Film

The Bull

A twelve-minute Slovenian film about a jobless art teacher who spots an escaped bull from the slaughterhouse outside his window. It's a quiet, observational piece that turns a surreal urban moment into something unexpectedly moving—about stasis, dignity, and the possibility of change. Beautifully shot and humane in ways both obvious and subtle.

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like short, deadpan stories where a man's stalled life collides with one absurd image, and you don't mind the mood staying a little melancholy while the strangeness does the talking.

Skip it if you want a story with momentum and a clear arc, since this is a single odd situation held up for a few minutes rather than a plot that builds.

What it asks of you: Twelve minutes of unhurried, quiet attention, a grey and lonely mood, and a pace that lets an empty room do the work of a scene.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Worst Person in the World2021

Norwegian character study of a woman drifting through her thirties, unmoored and searching. Like The Bull, it finds profound melancholy in ordinary urban moments and the weight of unlived potential.

But Nearly three hours long, and the pacing is deliberately slow. Some find the protagonist infuriatingly passive rather than sympathetically stuck.

The Worst Person in the World poster

After the Winter2013

Icelandic film about a man's quiet unravelling in a small town after loss. Shares The Bull's interest in how geography and circumstance trap people, and how small moments crack open larger despairs.

But Very sparse and bleak. There's almost no plot, just observation of someone in free fall. Not everyone wants that level of stillness.

After the Winter poster

Under the Skin2014

Scottish art film that uses urban landscapes and strange imagery to explore alienation and connection. Like The Bull, it's surreal without being explained, asking you to sit with unease.

But Deliberately cryptic and challenging. Long stretches without dialogue or conventional narrative. Scarlett Johansson in a role that's intentionally unsettling.

Under the Skin poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Bull

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Play2011

Both use a single intrusion into ordinary space as a mirror. But where The Bull finds quiet hope, Play finds something more troubling about who we are when no one's watching.

Swedish short film about a ball rolling into a suburban neighbourhood that sets off a chain of small acts of cruelty and curiosity. Like The Bull, it's about an object arriving in an ordinary space and revealing something about the people around it—but it's far darker about human nature.

But A child is the victim. The ending is difficult. Some will find it exploitative; others will find it clarifying about casual violence.

Play poster
More like this (6)

A Separation2011

Iranian drama about a marriage breaking apart, shot with the clarity and moral precision of social realism. Both films observe how small decisions accumulate into larger tragedies.

But Emotionally exhausting. The film doesn't resolve anything neatly or offer comfort. It just shows damage.

A Separation poster

First Reformed2018

Paul Schrader's film about a pastor in crisis. Like The Bull, it's interested in how isolation and unemployment and spiritual emptiness compound each other in ordinary American spaces.

But Dense, theologically demanding, and nihilistic. The final act is deliberately unsettling. Not a film that releases you gently.

First Reformed poster

Winter Light1963

Bergman's film about a pastor losing faith in a small Swedish town. Both films find something almost sacred in the observation of a man at the edge of meaning.

But Shot in austere black and white, glacially paced. If you're looking for narrative momentum or warmth, this is the opposite of that.

Winter Light poster

Still Life2006

Jia Zhangke's Chinese film about a man searching for his wife in a city being demolished. Shares The Bull's interest in how cities change and people get left behind.

But Three hours of observational cinema about urban decay in China. Some find it meditative; others find it numbing. Takes real patience.

Still Life poster

The Seventh Seal1957

Bergman's medieval allegory about mortality and meaning. Like The Bull, it uses a central image—a bull in the street, Death playing chess—as a mirror for spiritual emptiness.

But Famous for a reason, but also famous for feeling remote and intellectual. The symbolism can feel heavy-handed if you're not in the mood.

The Seventh Seal poster

Come and See1985

Both are short formats (The Bull is twelve minutes, Come and See ninety-two) that feel enormous. Both refuse to look away from what they're examining. The Bull is tender where this is savage, but they share a refusal to make suffering pretty.

Soviet film about a boy conscripted into WWII and the horrors he witnesses. Brutal, unflinching, visually astonishing—and interested in the same question as The Bull: what happens to a person when the world breaks them?

But One of the most difficult films ever made. Graphic violence, child suffering, nihilistic in its vision of human nature. Not for evening viewing; this is daylight viewing, and only when prepared.

Come and See poster

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