Pablo Larraín
Tony Manero

THE REVIEW

They are ugly, dirty, and mean even in Chile, towards the end of the 1970s.

And they have to be very careful about how they move, because Pinochet's police do not mess around.

A little further up there is America: rich, dazzling, brilliant, smiling.

There's John Travolta going wild: handsome and dancing like a god.

Let's do the sleazy contest on TV. Let's find a substitute, a look-alike of John Travolta, or rather of Tony Manero. We also want to catch Saturday night fever.

Raúl Perralta is a poor man, a 50-year-old unemployed. Raul is obsessed with Tony Manero. Even if he's twice his age, he is convinced he's the perfect look-alike.

Raul enters the contest and wants to win at any cost.

Raul is ugly and dirty but, above all, he is mean. And there are no excuses, because living in the sewers doesn't mean you have to be more ruthless and brutal than an animal.

The hellish descent he takes is chilling. He will kill for less than a handful of dollars.

The second work of Pablo Larrain, after the sumptuous and controversial "Fuga", is a very bitter and cruel film. Dirty, scratchy, and scratched. Filthy and blurred in presentation, it almost seems like a documentary.

Alfredo Castro, co-author of the screenplay is the lead actor, he is Tony Manero. His acting performance is exceptional, unforgettable. An ambiguous, rotten, and desperate man who goes hand in hand with madness in a total absence of emotions. A monster alienated and alienating, alone against his ghosts and in this, he recalls another Tony also dressed in white, the famous Tony (alpacino) Montana from Scarface.

He will rehearse with a (loose) dance troupe in a sordid mother-daughter and owner twist of a disreputable fourth-rate venue. A nice steaming dish of shit served express by a handful of sub-humans who have nothing, sometimes not even dignity, but who, desperate, cling to dreams (not so golden) because illusions and hope are free.

Great film.