Review: 'Kill the Jockey' is a surreal tale of a self-destructive jockey that blends sexy, sweet and odd

Alternately funny, sexy, dark and weird, Argentine director Luis Ortega’s “Kill the Jockey” is a surreal take on obsession — which in this case can lead to the winner’s circle or a prison cell.

Remo (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart) is a Buenos Aires jockey whose skill on a horse is matched only by his self-destructive tendencies. Still, he’s a winner, which is why the super-rich — and possibly gangster — Sirena (Daniel Giménez Cacho) continues to choose him to ride his prize horses. When Sirena has a new thoroughbred coming from Japan, he picks Remo over an ambitious young jockey, Abril (Úrsula Corberó), who’s eager to impress Sirena and launch her career.

Abril is working against the clock, because she’s pregnant and Remo is the father — though she’s not sure about a long-term relationship with someone so unstable. When Remo asks what he can do for Abril to love him again, she responds, “die and be reborn.” While she’s dealing with him, Abril also most contend with Sirena’s fixation on babies, and her attraction to the other woman jockey in the locker room, Ana (played by the dynamic Chilean actor Mariana Di Girólamo). 

Trying to pin down Ortega’s directing style, I’d put it at 40% Pedro Almodovar, 40% Wes Anderson and about 20% David Lynch. There’s a volatile and endearing mix of sexiness, sweetness and strangeness that propels the movie, and Ortega (who wrote the script with Rodolfo Palacios and Fabian Casas) shows the confidence to make it work, even as Remo goes on a journey of discovery and comes out the other side quite changed.

Pérez Biscayart brings a delicate blend of humor and sadness to the performance, with a deadpan look reminiscent of Buster Keaton. He also plays well against Corberó, who has to weigh her drive to race against her feelings for two lovers. The chemistry is dynamite, and makes “Kill the Jockey” deliciously hard to resist.

——

‘Kill the Jockey’

★★★

Opens Friday, July 11, in theaters. Not rated, but probably R for strong violence, some sexual situations, and language. Running time: 97 minutes; in Spanish, with subtitles.