The End of the World, a Curse, and a Girl Named Anina

Some movies keep you guessing. “Bury Your Dead” takes that uncertainty to another level. This week, Carlos Aguilar dives into Marco Dutra’s Brazilian apocalyptic thriller, filled with cults, strange visions, and increasingly bizarre turns. But beneath the surreal imagery lies a darker question: what happens to human dignity when the world as we know it begins to collapse?

He also recommends two movies that take viewers into very different worlds. Uruguay’s animated “Anina” follows a young girl navigating childhood and her unusual name made up of palindromes, while the Mexican horror movie “Disappear Completely” centers on a crime photographer who begins to lose his senses after encountering something he can’t explain. Three very different movies, each with its own way of making the familiar feel strange.

Happy Watching,

— Vanessa

In this delightful Uruguayan animated feature, the titular Anina is a 10-year-old girl whose first name and both last names (Yatay Salas) are palindromes. Her unusual moniker makes her a target for bullying at school, and after a confrontation with a classmate, the tiny heroine must face a strange punishment. With uniquely designed characters (large heads and tiny eyes) in muted colors, director Alfredo Soderguit adapted Sergio López Suárez's novel into a delicately handcrafted world that feels lived-in and fateful to the country it represents.

Playing at Coral Gables Art Cinema in Florida on August 29 and streaming on Tubi.

To make a living as a photographer, Santiago (Harold Torres) captures grotesque images from crime scenes around Mexico City. His camera bears witness to horrific images that then cover the pages of sensationalist newspapers. But in the aftermath of one particular job, he begins to lose his five senses without medical explanation. Cleverly, as the protagonist loses his hearing, the sound design becomes muffled to reflect his state. As Santiago ventures into the occult while his body betrays him, filmmaker Luis Javier Henaine depicts his nightmarish visions and their real consequences in gruesome fashion.

Streaming on Netflix.

— By Carlos Aguilar

It’s only halfway through “Enterre Seus Mortos” (“Bury Your Dead”) that the supernatural manifests vividly.

Nete (Marjorie Estiano), a woman in the rural town of Abalurdes, has drunk the Kool-Aid, more precisely, a red colored tea that’s a prerequisite to join a local end-of-the-world cult. These are, as it turns out, the final days of humanity, and people are coping as best they can. After ingesting a dose of the infusion, Nete begins to lose touch with reality. Sounds and voices stream in from every direction, and when escaping the train carriage where she was meeting the cult leader (a child), the camera shakes intensely, heightening the sense of chaos. For a moment we see what she sees: the kid has turned into a tentacled monster.

That sequence is one of many bizarre, unsettling occurrences in this Brazilian apocalyptic horror thriller from writer-director Marco Dutra, an adaptation of Ana Paula Maia’s novel of the same name. A possible demonic possession, an excommunicated priest wearing a cowboy hat, a strange virus that only afflicts children, and the mangled corpses of animals all swirl around the consistently shocking narrative vying for attention.

In the eye of this storm of otherworldly elements is Edgar Wilson (played by Selton Mello, best known for his role in the Oscar-winning drama “I’m Still Here”). Driving around the vast landscape in his truck, Edgar’s job is to pick up roadkill so that it can be turned into compost. Often by his side is Tomás (Danilo Grangheia), the clergyman with a dark past, who helps collect the carcasses and provides last rites when the deceased is a person.