"For anyone looking for an ethical statement on bullfighting, this is not that film. Composed primarily of a series of corrida at which Peruvian star matador Andres Roca Rey performs, this is an extremely tough watch for those with any kind of sympathy for animal rights. Director Albert Serra lauded for his 2022 thriller Pacifiction is not especially interested in the lives of the bulls, who all die desultory deaths, depicted with horrible intimacy here."
"What is even more shocking is the abuse and contempt heaped on them by the toreros. Go join your fucking mother cow, says one to a convulsing victim. Rather, Afternoons of Solitude is an unblinking look at bullfighting and the surrounding culture of bravado and machismo, expertly shot and edited with a sense of ritualistic order imbibed directly from the sport."
"In the arena, he documents the finesse and attitude with which the matador confronts, corrals and quells the raw force of nature. In the ring, Rey has an extraordinary repertoire of gestures: preening head tosses straight from a Whitesnake gig; a glowering demon kill-mask out of kabuki theatre. Rey's entourage praises the truthfulness of his mises a mort but how much existential beauty can really be present in this theatre of cruelty and meaningless slaughter?"
Afternoons of Solitude compiles a series of corridas featuring Peruvian matador Andres Roca Rey and presents the bulls' deaths with intimate, brutal clarity. The film documents the contempt and verbal abuse directed at the animals and foregrounds a culture of bravado and machismo. Camera work and editing emphasize ritualistic order and the performative nature of the matador's craft. Serra films Rey in transit, dressing, and rehearsal, highlighting style and gesture as central concerns. Spectacle and danger intertwine as Rey is gored yet returns to face the bull, leaving ethical questions largely unarticulated.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]