The Matador
Julian Noble (Pierce Brosnan) wakes up in bed next to a hooker. He looks in her bag and discovers some purple nail varnish; he paints his toe nails and then burns some documents. Julian walks to a park and sits on a bench in Denver, pretending to read a paper. He keeps staring at a Porsche across the road. A young boy asks him if the Porsche is his car. He says his mom thinks Julian is cute. Julian rudely replies "I don't know anything about that car and I'm only interested in your mother if she lost 20 pounds and 30 years!" The boy goes away and Julian sees a man getting into the Porsche; he quickly gets up and walks away quickly. When the car explodes, Julian doesn't even bother to look.Elsewhere in Denver, Danny Wright (Gregg Kinnear) wakes up at 5:45AM with lightening and thunder breaking continually overhead during a terrible storm. He gets up quietly without waking his wife. He goes downstairs and eats breakfast when his wife, Bean (Hope Davis), comes down, wakened by the storm. They talk about how they will miss each other and Danny replies he will be back in just two days. They embrace and then start to undress for a quickie before he leaves for the airport. Suddenly a tree falls through their roof and they leap to the side before the tree crashes through their kitchen.Danny runs into the Denver airport out of the pouring rain. He meets his business partner. They talk about their upcoming trip and how important it is to their business. They can't afford to miss the plane to Mexico. Coincidentally, Julian is on the same flight. The ticket agent asks him how he is and, after looking at her cleavage for a lingering moment and at her name tag, he replies "Couldn't be better. But more importantly how are you Genevive?"After they arrive in Mexico City, a man walks into a hotel carrying a large metallic briefcase. Julian gets out a taxi and walks into the hotel and after checking in, goes into the hotel bar. The man joins him and orders a beer. They talk casually for a minute. Julian asks the bartender whether there are any good and bloody bullfights on on Sunday. The bartender replies there is a good one with a matador from Madrid. The bartender then asks Julian whether he is in town for business or pleasure. Julian replies "My business is my pleasure". before the man walks away, leaving the briefcase behind, next to Julian.Julian takes the suitcase up to his room and opens it. It contains a sniper rifle and pictures of his target. Danny and his partner are leaving the same hotel on the way to their meeting with a prospective client. They are both worried about their presentation. Julian leaves the hotel after them and goes into the city. He goes to a flea market stand where he target shoots in a booth. Three cute teen age school girls watch him. He smiles at them and scores on the first shot. When he misses the second shot. He smiles at the girls and then laughs. The girls giggle at him.Julian's boss, Mr. Randy (Phillip Baker Hall), meets him and describes the job. He remarks that the girls might be too pubescent even for him! His boss says the schedule has been moved up, and the job has to be completed today. Julian is unhappy. As his boss walks off he shouts back to Julian, "Happy birthday". Julian appears to ahve forgotten it is his birthday.Julian follows his target in the gun's scope from a high vantage point. He shoots the woman and kills her. Elsewhere, Danny and his partner walk joyfully into a bar, exclaiming about how brilliant their first pitch to the client went.Julian returns to his hotel room and watches TV, bored and lonely. He puts on a large Mexican sombrero and then takes it off, annoyed. He calls a number of people and they all hang up on him. He gets really annoyed and decides to head for the brothel.When he returns to the hotel he goes straight to the bar where Danny is also drinking. He orders a margarita and Danny says he looks like he needs one. Julian says how they always taste better in Mexico "margaritas and cock". They begin talking and Julian commends Danny for getting back on his feet with his new business deal after being fired from his job suddenly and left struggling. Julian says something rude and Danny is offended. Julian apologizes and they continue to talk. Danny tentatively reveals that he lost his son in an accident, and Julian responds with a crude joke about a "fifteen-inch schlong," changing the subject. Danny is deeply offended and begins to leave before Julian apologizes. Danny relents and allows Julian to buy him a drink.The next morning Julian walks through the hotel lobby in his tight swim trunks and boots, drinking a can of beer, drawing stares. He kicks off his boots and jumps in the swimming pool. Underwater, he imagines sharks are in the water. At the entrance to the hotel Danny and his partner are upset. The clients now want to hear pitches from other companies. They agree that Danny will remain behind and attempt to secure the contract. Julian sees Danny and apologizes for his rudeness the night before. He tells Danny that he lost his wife while driving drunk. Gaining Danny's sympathy, he invites Danny to a bullfight. Danny is initially reluctant but agrees to join him.At the bullfight they both smoke cigars. Danny is amazed by the experience. Julian tells Danny that he doesn't have a proper address, that he lives wherever he works. Danny is really suprised and asks what Julian does. Julian says he'd rather not say. Julian then explains to Danny the honour of a bull dying in a bull fight and that the crowd respects the bull. Danny finally persuades Julian to say what he does. Julian asks him to not "loose his shit" when he tells him what job he does. Julian says "sometimes people need to be eliminated. Danny does not believe it and jokes about Julian being a hitman. Julian says "my handler calls me a facilitator, a facilitator of fatalities." Danny finds this hilarious and does not believe him.Danny humours Julian and says he wants a man in the crowd killed. Julian agrees and they leave the bull ring. They go outside the toilets and Julian explains the "got-to-pee" theory. He tells Danny about what to and what not to worry about. He shows Danny the escape routes and picked a lock of a door. Danny is amazed.Julian then empties lighter fluid into a bin full of paper. The man Danny joked about killing got up and went into the toilets. Julian threw a cigarette into the bin and it exploded. The guards immediately ran to put it out. Julian dragged Danny away, pulled out a knife and dragged him into the toilets. He goes to the cubicle the man is in. Danny is now scared and begs Julian not to kill him. Julian kicks open the door his knife ready with Danny whimpering. He apologizes to the man and pulls Danny out of the toilets laughing.The two walk down the street together to a little bar. Julian asks Danny a favour. He wants Danny's help with a job and offers to pay $50 000. Danny is revolted by the idea and says no. He changes the subject but Julian changes it back. Danny still says no so Julian walks off in a mood, Danny calls him back and Julian just says "consider me the best cocktail party story you ever met".That evening Danny heard news that the business deal is now going against him. He sits drinking. Julian comes knocking on the door drunk trying to apologize. The screen goes black and you hear a bottle smash. The screen changes to six months later.There are short clips of Julian having sex, drinking and killing people in Vienna, Moscow, Las Vegas, and Sydney. The screen slows down in Budapest where he is meeting Mr Randy. Julian wants to have a break as he feels "burnt out" but Mr Randy said he can't otherwise the agency will find a new young assassin. Julian says he is tired and doesn't want to do that job. Mr Randy remarks about a failure in Manila but pleads with him to do that job. Julian reluctantly agrees and goes off to do it.He is on a roof above a crowded square and has his sights set on his target. He is about the pull the trigger when he sees himself cowering. he tries again but collapses.The screen changes to Mr Randy. He is speaking to the messenger of his boss Mr Stick. The messenger says Mr Stick wants Julian dead. Mr Randy is surprised and sad. He says he's only made two mistakes. The messenger walks off.The screen changes again but this time to Denver where Danny and Bean are having sex. All looks well. That evening they are in bed talking about how they love each other and support each other. Tomorrow is the fourth anniversary of their son's death. In the middle of their conversation the doorbell rings. It is late at night so they both run downstairs. Danny look out the door and sees Julian standing there. He lets Julian in and hugs him. He greets Bean and says she's fantastic. Danny asks Julian what he is doing there.Julian replies he doesn't know but Danny and Bean offer him some whisky. They sit down and talk. Julian notices the bull fight ticket framed and on the wall. Julian is touched by this. Bean asks to see Julian's gun. He shows it to her and comments "My god you are a magnificent woman!". Julian comments on how good Danny looks and understands that Danny got the job he went to Mexico for. Julian proposes a toast to Bean, Danny and himself ("a toast to a dead man").The three move in to the kitchen and Julian explains how he messed up in Manila and how he was burnt out. He said he drank and had sex but nothing worked. He still felt terrible. He said he had to kill a Copper Wire Executive in a market. His plan was to bump into him and stab him. But as Julian got near to his target. The target turned into a child. He collapsed and woke up in a pile of donkey excrement.Julian then explained how his jobs from then were hot and cold. He explained his mistake in Budapest and said how his bosses now wanted to kill him. Danny is really amazed and asks can't he just apologize. Julian said it is impossible as he only just got out of Budapest alive because Mr Randy let him off.Bean then asked him how he got here. Julian tells her how their home is the only home he knows. That Danny is his only friend. Bean invites Julian to stay the night. Julian asks Danny whether he can dance with Bean. Danny obliges and Julian and Bean dance beautifully together. Bean then makes a comment about having a horrible hangover. Julian tells her a recipe to prevent this from "the only woman he'd ever loved" his mother. Danny then knows how Julian lied about his wife. There is a moment of tenseness between them. Julian asks whether they want him to leave but they say "No", so he stays.Julian wakes Danny up after they went to bed. He takes him into his rental car. Julian again says he needs Danny's help. He said he had been offered a reprieve from death but needed Danny's help to do it. He couldn't do the job on his own as he was burnt out. He needed Danny to help kill the target. At first Danny says no but after Julian says Danny owes him, he obliges.They flew to Arizona together to the race courses to kill the target. Julian gets Danny to open a door to set off the alarm so he could turn off the alarm in the future. He then asks Danny to bump into the target so Julian could have a clear shot. Julian is on the stairwell with a sniper rifle. Danny does his part but Julian is unable to take the shot he breaks down. Danny goes to find him and together they agree that Danny will talk Julian through firing. They are successful in killing the man.The screen then changes to the plane on the way home. Julian says thank you and Danny says it's ok. They talk about what happened the night where Julian was knocking on Danny's hotel room. There is a flashback and we discover what really happened. Danny let Julian in and they began talking. Danny asked Julian to kill his business opponents. Julian says no as he doesn't think Danny is that type of person and knows Danny will regret it. The flashback ends and they are back on the plane. Danny says " You became my friend that night Julian. You surprised me!" Julian replied "I surprised myself." Julian tells Danny that really he didn't do any assignment and that the person he killed was Mr Stick. Julian killed the guy that was trying to kill him.Bean and Danny, when he got back, went to the cemetery together and Julian after watching them for a while left leaving only a little piece of information showing that he was going to Greece!
psychedelic, comedy, murder, storytelling, flashback