Two filmmakers in Las Ventas: Agustín Díaz Yanes and Albert Serra. The first (son of the great Michelin silver bullfighter) a true fan and one of those who does not hide himself, has always expressed his reluctance to make "a bullfighting movie" because, he says, it is not credible and it is very difficult to recreate, the bull he is not a good actor. Of course, in his films he always includes bullfighting references, since his memorable directorial debut No one will talk about us when we are dead.
Albert Serra, who we could say is in the stylistic antipodes of Díaz Yanes, announced in an interview in La Vanguardia in December 2020 that he was going to shoot what, in his words, would be the best bullfighting film ever filmed. And in it is (Afternoons of solitude as a provisional title) following two matadors, Roca Rey and Pablo Aguado in their season and with the suffering of the bullfighter as a plot base.
And Pablo Aguado was in the Las Ventas gang yard when shortly before the paseíllo he received a hug from the filmmaker. Together with the Sevillian bullfighter, Diego Urdiales and Francisco de Manuel.
It happened that the first two bulls, from El Pilar, of excellent presentation and good condition, lacked strength and that detracted from the good bullfighting of both Urdiales and Aguado. Of course, they gave for a cape bullfighting and two thirds of removes that are already among the best of the Fair.
Urdiales, in which he was opening the square, speared the verónica with the poise typical of a right-handed man from La Rioja, and in the take away after the first encounter with the horse (puyazo would be an exaggeration) he continued for the same stick. He replied in Aguado's turn, also to the verónica and with cadence and Urdiales returned to the scene with another bunch of verónicas.
In the second of the afternoon he rocked the Aguado cape and finished off with a celestial stocking, just like the one he left when he put the bull to chance. Francisco de Manuel replied, and again Aguado, now standing together, with his cloak asleep. beautiful.
But, it has been said, when the crutch was reached, the range of emotions fell. Urdiales set out exclusively for the right python (for the left he did not have one) but only in the first two rounds, with the bull still not giving up, he was able to carry the attacks with mettle and length.
More of the same almost in Aguado, with the difference that here there was a start of excellent work, pure caress, naturalness, harmony. And, as in the case of Urdiales, with bullfighting, which, like bullfighting, you either have or you don't.
Things went wrong in the third, returned as an invalid and even more so the hat, which followed the same path back to pigsties. The second hat, from Mayalde, was greeted by Francisco de Manuel with a long change of knees in the third and also on his knees he began the task. On the third round in such a way, the bull did not obey the crutch and, after lifting it into the air like a wimp, the bullfighter was already on the ground and the pythons searched for his groin and other parts of his anatomy, fortunately without penetrating it. He gallantly fought off Manuel with a bull that never gave anything away and even had time to confront him with an intemperate voice from the line that a joke yelled at him. The best way to silence him was the way in which he delivered himself in the lunge, high and withering and that is already a firm candidate for an award at the end of the Fair. Many thought that Manuel had also won his ear with her, but he counted handkerchiefs and found that there was no majority. The return to the ring recognized the commitment of the young Madrid right-hander.
Diego Urdiales could not raise the afternoon in his second shift, despite the fact that he offered the task to the public. If something had seen him for such a dedication, the bull was in charge of denying it with his unreasonable behavior and Urdiales will have to wait until June 1 to satisfy his many supporters. There remains the consolation that both these and those who are no less -cá one is cá one- enjoyed it in the aforementioned tercios de quites, which remain there.
And the afternoon continued less with the fifth, which left us without seeing Aguado with the cape. Neither with the crutch, because his manifest disability (they did not return him, what things) prevented him from moving after her, frustrating the passage through the Fair (there was no luck the previous afternoon either) of a bullfighter capable of leaving moments of resplendent beauty like those seen in his first bull. Surely Albert Serra, despite everything, will have found something to incorporate into his work.
A great third of Juan Carlos Rey's banderillas raised the spirits of the public (two and a half hours of running) in the sixth. And Fancisco de Manuel was also motivated, in a couple of batches of right hands that cheered. He tried it naturally without major achievements and scare included. Back to the right hand it was no longer the same as at the beginning and everything was diluted.
