DIRECTED BY: Luis Ortega
FEATURING: Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Úrsula Corberó, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Daniel Fanego, Osmar Núñez, Roberto Carnaghi, Mariana Di Girólamo
PLOT: Horse jockey Remo Manfredini has fallen from the heights of his profession, afflicted with a host of addictions, tormented by his failing relationship with his fellow rider and pregnant girlfriend Abril, and feeling escalating pressure from his boss Sirena, a gangster who has tried to go straight by investing heavily in racing. After an incident on the track, Remo escapes the hospital and wanders the streets of the city trying to figure out what will bring him happiness, salvation, and renewal. All the while, he is pursued by Sirena’s henchmen, the police, and Abril hoping to save him from doom; ultimately, salvation may come in the form of an entirely new identity.
BACKGROUND:El Jockey was Argentina’s official submission in the Best International Feature Film category at the 97th Academy Awards. The film debuted in competition at the Venice Film Festival. (It received no awards.)The horse Remo rides into catastrophe bears the name Mishima, presumably shared with the notorious author and self-destructive political ideologue.Ortega claims that the story was suggested in part by the Jack London novel “The Star Rover,” about a convicted murderer who escapes torture by going into a trance where he explores alternate lives. He has also cited a conversation with his ex-partner about how he could salvage their failing relationship. Her response–“You would have to die and be reborn. Then maybe you can fix it”–appears in the film.
INDELIBLE IMAGE: Having driven a prize racehorse directly into a wrought iron fence, Manfredini wakes up with an egg-shaped head bandage and a case of anisocoria that makes him look like David Bowie. Remo stumbles onto the street in the manner of one of Monty Python’s Pepperpot ladies, but with a touching amount of uncertainty and wounded dignity. The look exemplifies the strange netherspace the character occupies and, through Pérez Biscayart’s haunted but ingenuous performance, the distance he must travel to find a better fate.
TWO WEIRD THINGS: Locker room dance party; a baby always conveniently at hand
WHAT MAKES IT WEIRD: The jockey is in a liminal state. Trapped between life and death, male and female, victory and defeat, substance and nonexistence, he is Schrodinger’s jockey. Remo’s journey to Dolores and beyond is played initially as screwball tragedy, then as black comedy, and finally as a redemptive triumph. Throughout, our hero walks through the film with a confusion and innocence that arouse sympathy even as the situations around him/her become increasingly absurd.
Official trailer for Kill the Jockey
COMMENTS: As part of the handicapping for each race, jockeys Continue reading 71*: KILL THE JOCKEY [ÉL JOCKEY] (2024)