Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #124035 in DVD
• Rating: NC-17
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Format: NTSC
• Original language: Spanish
• Subtitled in: English
• Running time: 110 minutes

Customer Reviews

Dark and Perverse and Funny....Ole, Almodovar!
...."Matador" goes places that the typical Hollywood fare will never go.

Let's see "Matador" in DVD. Let's see if I could titulate you with my interpretation of the story.

Diego is a matador unable to get back into the ring after having been impaled by a bull. He, therefore, is reduced to teaching the arts of bullfighting to younger folks...including a fan, Angel, (Banderas) who is a little twisted. See, he can't stand the sight of blood...like what's produced from a successful bullfight.... His Ma may have ruined him for life and he has these intense visions/dreams of reported murders thru-out the city. He figures he must be the murderer. But he is not. Still, he confesses and turns himself in. His story line is one of several here...

Meanwhile, we find out that the lawyer assigned to Angel, Maria, (Serna) has a penchant for death and eros....she is like what you'd imagine a black widow would be. And, in the height of passion, the stickpen.

But see, Diego also is a little twisted. "To stop killing is to stop living", he says, and he has his own passion and murder psychosis going. As with Maria, Diego searches out for the ultimate sensual experience and he goes through young women as if he's objectified them like he has bulls during a bullfight....but...!

Maria meets Diego. And it is like they have been there before and they realise what each has done and it just is as it is and what must be done must be done...it's like Peck and Jones in that "Duel in the Sun" moovy they end up both being hypnotised by.

And the ultimate love, the ultimate sensuality, is the unquestioning willingness to die for another. To me it is why "Matador" in all it's perversity and darkness, turns out to be an unforgettable and beautiful film. What will you give to have love and passion like that...?

Now, I gave you the thumbnail sketch of the story to get you to see when you see the moovy, no one can quite capture the true essence of an Almodovar. You really have to experience his films. Thru out "Matador" (as well as many in his great catalog) there are images and insinuations, symbolism and absurdities that are going to stick with you loooong after you've viewed the film. The cinematography is stupendous, the mood just takes you. Initially, there is a disconnected feel, but it speeds up and there are scenes and edits you're going to rewind to and since it is subtitled in Spanish--unless you speak the language--you find yourself rewinding trying to catch the dialog, as not to miss something. This is reminescent of the Sharon Stone/Micheal Douglas piece, and of Cronenberg's rendition of "Crash." Also the absurdity reminds me of whenever "The Sopranos" go for that dark and funny thing...

Try an Almodovar this weekend...

one of Almodovar's absolute BEST!
This was the first Almodovar film I'd ever seen, and it's made me a lifelong fan of his. Lately he's become a bit too serious, overreaching and melodramatic---"Bad Education" was especially disappointing---in contrast to the fascinating, gorgeous and hilarious black comedy and absurdism of masterpieces like "Matador," "Tie Me Up Tie Me Down" and "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown." It's the difference between reading Charles Bukowski at his best versus reading some pompous "The New Yorker" column.

Unfortunately this film is extremely difficult to find nowadays, but it would totally be worth owning and seeing over and over again. Every frame is beautiful, and the characters are all strangely interesting in their own fetching absurd ways. The cast is perfectly chosen and directed, and the young pre-Hollywood Antonio Banderas is truly a pleasure to watch, his earnest absurdity has an inherent comic genius similar to that of Dustin Hoffman in "The Graduate"...you laugh your @ss off at him all the time but at the same time find it impossible not to like and identify with him. The characters like the film have an exhilaratingly fresh, devil may care energy and abandon that is simply irresistible.

Granted, if you are a rigidly conventional, straight-laced person you'll probably find Almodovar's early work very hard to swallow. The rest of us will likely find it far superior to his current day output.

Hold on, this is one BUMPY ride!
One of the most brilliant and erotic thrillers ever made. Almodovar is a master at his craft and continues to show us how good masterful film making can be. He takes us on a journey and eroticizes death in a very subtle and skillful way, so that even the most conservative person can understand the psyches of the main characters. Highly recommended!