles / Dur. 130 mins / Country. Brazil
Festival Strand:- Thrill Gala
In A Nutshell:- The spaghetti western gets a modern Brazilian makeover as a struggling town comes under an onslaught from rich hunters.
The Good:- There’s a lot of nostalgia for films of the seventies but this film feels very much like it’s putting its own spin on those old films*. This certainly has a lot of a familiar tropes of the spaghetti western - the isolated town, the return of a prodigal child, the corrupt local politician, the invading force, etc. - but that doesn’t make this film feel derivative. It’s clearly marching to its beat with a sense of style and purpose while clearly paying homage to those films that preceded it. It’s lively and engaging and, like all good spaghetti westerns, surprisingly violent at times. The cats are strong as well, in particular Bárbara Colen as Teresa and Thomas Aquino as Pacote / Acacio with Silvero Pereira getting the scene-stealing moments as the deranged revolutionary-type Lunga.
The Bad:- I’m normally a fan of Udo Kier but his performance here felt a little muted at times. Also, not necessarily a bad point but any wider points being made about the current political situation in Brazil would be lost on me as it’s not something I’m up on (I’d like to pretend I am for the purposes of looking all smart and that in a chin-strokey sort of way but it would be a lie).
The Verdict:- An enjoyable modern take on the spaghetti western with the occasional spot of ultra-violence that would have made Sam Peckinpah proud.
The Venue / Intro / Q&A:- This was my first time at Leicester Square’s flagship cinema, the Odeon Luxe (the one where they have all the red carpet premieres) since they reopened it earlier in the year following major refurbishment. I have to say that it is incredible inside. I was in the stalls which are all recliners with plenty of legroom and the screen is suitably massive. It’s a lovely venue and I’ll definitely go back there (in fact, I will be for one more screening in this festival).
An intro (but no Q&A) with directors Kleber Mendonça Filho & Juliano Dornelles as well as stars Bárbara Colen who determined by a show of hands that a fair chunk of the audience were Brazilian!
* Hey, the seventies was more than 40 years ago now. All those films from that era are as old to us now as the Mark Brothers were to those who were watching Jaws and Star Wars...
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