Afternoons of Solitude

The new film from the visionary director of Pacifiction, Albert Serra’s Afternoons of Solitude is a spellbinding documentary that turns its gaze on the ceremonial splendor and devastating brutality of bullfighting in Spain. With quiet intensity, Serra follows famed matador Andrés Roca Rey from the solitude of his hotel room and the meticulousness of his preparations to the charged spectacle of the arena. Through his immersive and unhurried lens, Serra reveals Rey’s profound physical, spiritual, and aesthetic commitment to a centuries-old ritual—one that demands he take part in a timeless duel between man and beast.

"Muscular and ferocious." — David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

"It’s a remarkable, multifarious work, and despite the controversial subject matter, it’s probably the closest thing that Serra has ever made to a crossover mainstream feature." ~ David Jenkins, Little White Lies

"This is a major work from a richly maturing filmmaker, of a piece with his recent fiction features in its use of languid repetition and sensory saturation to pull the audience into something approaching a discomfiting dream state." ~ Guy Lodge, Variety