In Brazil, “vaquejada” is the traditional made-dominated sport where two men on horseback pull a bull by the tail until the bull falls to the ground. This is the world in which second-time director Gabriel Mascaro’s new film Neon Bull revolves around.
Our focus is on a man named Iremar (Juliano Cazarre), whose job is to make sure that the bulls are cleaned and tails are chalked and ready to go for the event. It’s by no means a glamorous job, as he rides along with the bulls along with his family, which includes his girlfriend Galega (Maeve Jinkings) and her daughter Caca (Aline Santana). They all smell like the animals and often have some of the animals bodily fluids and liquids lingering on them.
Mascaro’s film is almost framed as a documentary on this world, rather than a film about these characters. Their everyday lives literally resolve around their work, and the demands and sacrifices they must make. For Iremar, this puts on hold his dream of being a fashion designer, literally sewing and designer clothes at any moment where he isn’t grinding away with the physical work of taking care of the bulls. You get the sense that poor Iremar’s dream is probably out of reach because of the round the clock dedication of his work with the animals, but its hard not too root for him.
There are moments of cinematic beauty caught by cinematographer Diego Garcia, some that are highly styled, and then other long takes that feature Iremar tending to the animals, or mundane activity such as following him during his morning piss or the various of sexual activities that occur amongst the workers and strangers they encounter on their journeys.
While not exactly something we’re used to seeing in Hollywood cinema, these everyday huff activities put us into the mindset of the characters and their mindset while working this life consuming job, and while it doesn’t make for the most exciting cinema, there’s something of merit in there.
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