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Chile, the late 1970's: General Pninochet is in power, all opposition
is being supressed, and there is a strict curfew. But Saturday Night
Fever starring John Travolta is a hit at the national box office, and Festival,
a show showcasing impersonators of international stars, is a hit on the
small screen. In front of this background, Raul (Alfredo Castro), a
fiftysomething, wants nothing more to be the next Tony Manero, to win the
Tony Manero-contest on Festival, and he puts on a Saturday
Night Fever-show with his neighbours downstairs in Wilma's (Elsa
Poblete) rundown club. To that end, he watches the film a gazillion times
at the local cinema - but he goes to even greater length to fulfill his
dream, he kills everabody in his way, steals what he thinks necessary
(like glass bricks for the dance floor), and he behaves like a total
asshole towards his dance partners: There's Cony (Amparo Noguera), whose
weirdly in love with him even though he can't get it up anymore, there's
Cony's daughter Pauli (Paola Lattus), whom he feels kind of drawn to, and
there's Pauli's sort-of boyfriend Goyo (Hector Morales), who has given her
revolutionary ideas - which end in handing out flyers though. Finally,
Raul and crew have their big performance, a second-class dance show swell
enough to at least entertain the neighbourhood. After that the whole group
gets drunk, and as a result Raul takes young Pauli with him to his room,
much to the dismay of Cony - even if Raul can't perform with the girl
either. The enxt day, Goyo wants to have his revenge on Raul in
participating in the Tony Manero-lookalike competition on Festival
himself, but Raul knows how to keep him from dong that by shitting on his
maiden-white suit. But Cony, to have revenge on her daughter after her
night with Raul (even if nothing has happened) has already betrayed her
and Goyo to the secret police for their flyer-distribution actions - and
now the whole house is besieged by the secret police. Raul in fact can
escape in his Tony Manero outfit only just over the roofs - and arrives
just in time for Festival. On Festival
though, he suddenly feels less than special amidst five other Tony Manero
lookalikes - and he only finishes second, too ... A weird mix
of hommage to the disco age, serial killer film and political statement -
that every now and again seems to miss a beat: Somehow the ironic
potential of the whole premise is not milked to the fullest (to the
fullest without getting stupid that is), and sometimes the film even gets
boring when it's not supposed to. Add to this cinematography that at times
tries too hard to be interesting while at others remains just a bit too
indifferent and you are left ... well you are left with an ok movie still,
but somehow you feel it never develops to its full potential - which is a
pity considering its great (and weird) premise.
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find Tony Manero at adultvideouniverse.com
