// Presented as part of May's Reygadas x Larraín Series //

Pablo Larraín / 2008, Cannes, BAFICI, BFI London, Cinemanila, Göteborg, Hamburg, Havana, Helsinki, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Miami, New York, NYT Critics' Pick, Rio de Janeiro, Rotterdam, Thessaloniki, Torino, Toronto, Transilvania, Vienna, Warsaw / 98'

Raúl Peralta is obsessed with Tony Manero. He performs at a bar on the outskirts of Santiago de Chile, meticulously recreating scenes from Saturday Night Fever. Raúl watches and rewatches the film at a local cinema he attends religiously, often in the middle of the day, as armored vehicles and soldiers patrol the streets. Meanwhile Raúl's dreams of becoming a star appear reasonably attainable when the national television channel announces a Tony Manero impersonating contest. His conviction to do whatever it takes, however, soon launches Raúl on an irreversible path of violence.

Immersing the spectator in the deepest recesses of a determined mind while evoking an era's pervasive threat of violence, Tony Manero posits a murderous psychopath as the logical conclusion of an authoritarian state. Pablo Larraín's second film premiered at Cannes Quinzaine des Réalisateurs; Rotterdam, where it won the KNF Award; Havana and BAFICI, where it won Best Actor; Torino, where it won the FIPRESCI Prize; Warsaw, where it won a Special Jury Prize; and Istanbul, where it won Best Film. Tony Manero is a New York Times Critics' Pick.