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Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

I liked the film Almodóvar made just prior to this a lot more; 1984's What Have I Done to Deserve This? was a far more involving, concentrated and reigned in effort about a group of women living in a cold; damp; greyed out; unwelcoming Madrid striving to get by amidst volatile living conditions and family members. It was witty, punchy and taut: a real treat. While I'd furiously champion that film if you're seeking out early Almodóvar, his 1986 effort Matador leaves a bad taste in the mouth; a wandering, sprawling freak show of a film documenting irritating; destructive and border-line psychotic people getting mixed up with one another in webs of "love" and "passion". It is nonsense of the highest order; a wandering, sprawling piece that treats an array of sensitive subjects in a grandeur and disrespectful manner. Maybe it's about the sorts of items the cinema of Spain had been mostly starved of over the decades prior to the 1980s due to strict censorship, but in truth; it's a relatively routine, drab thriller with a little bit of trashy sex sprinkled in, about a misogynist whom it's gradually revealed might be coming around to realise his ways as whom it is his eye catches goes through a routine process of idolising somebody a tad too much.The misogynist and idol in question is a certain Diego (Martínez), a trained matador who now teaches after a bit of an incident several years ago during a bullfight in which he was gored. He teaches young Ángel (Banderas), the lone interesting character of the film whose impetulance in being a youth sees him overreact and do something daft early on resulting in the film imprisoning him for most of the rest of it. This means we get to focus on Diego and a certain María (Serna) bickering; bantering and meeting at all sorts of odd times in odd places as lust and so fourth rages. Diego is a man that likes pain; derives pleasure from pain and particularly pain inflicted on women given how much he enjoys the horror film he watches at the beginning. This, before we cut to the same gentleman lecturing on how to skewer a bull to a class of matadors. Next scene, María is murdering a poor hapless chap by 'goring' him in her own unique way; a sharp hair pin into somewhere just thinking about sends shivers down my spine. This is what links them, you see – sadism attracts sadism; the longing for dangerous and powerful romantic interludes attracts the longing for dangerous and power........oh, you get the idea. María is a lawyer, and even turns out to be Ángel's attorney after he turns himself in for an attempted rape on neighbour Eva (Cobo), someone who just happens to be Diego's girlfriend.What begins as a slightly interesting and edgy drama about a number of colourful people interacting with each other on this plateau of suspicions and the questioning of one's identity quickly dissolves into bland Euro-centric dribble designed to shock and confuse, written and directed by a man on a then-brief vein of form that sees him ramble without consequence as the revelling in grotesque content comes across as that of the 'high-art'. Maybe to him and some others, to the rest, it's just juvenile. The film systematically uses Ángel to tap into Spain's problematic past and both Diego and María as tools documenting what everyone else in every other Western nation are "obsessed" with in their texts so as to provide some sort of closure on where Spain and its art (plus attitudes) might (or ought) be headed. The case study between the two romantic leads exemplified by the two graphic sex scenes María is involved in: grotty, greyed out and uncouth in a run down locale with a nobody earlier on, but in a lavish; colourful; exquisite; log-fire lit locale later on with Diego.Almodóvar has fun addressing the past in the character of Ángel, a young man that lives with his mother in a rather expensive home having had a Catholic upbringing, and we get the sense he's been kept as far away from any sort of temptations, however seemingly minute, as possible. This is touched upon in a sly moment when Almodóvar has him engage with Diego around a billiards table, Diego asking for a game to which Ángel does not even attempt to rise to simply by saying he "does not know how to play". It would seem pool houses, items such as gambling and the like have been in no way omnipresent throughout Ángel's life. Issues of sexuality are questioned – this representation of the more 'classical' young Spanish male then driven to go out so as to try and rape a girl; a neighbour, someone local, thus clearly establishing a sense of desperation or suddenness in the act, built up by anger. But incarcerating Ángel is Almodóvar's method of telling us he's dealt with that bit and now wants to focus on the scummy leads, systematically rendering Ángel's strand one of a detective driven nature as police officers struggle to work out what has driven this young man to do the things he says he has done. The film is remotely interesting at the best of times, off-the-wall; grotesque and rather stupid at the worst – culminating in a bizarre race against time borrowed from many-a past thriller rendering the entire experience a wholly unpleasant way to spend an hour and a half.

"Matador" is one of the most interesting and unique of Almodovar 's films, which is saying a lot considering this is Pedro we are talking about! The majority of the characters engage in untoward sexual behavior. Death is an obsession and killing is an aphrodisiac even if it means the end of your own life. The characters are deeply flawed but their horrendous actions are treated as being almost commonplace. I was conflicted while watching the film, because the main characters are monsters, but the actors make the characters so real that one understands what drives their evil tendencies. It is interesting how Angel appears to be the only character who feels any remorse for his attempted rape. Maria and Diego appear completely self serving without any guilt. Even Eva is willing to not tell the police on Diego if he will stay with her. These characters are monsters. But they are complex and wholly intriguing. We may not encounter these types of people, but we know they are out there, which keeps us wanting to know what they will do and how they can live with themselves after they have murdered, attempted rape, or are willing to ignore disgusting crimes for love.Although not as vibrant in color as Almodovar's more recent films, "Matador" still makes use of his love of red. In one particular scene, Eva runs down the stairs in pursuit of Maria, which creates a gorgeous image and is what we expect from Pedro. His camp sensibility is also apparent in the film as he mixes surprising comedy with drama. One example is when the detective says what have you done and Angel's psychologist, Julia, says straight faced, "I curled it" while pointing at her hair. Hilarious!Almodovar created a film that would have never been allowed under Franco's rule. You will be sitting there shocked but fully engrossed in this bizarre story.

It is very much worth watching this early film of Almodovar from 1986, with a painfully young Antonio Banderas also at one of his first major screen presences. As many of his latest great movies it's a film hard to put in a precise square, a combination of comedy and tragedy, of crime, love and corrida movie with a touch of absurd and a touch of passion taken directly from life.Although many of the major themes of passion, sexual desire and ambiguity, relation between love and death are already present the movie is somehow simpler in action and easier to watch than some of the later films. The story of two sexual predators and murderers, united in life by the passion for bull fights and in death by their passion for each other is acted with accuracy by a good team of actors and directed with an already recognizable style by Almodovar. The hand of the young master is certainly already there, and the film ages well 20 years after is premiere.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!! WATCH OUT!!!Incredibly dark comedy/drama. Diego (Nacho Martinez) is an instructor of the art of bullfighting. He also has a thing for death. It seems that he can't snap out of the state of mind he's in ever since he was gored by a bull years ago when he was a celebrated matador. This also causes a nasty habit: murdering women and having sex with the corpse. His student, Angel (Antonio Banderas, before he went Hollywood), is unhappy with his life (Constantly berated by a very religious mother, who thinks her son is evil), soon confesses to a series of murders. Into the picture comes Maria (Exotic Assumpta Serna), an attorney who thinks that Angel is innocent. And she should know: She's responsible for killing young men in the act of passion! It seems that she has a thing for death, too. It is only a matter of time when Diego and Maria meet, and when they do...things get VERY interesting!Pedro Almodovar slips into the dark side with this film, and a lot of scientific overtones (Angel has some sort of psychic ability, characters talk about types of mushrooms and a solar eclipse features in the film). Those that are want to get into the films of Almodovar may not want to start with this film (Try "Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown" instead.), but you don't want to ignore this film. Serna and Martinez worked very well together and I was deeply saddened when I heard that Martinez died in 1996. He was a talented actor and gave this film its soul. It's great that the DVD of the movie is now available, because those that are curious can watch it. The colors are beautiful, and it's just a wonder to see. Not recommended for anyone under 17 due to some intense sexual scenes.