Spanish filmmaker Albert Serra has built quite a reputation over his past few films, especially 2022’s “Pacifiction,” which critics praised at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival (it also topped Cahiers du Cinéma‘s top 10 film list that year). But Serra has been an auteur to keep an eye on as far back as 2013’s “Story Of My Death” won the top prize at that year’s Locarno Film Festival. Don’t believe the hype? Well, Serra’s latest, “Afternoons Of Solitude,” won the San Sebastian Film Festival‘s top prize last year, so he has a knack for
Coincidentally, Serra’s latest is also about a prizefighter: Peruvian bullfighter Andrés Roca Rey. “Afternoons Of Solitude” takes a long, patient look at Rey’s career over three years and fourteen bullfights: less a look at the man than a meditation on his profession.
Here’s an official synopsis of “Afternoons Of Solitude,” courtesy of Grasshopper Film:
Filmmaker Albert Serra trains a patient and poetic lens on the dazzling pomp and devastating brutality of bullfighting in his new documentary portrait of the charismatic Peruvian-born star torero Andrés Roca Rey. Intensely in-the-moment, AFTERNOONS OF SOLITUDE expertly balances the visceral thrill of the battle inside the ring, pitting animal instinct against human technique, with a meditative filmmaking style that allows the viewer to appreciate the emotional and physical toll the violence takes on both man and beast. Unflinching yet reflective, Serra’s film is a monumental depiction of the persistence of the primitive in the present day, while acknowledging the extraordinary skill of the man who puts his life and spiritual endurance at risk as he faces down rampaging nature.
As noted earlier, “Afternoons Of Solitude” had its world premiere at last year’s San Sebastian Film Festival, where it won the fest’s top prize, the Golden Shell. The doc also had screenings at the 2024 New York Film Festival.
“Afternoons Of Solitude” returns to Film at Lincoln Center in NYC and other theaters nationwide on June 27. Watch a trailer for Serra’s latest below.
