mrodent33 Review of Tony Manero

Tony Manero (2008)

Disturbing, intelligent, memorable and perfectly crafted

[10 October 2011]

Hollywood at its best has very occasionally made films of this subtlety and power, so have the French. The reviews here have picked up on some of the symbolism, but not enough: Raul *is* Chile, yes, but Travolta and Saturday Night Fever also symbolise the trashier American values for which Pinochet's Chile murdered democracy in 1973. The symbolism in this film is staring you in the face, and yet at the same time it is not annoying or even obvious! In the tradition of such films of subtlety, the actual physical presence of the regime is very marginal, barely hinted at with one scene with a couple of brutal plain-clothes cops. And in fact the film, oddly, does work perfectly well as a story of an obsessive, murderous maniac. The lead actor has a compelling screen presence, far superior and more convincing, to my way of thinking, than the mannered nonsense of an Al Pacino, for example. Another powerful offering from recent South American cinema, which like so many of these recent films, works on the slow-burn principle, and does it with great artistry.