"Leave ethical concerns to one side, and the Spanish art of bullfighting is an arena rich in cinematic promise, from the gold-embroidered finery to the fearsome, kabuki-like expressions worn by fighters in the ring. It's a fact that avant-garde filmmaker Albert Serra exploits to the full in his new film, a portrait of Peruvian torero Andrés Roca Rey that is stunningly lensed by his regular cinematographer, Artur Tort."
"In this sun-sozzled noir from director Jan Ole-Gerster, Control star Sam Riley plays Tom, a washed-up tennis pro-turned-teacher at a holiday resort in Fuerteventura. Between drunken encounters at the local nightclub, he meets a young English mum, Anne ( Stacy Martin), who wants one-on-one coaching sessions for her son. When her slightly overbearing hubby, Dave, shows up complaining about their hotel room, Tom sorts them with an upgrade; the group become close, until Dave disappears one night while out on a bender."
Albert Serra's film follows Peruvian torero Andrés Roca Rey in long, gruelling bullfighting bouts captured with striking cinematography by Artur Tort. The film presents the gold-embroidered finery and kabuki-like expressions of fighters, and shows narrow escapes for Rey while depicting bulls' terror and confusion up close until their deaths. The director gives both torero and bulls equal billing, creating an elegy to an artform born of another era that is simultaneously shocking and beautiful. Jan Ole-Gerster's sun-sozzled noir features Sam Riley as Tom, a washed-up tennis pro turned resort teacher whose involvement with a family leads to a disappearance and suspected murder.
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