Bushwick mixes new techniques, a great soundtrack from Aesop Rock and a notable turn from Dave Bautista to create a socially relevant slice of urban warfare.
Bushwick is the second feature from directing duo Cary Murnion and Jonathan Millot following their star-studded horror-comedy Cooties in 2014 and focuses on a ground invasion of the titular Brooklyn neighborhood by a seceding southern US militia. While Bushwick has decidedly less star power it does however demonstrate marked, and promising, improvements by the two directors in terms of practical filmmaking skills and two refreshingly against-type performances from leads Brittany Snow and Dave Bautista.
The first thing to notice is its groundedness, not realism but a commitment to its location (being mostly shot outdoors in, or around, Brooklyn) and a handheld, street level, style. It’s grimy, but that’s what it’s going for and it works. Bushwick is one of those films that relies on computer generated effects in order to garnish its bigger sequences but thankfully, due to their cheapness, it’s good to see that the directors understood that they should be used to enhance the background of a scene rather than being featured front and center.
The real star of the show is probably Lyle Vincent’s cinematography. A comfortable majority of Bushwick was shot as long, unbroken, takes that were then discreetly spliced together to create the illusion of seamlessness, similar to the work which DOP Emmanuel Lubezki did for Alejandro González Iñárritu on Birdman and The Revenant. Though, like on those films, the deception is far from perfect that might be one of its best qualities. Bushwick is particularly impressive due to how little of a deal it makes out of this.
The shooting style, itself, is impressive not so much for its aesthetic value but because of how it demonstrates a director’s control over each scene. When you can’t hide mistakes behind edits then you really have to work with your actors and extras meticulously on each scene, and each actor delivers solid work. But there are still cuts in the film, all the way up to something as intrusive as a fade out and fade in. It enables the style to feel less like a gimmick and more like a well-reasoned creative choice for the tone of the film.
That overall tone is another definite point of interest. For a premise so ridiculous that it would make John Milius blush a little, it’s a remarkably mournful film. The ultimate message of the story is far less “don’t mess with Brooklyn” and more “violence begets violence”. As Bautista’s character finally reaches his emotional apex, and lets loose about his military background, you understand that Bushwick is a violent B-movie about how violence is never the answer. It’s also far less exploitative than you may be anticipating from the premise.
While it’s very true that Bushwick intentionally taps into the vein of social anxiety and political fear that’s coursing through America right now, and anyone else who’s paying attention to it, it’s not a film that really feels like it’s drawing lines and taking sides. The film’s antagonists are black-clad, jackbooted, Nazis for sure but the residents of Bushwick are far from saints themselves. Ultimately, Bushwick is a horror film. A mad, often comedic, but believable-enough scenario told with the low-budget flare and awareness of a young John Carpenter.
Bushwick is out now in cinemas.
