Matador

This twisted, brave, funny film from Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar takes an unflinching look at the link between sex, death, and religion. Antonio Banderas stars as Ángel, a sensitive student of matador Diego (Nacho Martinez), whose goring at the horns of a bull has left him obsessed with killing. In order to prove his manhood to Diego, the misguided Ángel tries to rape his model girlfriend (Eva Cobo), and when that fails, he confesses to a string of murders he didn’t commit. María (Assumpta Serna), a mysterious, attractive lawyer, takes his case but winds up falling for Diego, revealing some dark secrets of her own. The pair begin a beautifully doomed romance as a police inspector (Eusebio Poncela) begins to fathom who the real killer, or killers, may be. This was the fifth film from the talented Almodóvar, and it reveals a true genius at work in his use of symbolic color, structure, metaphor, and homage to Hitchcock and Welles. MATADOR is fast-moving, disturbing, erotic, and undeniably brilliant in a way most American audiences may not be prepared for but should certainly seek out. Almodóvar regulars Carmen Maura, Julietta Serano, Chus Lampreave, and Verónica Forqué costar.