Bacurau (Nighthawk - 2019)

Not for everyone, this story of mysterious events threatening the inhabitants of a rural Brazilian village, including its disappearance from maps, made Barack Obama's list of favorite movies of 2020, and Jack and I had some laughs watching it, as well as cringes from violence and man's inhumanity to man.

The usually glamorous Sonia Braga is almost unrecognizable as an elderly mystic with long orange hair and white roots. Udo Kier's face and white buzz cut are recognizable, though perhaps not his name, as a villain. None of the other players are known to me.

Directed and written by Juliano Dornelles and Kleber Mendonça Filho, the story has political-social overtones combined with the supernatural. It was nominated for the Best International Film Spirit Award but did not win.

Mateus Alves and Tomas Alves Souza's soundtrack can be streamed on Apple Music and Spotify.

The movie was shot in Barra (population around 80), near the central western coast of Brazil. Most of the villagers worked on the movie, either as extras or on the crew. A bacurau (translation from Portuguese: nighthawk or nightjar) is a nocturnal bird.

Filho also directed a "making of" documentary called Bacurau no Mapa, released the same year.

Kier was last blogged for Melancholia. Among her dozens of roles, Braga may be best known for Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands (1976), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), Moon Over Parador (1988), and the three 2001 episodes of Sex and the City in which she played Samantha's lesbian lover. This is the fourth scripted feature for Filho (his third time writing) and second for Dornelles. Souza has scored eight other features and four shorts and Alves has scored three other features and three shorts. All four worked on Bacurau No Mapa.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics' average of 93%, its audiences' of 85, and the President's accolade added to many nominations and wins keep the movie on a steady flight path. We saw it on Netflix April 29.