On DVD: Tony Manero

An obsession with the central character in Saturday Night Fever sets gloomy sociopath Raúl Peralta off on a killing spree in Pinochet's Chile. Paul Martin is morbidly fascinated by goings-on down at the death disco.

Disco is not one of the musical forms more commonly associated with any form of violent activity. Rap, yes. Punk, yes. Disco, no. That may be unfair, but that's the way things are in the ol' societal uni-mind. Of course the disco aesthetic placed a premium on looking fabulous, which is darn tricky to pull off if you're busting heads every five minutes and getting dollops of blood all over your boogie shoes. It was the unwitting trigger for an ugly little incident in pop culture folklore in July 1979, when Chicago DJ Steve Dahl held his so-called 'Disco Demolition Night' during a White Sox game. After leading the crowd in a few boorish choruses of “Disco sucks!”, Dahl detonated a box laden with disco records in the outfield, and promptly inspired a mini-riot. But, in spite of that curious episode, the idea that disco's twin tenets of dancefloor showboating and glossy fashions could spur anyone into homicidal action would surely seem a fairly improbable one to those not in any way turned-around in the noggin.

'Turned-around in the noggin' might be one polite way of describing Raúl Peralta (played by Alfredo Castro), the central protagonist in Pablo Larrain's Tony Manero. Raúl lives in Chile in 1978, five years on from the coup d'etat which saw General Augusto Pinochet and his military junta seizing the reigns of power. But Raúl is not interested in domestic politics. He is not interested in the secret policemen who bundle people off the streets, never to be seen again. Nor he is interested in anti-Pinochet movement, of which his young friend Goyo (Héctor Morales) seems to take an active part. No, Raúl's sole interest is in a paint can-swinging young strutter from Brooklyn, New York, by the name of Tony Manero.

Now, if you are at this point thinking to yourself, “Ah, Tony Manero. That's John Travolta's character in Saturday Night Fever”, then you would be identifying yourself as a prime candidate for one of the dead-eyed, undemonstrative pummellings that Raúl regularly dishes out over the course of Larrain's movie. Because within the confines of Raúl's darkly skewed mind, Tony Manero is not a character played by John Travolta. Tony Manero is Raúl. And Raúl is Tony Manero.

Castro's Raúl must be one of the least sympathetic characters ever to grace the silver screen (which, in this case, is rather less than silvery anyway - Larrain's film being photographed in murky, muted tones). As Raúl quests towards the ultimate fulfilment of his identification with Manero, he will stoop to any depths in order to deal with those who he feels are blocking his path. When the glass he requires for his coveted disco dancefloor is overpriced, he beats the merchant to death in his sleep; when he finds that the local theatre has replaced Saturday Night Fever with that other Travolta musical magnum opus (no, not Hairspray surprisingly) Grease, he smashes the projectionist's skull open and steals the negative of his beloved disco flick; and when Goyo announces he is entering a TV talent show contest to find the Chilean Tony Manero, Raúl takes his rival's white suit, lays it out on the floor, drops his trousers, and then drops a whole lot more straight onto the garment.

Even in such outlandish scenes as the ones described above, the impressive Castro plays Raúl with something between forensic coldness and dour deadpan. Peralta is redolent of another outcast loner from the 70s; Travis Bickle from Schrader and Scorsese's Taxi Driver. Yet he is bereft of any the empathetically human qualities that offset Bickle's anti-social and violent tendencies. And why shouldn't he be? Larrain makes it clear that Raúl is ideally equipped to survive in Pinochet's Chile in a way that his lover Cony (Amparo Noguera) or her shy daughter Pauli (Paola Lattus) are not. Raúl is seemingly free to do what he wishes with impunity, never fearing capture for his crimes. And when the detectives finally do come calling at his door, it is not in connection with his murderous rampage, but rather Goyo's subversive activities.

Shot on hand-held cameras, and blending long takes with stuttering jump cuts, the viewer often feels like an eavesdropper or rubber-necker as they surreptitiously trail just behind Raúl, watching him spread misery and pain everywhere he goes. But, in the talented hands of Castro and Larrain, this disco demon is too awfully compelling a presence from which to turn away.

Rating on a scale of 5 gaskets Raúl Peralta blew when he watched Sylvester Stallone-directed Saturday Night Fever sequel Staying Alive: 4

Release date: Out now
Directed by: Pablo Larrain
Screenplay by: Pablo Larrain, Alfredo Castro, Mateo Iribarren
Starring: Alfredo Castro, Amparo Noguera, Héctor Morales
Cert: 18
Running time: 93 minutes