Surreal odyssey hits the NYC Underground
For his third feature, NYC underground auteur Jonathan Rosado decided to stick with what works while increasing his ambitions as an experimental storyteller. Premiering at Roxy Cinema New York on May 22, Matador Bolero is a hallucinatory vision of murder, intrigue, and a mysterious purple orb. Like preceding films Viridian Hue and Brutalist Couture, Rosado shot his new film on Super 8. Joining the Rosado-verse this time are singer/songwriter Yves Tumor (in his film debut) and multi-hyphenate talent Kansas Bowling. Fresh off the Vinegar Syndrome Blu-Ray release of her bold, provocative neo-mondo film Cuddly Toys, Bowling – a favorite among fans of contemporary cult genre films – stars in Matador Bolero as Robyn. I had the pleasure of sitting down for a Zoom chat with Rosado and Bowling to discuss their exciting first collaboration.
E.M. James: It feels too easy these days to describe surreal films as “Lynchian,” but Matador Bolero specifically reminds me of Twin Peaks at its most abstract. You’ve got a mysteriously murdered woman, girls wrapped in plastic, distorted dialogue with subtitles and lengthy sequences with no dialogue at all. The whole film feels like it could take place inside the Red Room. How much of a conscious influence was [David] Lynch?
Jonathan Rosado: Well, I definitely am a fan of David Lynch. I don’t think it was so much a conscious influence. I draw from a few different people who could be described as surreal, certainly Alejandro Jodorowsky as well and Man Ray. I got that Criterion Man Ray short film disc and that kind of informed the visual style as I was shooting. I was watching that on a loop a lot. But with Lynch, I definitely see what you’re saying about Twin Peaks, because the character who dies in the movie – Beverly Green – sort of comes off like a Laura Palmer vibe, almost like a Shirley Temple kind of thing.
EJ: Yeah, I definitely see the Jodorowsky influence as well, because I recently rewatched The Holy Mountain. [Matador Bolero is] a very atmospheric film. Rather than conveying a straightforward narrative, I found it to be a very effective mood piece.
One thing I noticed that especially enhances the vibe is the original score by The Suede Hello, which is eerie and entrancing. Jonathan, your decision to shoot on Super 8 rather than digital gives the film a beautiful look. You’ve done this with all your films. What is it about Super 8 that keeps you coming back?
JR: Well, first of all, Super 8 is just what I had on me, because I bought a Super 8 camera really cheap when I was like – 22, 23? I didn’t really do anything with it until a few years later, but I already owned one, which certainly helped. The other thing is, I guess with the time I [was] like growing up and everything, digital media [was] everywhere. I don’t want to sound like I don’t like any movie that’s shot on digital, but to me, a lot of digital stuff kind of looks or is colored the same, and it comes off a bit sterile. It always looks like a Netflix show to me. So, I guess that’s it.
EJ: [The film] has a very rich look to the coloring, definitely not something you would have gotten with digital, unless you really color graded it a lot. But with the Super 8, you just get that naturally. Aside from the use of the Super 8, are there any differences in the process of filming such an experimental feature as opposed to more conventional films?
JR: So, for all of the films I’ve made, I’m honestly not super concerned with the script. I come in with a big idea of what the film is going to be about, and a few key scenes that carry the story forward, and then I leave a lot to be an open-ended thing that will change depending on what happens on set.
EJ: Kansas, how do you approach acting in a film that’s not very straightforward narratively? How do you get into that character?
Kansas Bowling: When I came on, he was adding to it in bits and pieces. I just kind of read a detective story. As an actor, I wish I had a better answer about my approach to things, but when I’m acting, I just show up and do the lines. I don’t have a certain approach or anything.
EJ: You tend to gravitate towards bold, intense material within the genre realm. Cuddly Toys, which you wrote and directed, was recently released on Blu-Ray. What drew you to working with Jonathan on this film? Also, do you have anything you’d like to say about Cuddly Toys?
KB: I was introduced to Jonathan because he worked with Uncensored New York. They’re a really big part of the distribution for Cuddly Toys. Samantha Sutcliffe, a producer on Cuddly Toys, started Uncensored New York. She worked on my last film, so she introduced me to Jonathan and Nicolette [Wilkey, Matador Bolero executive producer] and got me involved with the project. People I trust and trust their taste – it was who they wanted me to get involved with.
People should get the [Cuddly Toys] Blu-Ray. It’s gonna be streaming soon and they should watch it when it’s streaming. I think, for fans of Matador Bolero, they would also enjoy Cuddly Toys. They’re both shot on film. They’re both very unconventional in the way the stories are told.
EJ: I’m definitely going to pick up a copy of the Blu-Ray. I haven’t had a chance to see [Cuddly Toys] yet, but it’s been on my radar for years. I’ve heard it’s great.
KB: Thank you.
EJ: I met Addison [Binek] – the guy who [directed you in] Psycho Ape – a couple years ago, and he was saying that Cuddly Toys was great, because I asked him if it was ever going to come out. I’m happy that it did.
KB: Yeah, Psycho Ape’s cool, too! [laughs]
EJ: American film in recent years has become very sterile, especially in the mainstream. Matador Bolero – which, of course, is an indie art film – features a high level of nudity. How do both of you feel about the state of sex and nudity in contemporary cinema, and does working outside the studio system in general feel liberating?
JR: In general, it definitely is liberating not having someone tell you what you can and can’t do. I’ll let Kansas speak for herself, but in my opinion, I don’t know if I see the film as necessarily sexual. There are no sex scenes or anything like that. I see it the same way you would see a painting where people are nude.
EJ: It’s like [Jacques Rivette’s] La Belle Noiseuse, where [Emmanuelle Beart] is naked the whole time as a model, but it’s not sexual.
JR: Right.
KB: Even working outside of the studio system, no matter what, if you’re working with someone else’s money … even if it’s just $100,000, you’re still going to have restrictions. It’s nice to work with a director that you trust, whether they’re attached to a studio or not. That’s how I prefer to make my movies, too. I’ve done it both ways now, and one way is definitely preferable to the other. Just to basically copy what Jonathan said, I didn’t think the nudity was sexual in any way. I most likely would have shied away from it if it was super sexual. I don’t mind watching movies like that, but I don’t know if I feel comfortable being in them. [laughs]
EJ: For sure. It’s very different.
KB: Yeah, it’s just, like, topless girls having a tea party. [laughs] That’s not bad to me.
EJ: What is the distribution plan for this film? How can the people reading this article see it?
JR: By the time this is released, we should have more dates announced. We’re gonna put out a full lineup of U.S. dates [and] hopefully we’ll lock in some European dates as well. There will definitely be more to come over the summer. It will build up a buzz once it has actually played in front of an audience and everything.
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Matador Bolero premieres at Roxy Cinema New York on May 22. Additional screening dates are below, with more to be added:
May 29 – Babylon Kino, Columbia, SC
June 3 – Glitterbox Theater, Pittsburgh, PA
June 11 – Lumiere Theater, Los Angeles, CA
June 13 – The Frida Cinema, Santa Ana, CA
July 9 – philaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA
Aug. 15 – Guild Cinema, Albuquerque, NM
Cuddly Toys is available now on Blu-Ray via Vinegar Syndrome.
