El Jockey

Films are journeys. They are journeys into the past and into a different consciousness. They are journeys into the future. The question is always whether the travelers can bring the audience along. Are the landscapes right? And whether the journey itself is exciting enough. 

How can the journey of a drug-addicted jockey who is about to become a father and is being pursued by the mafia be interesting? Who isn’t sure if his girlfriend loves him? Sure, it’s banal stuff. It’s interesting for horse lovers. 

But a journey is conveyed through images. Landscapes. Through changes. It’s interesting that the story distances itself from the narrative. Yes, it is surrealistic. This surrealism appears to be a response to Maya Deren’s criticism that film is merely a reflection of theater. 

Luis Ortega succeeds. He accomplishes this by wandering around Buenos Aires, embracing change, and diverting attention from the protagonist, who disappears over time.

Then it’s not just surreal; then it’s cinema. 

El Jockey. No longer in theaters.