De Reye’s film (El niño y el traje de luces) beautifully and gently explores inter-generational expectations, changing social values, increasing poverty, and young people caught between a romanticised past and a stark present that seems to offer little hope. The Boy and the Suit of Lights is awaiting a UK-wide release date and is the Winner of the International First Feature Competition at Sheffield DocFest 2024
In 2018, director Inma de Reyes brought us the delightful short film To Be a Torero, exploring a twelve-year-old boy’s dream of becoming the Torero his grandfather never was. In her documentary feature debut, The Boy and the Suit of Lights, Inma de Reyes returns to Castellón, north of Valencia, and expands on young Borja Miranda’s story as he tries to fulfil his and his grandfather’s dreams and ensure his family’s financial security.
Bullfighting may sound like an unusual career choice for a teenager, especially given the recent change in Spanish society’s attitudes towards the violent tradition. However, in Castellón, bullfighting remains valued as a rite of passage and a door to past glories, now threatened by an ever-evolving country where young people’s social attitudes differ from those of the generations before them. For Borja’s grandfather, those past values and traditions must be protected as he dreams of his grandson achieving the life that slipped through his fingers. At the same time, Borja and his young, energetic brother, Erik, want nothing more than to make their grandfather proud and improve the family finances for their hardworking mum.
Filmed over five years, Inma De Reyes’s observational documentary follows Borja as he grows into a young man, attempts to make a name for himself in the ring, discovers his own identity, improves his family life, and fulfils his grandfather’s past dreams. However, as Borja’s sense of self develops, his coming-of-age journey, dedication, and diligence confront a series of internal and external realities that lift the romanticism that often shrouds the life of a Torero.
Unlike his confident younger brother, Borja doesn’t speak directly to the camera or fully interact with de Reyes. Borja prefers to be observed from a distance, his inner feelings and emotions kept under lock and key as he attempts to provide for his family the only way he can.
It’s clear early on that the life of the Torero isn’t the driving force behind Borja’s passion; neither is the face-to-face fight with the bull or the need to live out his grandfather’s past dreams. Borja simply wants and needs to find a way to support his family. Inma de Reyes isn’t interested in the debates that rage on the future of bullfighting despite capturing brief moments of protest; she is interested in the delicate coming-of-age journey of a boy desperate to offer financial security to his family through a slowly dying cultural tradition. Here, De Reye’s film beautifully and gently explores inter-generational expectations, changing social values, increasing poverty, and young people caught between a romanticised past and a stark present that seems to offer little hope.
The Boy and the Suit of Lights shines as bright as the midday sun on a long Spanish summer day. It captures the complexity of Borja’s journey from boyhood to manhood, the importance of his family life and unit, and the challenge of navigating the interface between the past and the present in an ever-changing world.
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