Matador

Genre: Drama, Thriller

Runtime: 110 mins

Rated: NC-17

Release Date: 1988

Countries: Spain

Languages: Spanish

DIRECTED BY:

Pedro Almodóvar

WRITTEN BY:

Pedro Almodóvar, Jesús Ferrero

CAST INCLUDES:

Antonio Banderas, Assumpta Serna, Nacho Martínez, Julieta Serrano, Eva Cobo

ANGELIKA’S NOTE

In Pedro Almodóvar's MATADOR, lust, obsession, murder and Catholic guilt all play a part in a story set against the violent world of bullfighting. Featuring Antonio Banderas (PAIN & GLORY, THE MAST OF ZORRO) in one of his first roles, MATADOR is "a voluptuous mixture of black humor and subterranean sexuality" (Salon.com), rated an impressive 92% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

SYNOPSIS

Forced to retire after a goring, matador Diego Montez (Nacho Martínez) has since become a teacher. Among his students is Angel (Antonio Banderas), a naive boy so perversely desperate to impress that he attempts to rape Diego’s girlfriend, Eva (Eva Cobo). He fails, but turns himself in regardless, also confessing to a series of murders he’s recently seen in psychic visions. A lawyer (Assumpta Serna) steps in to defend him, but the police are unconvinced Angel is the real culprit.

Matador

Genre: Drama, Thriller

Runtime: 110 mins

Rated: NC-17

Release Date: 1988

Countries: Spain

Languages: Spanish

DIRECTED BY

Pedro Almodóvar

WRITTEN BY

Pedro Almodóvar, Jesús Ferrero

CAST INCLUDES

Antonio Banderas, Assumpta Serna, Nacho Martínez, Julieta Serrano, Eva Cobo

ANGELIKA’S NOTE
SYNOPSIS

"Almódovar unfolds this convoluted plot with zig-zagging surrealism and a careening, sordidly erotic energy that effectively undermines the culturally institutionalized repression targeted by the filmmaker."

Variety

"The film is fiercely funny, executed in a reckless, raucous rage by the most wantonly gifted new filmmaker on the international scene. Almódovar relishes mocking his country's sacred cows."

People Magazine

"Screamingly funny, intriguing meditation on sex and violence, delving sacrilegiosuly into the Almodovarish underpinnings of that arch Spanish ritual, the bullfight."

Empire Magazine