Serra’s unflinching, observational documentary plants its camera with sniper-like focus on the bloody ritual of bullfighting, as static long takes and dynamic close-ups capture a lonely matador risking his life, afternoon after afternoon, to end another.
Review #3,022
Dir. Albert Serra
2024 | Spain | Documentary | 125min | 1.85:1 | Spanish
Not rated – likely to be NC16 for bloody images and coarse language
Cast: –
Plot: The life of the bullfighter Andres Roca Rey during a day of bullfighting, from the moment he dresses up to the moment he undresses.
Awards: Won Golden Seashell (San Sebastian)
International Sales: Films Boutique
Accessibility Index
Subject Matter: Slightly Disturbing – Bullfighting; Day in the Life of a Matador
Narrative Style: Straightforward
Pace: Slow
Audience Type: Niche Arthouse
Viewed: Screener
Spoilers: No
One of the finest directors working in Europe today, Catalan filmmaker Albert Serra’s latest won’t be for everyone. Apart from his slow cinema style, which limits his films’ accessibility, this will have animal activists up in arms.
But this is a documentary, so whether the camera is there or not, bulls are still going to be taunted, gored and slaughtered in front of an appreciative crowd. So, watch it at your own peril, or perhaps, see it as an observational piece of cinema that opens your eyes to the rather nasty world of bullfighting.
Serra, without judgment, unflinchingly plants his camera in strategic positions, safely away from the ring, but with a sniper’s relentless focus, as his dynamic close-ups create an intimacy that draws you into the performance between man and beast.
He doesn’t cut away from the blood spilt and bulls taking their final agonising breaths, or in one harrowing occasion, Peruvian matador Andres Roca Rey almost getting killed.
“You put your life on the line.”
Andres is our protagonist, shouting and contorting his face to provoke whichever unfortunate bull in front of him to attack him. Sometimes, he gets momentarily injured, and one can’t be sure whose blood is on him—at some point, the sharp reds all blend in with the muleta and banderillas.
Afternoons of Solitude shows us the life of a bullfighter as he dresses up in his elaborate piece-by-piece costume, being transported to and fro from the hotel to the bullring, and then undresses as he calls it a day. Serra does it with his static long takes, which amplify Andres’ loneliness.
As Andres’ associates heap praise on his ‘big balls’ (mentioned probably at least 20 times), he cuts a quiet figure. Because he will go again another afternoon, risk his life to end another life, as part of art and entertainment.
Pair this with Gianfranco Rosi’s excellent, narrative-driven The Moment of Truth (1965) for a quasi-religious experience.
Grade: A-
Trailer:
Music:
Eternality Tan 
I’ve been waiting for this one for a long time. From where did you stream it?
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I’m not sure if it’s available for streaming yet.
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