Friday, January 10, 2025

Palm Springs International Film Festival 2025: Kill The Jockey

 

Why are female jockeys so sexy and lesbians? This is gonna give you and me a fetish possibly. And, you can thank Luis Ortega's Kill The Jockey for it.

Another night, another movie at the prestigious, Palm Springs International Film Festival. This time held in the basement of the Palm Springs Art Museum at the very orange Annenberg Theater. Many pass-holders and fans of cinema waited out in the cold to see a strange slice of cinema. We entered to utter nonsense and for the most part liked the start.

Surrealist comedy/drama and exploration of possibly drag/trans issues is pure art house. And, is Kill The Jockey. Weird doesn't even begin to describe the dream-like world of Remo Manfredini, a jockey, who recently got another jockey pregnant, is supposedly better as a racer on drugs, gets the local mafia on his tail after a fatal horse accident and possibly needs to reincarnate after finding his female side in prison.

Nahuel Pérez Biscayart pulls it off as the weirdest jockey you've ever seen. His every comical move and his switch from style could make him an iconic weirdo to fall in love with over here.

Once again, there's no doubt that director Luis Ortega and Timo Salminen, his cinematographer can pull off some amazing and beautiful shots. They know how to make a movie. Make it looks good and make people look gross or sexy.

What it won't be, is a mainstream masterpiece. It gets weird, real weird and drags itself ruining it's stay when something more straightforward and silly could easily have garnered more of audience. Really, towards the end it gets pretty up their with the surreal and what's happening and I can't say I enjoyed it. At least we had some action in the ending as the last act likes to drag on and on.

And, I'm not quite sure if it's drag or having a female identity when Remo Manfredini transforms into Dolores loater in the film. At first, it was a coma induced state, later on I'm not sure if it's who Remo was hiding or who he needed to become or something else.

It would be seen a European, even though it's from South America, with out some sexy moments. We get a very heavy sexual moment with female jockeys getting ready by sexy dancing. While, very libido-heavy it's also funny as they're so short and it's before a big race. Hire the director for a music video. Hire Úrsula Corberó who played Abril for any sexy role you have.

Shift and we're on another beat with a crime boss always having a baby with him and someone going, "His had it for like six or seven years," truly made it a farce. Another scene, the crime boss says he wasn't allowed to have anymore babies. That's the sort of funny strange mess I loved. Walking on ceilings for what pretense,not so much,

Kill The Jockey has a nice starting gate feel, but as the race drags on it become an art house movie you could get weirded out by like so many rest. But, maybe, make an A24 merch style like catalog of all those sexy lesbian jockies.