Credited cast: | |||
Dave Bautista | ... | Stupe | |
Brittany Snow | ... | Lucy | |
Angelic Zambrana | ... | Belinda | |
Jeremie Harris | ... | JP | |
Myra Lucretia Taylor | ... | Ma | |
Alex Breaux | ... | Lt. Brewer | |
Arturo Castro | ... | Jose | |
Quincy Chad | ... | Heathcliff | |
Christian Navarro | ... | Eduardo | |
Manny Alfaro | ... | Mr. Argo | |
Todd Ryan Jones | ... | Lt. Quaid | |
Pedro Hollywood | ... | Bushwick Rebel | |
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Markdabeast1 | ... | Mark |
Rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
Barthelemy Atsin | ... | Joe | |
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Bill Blechingberg | ... | Father John |
BUSHWICK tells the story of twenty-year- old Lucy (Snow) and war veteran Stupe (Bautista). Texas, and other states (mostly Southern) are trying to secede from the U.S., and NYC is being used as a negotiation tool. Lucy meets Stupe after coming up from the subway into the military invasion of Brooklyn. Together they decide to cross the treacherous five blocks of Bushwick - littered with looters, local militias and the invading forces, in order to get home and be reunited with Lucy's grandmother.
Like others, I heard about the film because Aesop Rock posted on Facebook saying he was doing the score. So I wasn't expecting much beyond a cool soundtrack...
From the first scene, it's apparent that winning an Oscar isn't the top priority. The dialogue isn't fluent and the acting is stunted, and we're thrown in with the action almost right away: streets are burning, we don't know why, let's get the hell out of here. The top priority, it seems, is creating a video game-like war-torn corner of NYC through which the protagonists must try and survive. And it does this well.
It only took a few minutes for me to start honestly enjoying it. The main driving force is the perspective: a single hand-held camera doing long continuous takes, so the whole movie, having been edited to cut different takes seamlessly together, runs like an entire 90 minute one-shot. It makes you feel as if you're there with them, experiencing the action unfold, no tea break, and the ridiculous plot and forced acting combine to make it feel like you've stepped directly into a '90s B-movie or a shoot'em up arcade game set in Brooklyn. It's really pretty cool, and almost makes me think that the silly plot and acting were intentional. Maybe, maybe not.
If you're looking for a political thriller, a thinking man's action movie, cool martial arts/fight scenes, or any amount of emotional realism, look elsewhere. But if you're happy with a mindless yet oddly engrossing bang bang movie, this might be fun.