1/2
Argentina | Spain | USA | Mexico | Denmark | UK
Opening September 18, 2025
Directed by: Luis Ortega
Writing credits: Luis Ortega, Rodolfo Palacios, Fabian Casas
Principal actors: Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Úrsula Corbero, Daniel Giménez Cacho
On its surface, one might take Kill the Jockey as yet another sports drama, in this case one revolving around the struggles of a once highly successful jockey, Remo (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart). Pressure to succeed, addiction, and failed romance are present already from the beginning of the film, and they are elements that one would not be surprised to find in a story centered around failed athletic ambition. However, the director is quick to make the viewer realize that Kill the Jockey is much more than that. In essence, it’s more of an excursion into Remo’s subconscious, longing to escape his harsh reality and rediscover his identity.
“Die and be born again”, is what Abril, Remo’s girlfriend (Úrsula Corbero) and another jockey racing for the same mobster (Sirena, played by Daniel Giménez Cacho), demands of Remo in one of the early scenes as a condition to make her fall in love with him again. Immediately afterwards, through a series of absurd events, Remo finds himself gravely wounded in a hospital bed, and his quest for transformation begins. Combining surreal elements as varied as a living fish in a purse, a baby being carried around in the arms of a mobster as a symbol of peace, a weightless person defying gravity, and the fluid gender identities of its main characters, Kill the Jockey paints an intriguing portrait of a lost man desperate to change at all costs.
Whether Remo eventually succeeds in transforming himself is left open to interpretation, perhaps as a reminder that in life, it is the journey, not the destination that matters. Remo’s path is non-linear and riddled with absurdities, yet it ultimately confronts the viewer with the very real questions about the courage it takes to seek and realize one’s true self and the sacrifices required along the way. (Cicek G.)