Kill the Jockey is a racy, quirky 96 minutes of mischievous humor from the Latin quarters, by Argentinian auteur Luis Ortega.
Directed by Luis Ortega, Kill the Jockey (El Jockey) is part of the Horizontes Latinos competition for the Best Latin American Film Award, besides 13 other features, including Reas and Simon of the Mountain, at the 72nd edition of the San Sebastian Film Festival. Earlier this month, the film premiered at the 2024 Venice International Film Festival and received its North American premiere at TIFF 2024 a few days later. The film will debut theatrically in Argentina on September 26, 2024, and will later be available to stream in Latin America on Disney+.
This was my first film in this category from Argentina, and I must admit, the storytelling and direction signal potential awards for this director.
The story is simple: it follows legendary jockey Remo Manfredini (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart – best known for his role in Robin Campillo‘s Cannes 2017 Grand Prize winner 120 Beats per Minute, which also won him the César and Lumières Awards), who is at a crossroads, trying to find his identity while exhibiting self-destructive behavior, struggling with relentless addictions that threaten his relationship with his girlfriend.
During one of the most important races of his career, which could clear him of his debts to his mobster boss Sirena, Remo has a severe accident, disappears from the hospital, and wanders the city’s streets. The mobster, however, wants him dead. Thus begins a series of self-reflections and questioning of his gender identity, adding to the film’s quirky and weird narrative.
Though the film tends to lose a bit of steam midway, the upbeat electro music keeps you engaged until the end, bringing us full circle in Remo’s life.
Ortega is hailed as one of the contemporary filmmakers from Argentina and has previously wowed audiences at TIFF with films like Monobloc, Los santos sucios, and El Angel.
We are delighted to be reporting live from the 72nd San Sebastian International Film Festival, running on September 20-28, 2024 in Spain.
