Matador (1986)

Pedro Almodóvar | Spain | 1986 | 102 min | R21 (Mature Content and Sexual Scenes) Almodóvar explores the intoxicating relationship between pleasure and death through the convergence of bullfighting and murder. Diego, a retired bullfighter, mentors aspiring matadors and finds his pleasure in gory thriller-horror films and killing his lovers. One of his students is Ángel, played by a young Antonio Banderas, a sexually repressed young man who confesses to crimes he did not commit. This piques the interest of María, an enigmatic lawyer whose pursuit of the case leads her to a fateful and passionate encounter with Diego. Marking a stylistic turn from his naturalistic early works, Matador is a subversive erotic thriller that plunges into a darkly comic and profanely surreal exploration of desire. Newly restored in 4K, it traces the dangerous space between sex and death through the rituals of bullfighting and murderous intimacy.