Manager: Giacomo Abbruzzese
Artists: Franz Rogowski, Morr Ndiaye, Laetitia Ky, Leon Lucev
Year: 2023
Premiere: December 27, 2023
★★★★
The fates of a young Belarusian who joins the French Legion and a Nigerian guerrilla leader converge in Giacomo Abbruzzese’s debut feature, which reflects without excessive subtlety the effects of Europe’s industrial and military presence in Africa; The characters are symbols rather than people. of flesh and blood – but with a dreamy and fanciful logic. Discovering the purpose of the film’s plot requires some work on the part of the viewer.Because Abbruzzesse deliberately shrouds them in mystery and it is clear from the beginning, The discipline of narrative cares less about providing us with a seductive and hypnotic experience.It achieves this largely thanks to fearless cinematography, Vitalic’s impressive score, and German Franz Rogowski’s captivating performance.
While watching ‘Disco Boy’, it is inevitable to remember Claire Denis’s films, especially the magnificent ‘Beau Travail’ (1999), due to her interest in the legacy of postcolonialism, her visual mastery, and the emotionality she conveys through her portraiture. bodies and their loose relationships with narrative conventions; In fact, the similarities are so many that they go beyond our understanding of respect. Of course, when it comes to copying, the important thing is to do it from the right models and, above all, to do it well, and ‘Disco Boy’ meets both requirements..