MIFF NOTES: Neon Bull (2016, Dir. Gabriel Mascaro)

There’s a lot that is hyper about Neon Bull - hyper-masculinity, hyper-sexuality, hyper-colour, hyper-symbolism. The only thing not hyper about director Gabriel Mascaro’s film is the pacing, so you’re able to ease into this world with surprising ease.

With Cemetery of Splendour DOP, Diego García, behind the camera, rural Brazil takes on a low contrast, colour-soaked duality. Dusty one minute, dazzling the next. The same could be said for the protagonist, Iremar (a salivatingly gorgeous Juliano Cazarré), who divides his time between shifting rodeo bulls and designing haut-esque couture. Iremar and his rodeo partners struggle through day to day rivalries, fluid attractions and just-out-of-reach aspirations.

Where Neon Bull comes into its own, though, is in its sporadic flights of fantasy – its horse dances, its deep-tissue sensuality and its confronting spurts of comedy. These are moments that lift everyone out of the dust bowl at the same time as highlighting their inexorable links to it, and to the animals they muster.

They are all creatures of the corral. Pushed, crushed, forced forward.

But they dream. And the dream is intoxicating.

★★★☆

Trailer:

Neon Bull screened as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival 2016.

You can check out other films from the festival here.