Tony Manero cinema review
April 8, 2009 – 2:53 pm | by Peekay
For those of a certain age the name Tony Manero is recognisable as John Travolta’s character in Saturday Night Fever – the film that helped to launch Travolta but also got some people doing serious disco dancing.
For Raúl Peralta, in his fifties and despairing of his life in Pinochet-ruled Chile, Tony Manero is a lifeline. To dance like his hero, dressed in a white suit with a black shirt, is not only a way to escape his mundane life and aged body, but also a way out of the poverty via a TV talent show.
While he prepares for his chance on TV he continues to practice with his dancing partners to put on a show in a local bar, and discovers their involvement in underground activities against the political regime.
“Tony Manero” is a dark, occasionally violent look at a man’s loss of identity and obsession with a foreign culture while he still lives in poverty, which parallels the directors views on what happened in Chile at the time.
At times disturbing, shocking and enlightening, “Tony Manero” drags you into the world of a man on the verge of a well choreographed, disco-dancing, breakdown.
On General release from April 10th.
Loading ...