Tony Manero

Santiago, Chile, 1978: with the country in the grip of Pinochet's oppressive dictatorship, Raúl Peralta (Alfredo Castro), a man in his 50s, indulges in the fantasy that he is disco king Tony Manero, John Travolta's white-suited, fleet-footed ladies' man in Saturday Night Fever. Inspired by repeated viewing of the film at his local fleapit, he forms and choreographs a low-rent dance troupe, performing at a rundown bar on the outskirts of the city. His fantasy is already becoming a sinister fixation, as he seems incapable of keeping nefarious activities in check, when national television announces a Tony Manero impersonating competition.

Raúl cannot be distracted from the prize he feels pre-destined to win, even when the murderous secret police start to pay interest in the inhabitants of the bar and his fellow dancers. Tony Manero is at once an absurd black comedy; an unsettling thriller with surprising twists; a confrontation of dark days in Chile's recent history; and a horribly believable, realist portrait of obsession. Castro's brilliant, suitably dense lead performance as the misanthropic, misguided anti-hero and the inspired handheld filming ensure that director Pablo Larraín, with only his second feature, has created a multi-textured, striking work of some distinction.
Michael Hayden