Bullet in the Head (Tiro en la cabeza)

Jaime Rosales

Spain 2007 | 85 min | 35 mm | colour | 1:1,85 | The Match Factory
without dialogues

Less than four days of life of a man portrayed as a string of everyday life images – lonesome breakfasts, love affair, trip, murder, kidnap and morning shopping. Spanish director Jaime Rosales was inspired with a real event which shows brutal execution of two policemen in plain clothes in front of a French coffee bar. This rigorously minimalist film is shown as natural historical record with frustrating thriller ending. Individual images were shot in several minutes lasting scenes using lenses with extremely long focal length. Strongly misanthropic movie Bullet in the Head transmits it’s dialogues through glass panes, noisy sidewalks and busy intersections. Maximum emotional distance surprisingly increases spectator’s diz­ziness and insecurity with every new sequence. Are the main characters involved with Basque terrorists, are they cowards running away from their past or avengers dealing with an old betrayal?

www.tiroenlacabeza.com

Jaime Rosales (*1970)

Writer-director Jaime Rosales made his debut feature in 2003 with LAS HORAS DEL DIA (The Hours Of The Day), presented at the Director’s For­tnight in Cannes, where it won the FIPRESCI Prize. For his second feature LA SOLEDAD (Solitary Fragments) her received the Spanish Film Award GOYA in 2008 for both Best Film and Best Director. After beginning his career as a screenwriter for film and television, Rosales received a grant to attend the International Film and Television School (EICTV) in San Antonio de los BaNos, Cuba. From there, he went on to study at the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) in Sydney. Rosales, born in Barcelona in 1970, founded the production company Fresdeval Films in 2001.