Afternoons of Solitude

Blood and dance. Albert Serra (›Pacifiction‹) accompanies Andrés Roca Rey, the “Messi of matadors”, and crafts a radical portrait of man and animal. Agonizing. Beautiful.

The costumes and confident moves of the matador, the charge and swipes of the bull, the shouts of the crowd. Serra shows the corrida for what it is: a ritual, a blood-red dance on sand. At its center are animal and man, two opponents who nevertheless form a choreographic unity. Observing in long takes, we are spectators and silent witnesses to a performance whose certain end is death. In-between, car rides and hotel rooms.

›Afternoons of Solitude‹ strikes a balance between documentary and art film. And whether we perceive what we see as aesthetic or brutal – or both – is for us to decide.

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