The Matador (2005)

Directed by: Richard Shepard | 96 minutes | drama, thriller, comedy, crime | Actors: Pierce Brosnan, Greg Kinnear, Hope Davis, Adam Scott, Portia Dawson, Philip Baker Hall, Jonah Meyerson, Wiveca Bonerais, Israel Tellez, Guillermo Ruiz, Hanny Sáenz

In the opening scene of ‘The Matador’ we are treated to a familiar face: isn’t that Bond, James Bond? But the good man has a mustache and a small belly, and he looks very unappealing. Wait, at least there’s a beautiful woman lying next to him. Bond is going to paint his toenails with her nail polish, slightly alienating, but it must be a British ailment. Oh no, the beautiful woman also turns out to be a whore.

It should be clear, Pierce Brosnan is not a perfect hero in ‘The Matador’. His character Julian Noble is a hit man and a womanizer, but a very sad one, a bit of a dirty man actually. Julian is rude, selfish and he likes young girls and boys (although we only see the first portrayed). This fact of anti-typecasting is enough food for an entertaining film in itself, but then there is also the contrast between the unpolished Julian and the neat Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear). The two meet in Mexico City on Julian’s birthday. Julian is feeling quite lonely and Danny is having trouble with his ‘pitch’ for a Mexican company, so a communal drunkenness is quickly created. Together the two go to a bullfight (don’t worry, no bulls were mutilated or killed especially for this film) and Julian tells Danny his profession, with a nice euphemism: ‘facilitator of fatalities’. They don’t see each other for months, months in which Julian travels from one metropolis to another (with large colored letters passing Sydney, Vienna and Budapest, among others) and notices that killing is becoming increasingly difficult for him. Julian’s clients do not thank him for this and he is soon on a blacklist himself. Julian then decides to visit his only friend Danny in Denver. When he is also very charmed by Danny’s wife Bean, a rather tense situation arises.

The strongest part of this black comedy is Julian and Danny’s character sketch and the clash and shift of those two characters. Brosnan and Kinnear show very clearly that they can act. Awkward situations also feel really awkward and the humor is constantly present without going faint for a moment. The camera work is completely fine. Nice detail is the fact that ‘The Matador’ was shot entirely in Mexico, so if you see it snowing in Denver or see ballerinas dancing in Budapest: all studio work. This is very cleverly done, not for a moment do you have the idea that what you see is ‘fake’. Shepard has opted for bright colors, which fit well with the Mexican atmosphere. Only the storyline is a bit behind. Some aspects have not been fully developed and you have the idea that more could have been made of it. But ‘The Matador’ is an intelligent comedy film with good acting and camera work and also a nice soundtrack, definitely worth watching.