CFE Film Series: Tony Manero

As Augusto Pinochet holds Chile in the grip of dictatorship, a 50-year-old man obsessed with John Travolta's character from Saturday Night Fever imitates his idol each weekend in a small bar on the outskirts of Santiago. Each weekend, Raúl Peralta and his friends -- a devoted group of dancers -- gather in a small bar and act out their favorite scenes from Saturday Night Fever. Raúl longs to become a showbiz superstar, and when the national television announces a Tony Manero impersonating contest it seems like he may finally have a shot at living his dreams. But as Raúl is driven to commit a series of crimes and thefts in order to reproduce his matinee idol's persona, his dancing partners (underground resistance fighters who rail against the regime) are persecuted by the secret police. The film is a dark comedy in which Raul’s character and actions are a metaphor for the amorality and viciousness of the Pinochet regime. 

"Larrain evokes the bleakness and oppressiveness of life in a police state with much subtlety even as he poses a much larger question about cultural imperialism."
- Kevin Thomas, L.A. Times

"Shot with a hand-held camera and presented in a fragmented scenario, Tony Manero is the director's compelling attempt to find parallels between the Pinochet reign of terror and Raúl's scruple-less antics."
 - V. A. Musetto, New York Post

"Larrain's (literally) dark, edgy movie is a precise artistic commentary on Augusto Pinochet's miserable regime, which was 
under way while Travolta gyrated."
-  Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

Introduction by Alexandra Anderson, Associate Professor, School of Image Arts at Ryerson University

Co-sponsored with the Documentary Media Research Centre at Ryerson University

Please contact cfe@ryerson.ca if you require accommodation to ensure inclusion in this event.