Tale of a disco deviant

Interested in a flick not at the megaplex? Take the Chilean dark comedy “Tony Manero” for a whirl.

By Julie Garisto julie@magnoliamediaco.com

The College of Central Florida’s Ira

Holmes International Film Series lands in Chile this week with a finger pointed skyward and a shiny disco ball.

At 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 28, the twisted Chilean comedy “Tony Manero” (NR, 2008) follows Raúl Peralta, a middle-aged criminal who is obsessed with impersonating John Travolta’s “Saturday Night Fever” character.

Peralta’s dancing and showbiz aspirations turn dark and lead to theft, crime and even murder, set against the backdrop of Chile’s Augusto Pinochet military dictatorship.

The obsessive Peralta, like Travis Bickle in “Taxi Driver,” is one of those tragic antiheroes who still manages to fascinate us while creeping us out. According to Jonathan Romney of “Sight and Sound,” he is “one of the most disturbing and intractably unsympathetic figures in recent cinema.”

The combination of Hollywood fantasy, obsession and gruesome sociopathic behavior is blackly satirical and isn’t all for shock value, writes “Film Comment.” “Director/co-writer Pablo Larraín is clearly after more than cynical laughter,” the review professes.

The film is unrated and contains graphic violence and adult themes. The screening will take place at CF’s Ocala Campus, 3001 S.W. College Road, Building 8, Room 110 (rescheduled from Oct. 11, 2022). The showing is free and open to the public.

For a full series list and more information about the Ira Holmes International Film Series, visit CF.edu/filmseries.