Average Rating: 6.7/10
Reviews Counted: 14
Fresh: 11 | Rotten: 3
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 6.7/10
Critic Reviews: 5
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 1
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 192
Filmmakers Nina Gilden Seavey and Stephen Higgins follow David Fandila on a three-year trek through Spain and Latin America as the ambitious matador attempts to establish himself as the world's top-ranked bullfighter in the world. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Mar 10, 2008 Wide
Feb 17, 2009
City Lights Pictures
All Critics (14) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (11) | Rotten (3)
[The filmmakers] capture the paradox of beauty and cruelty that charges their entire film. The Matador is rightly exciting -- and unsettling.
Mostly The Matador romanticizes a brutal tradition that has no place in the 21st century.
Stripping away centuries of civilization, The Matador confronts something primal in human nature, daring us to do the same.
The Matador reserves judgment while raising the core issue concerning this traditional ritual: deep, poetic cultural expression or glorified animal cruelty?
PETA activists will be apoplectic, but the pic is geared to more culturally open-minded viewers unacquainted with the subtleties of the corrida, revealing that it's a primitive though complex sport, and that Fandila is an athlete with a dancer's skills.
The Matador reserves judgment while raising the core issue concerning this traditional ritual: deep, poetic cultural expression or glorified animal cruelty?
More observational than overtly critical, The Matador reveals the ways that violence defines a conventional, familiar, and increasingly scrutinized masculinity.
The film does a fine job constructing a timeless piece of work with a sharp-bladed cleaver and steady hand.
One of the more comprehensive looks at bullfighting we've seen in this country.
Stunningly photographed in high-definition, The Matador evokes the art of a well-choreographed dance in its portrait of a brutal pseudo-sport.
The Matador suffers from a very predictable, almost staged quality when capturing Fandila's unsequined life outside the ring.
Issues of class don't matter to the filmmakers, who pride above all else Fandila's justifications for what he does, romanticizing the possibility of his dying while giving the bulls he dances with the shaft.
. For all of its inherent gore and breathtaking surprises, "The Matador" is an essential window on the personality of an athlete working in an incredibly dangerous sport.
fabulous
I was about to change the channel when this first came on Sundance ~ glad I didn't. I was glued to this documentary from beginning to end...
April 15, 2011Don't get fooled by those people who never watched this movie. It's beautifully done - from storyline, visual, cinematography, editing, music score to directing. This movie does NOT support bullfight. It keeps an open-minded attitude that allows voice from both sides to be heard. After all, it's more about a young
November 8, 2008
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