Zillion

The Zillion movie is certainly not a bad movie, but there is just way to much thuggery and fiction in it. Form about 1:06:00 the movie became more unbelievable by the second. The problem with this is that nightlife has an image that is absolutely false. Of course things happened that were absolutely not right as for example the war of the bouncers, but this problem was not a problem of zillion only. If the real owner of Carré was the slighest bit as in the movie, Carre would not still be operational on the date this is written and closed down decades ago.

Of course the movie does have good positives as well. The scene of the opening of Zillion and the music did sent shivers down my spine and brought me back to a time that has past a very long time ago.

I personally think It's a true shame the movie didn't stick more to the facts as known of today. It would have made a far better bio-pic then it is now and is this not exactly what it claims to be?

After "Les Ardennes" that I liked very much at the time Robin Pront returns with Zillion, the incredible biopic on a nerd who plunges into the world of the night through a success story that will make little echo to those who loved "The wolf of wall street". I don't know the character, I don't know if it's faithful, but the film is really great.

Overexcited and overexcited like his eccentric character, welcome in the Belgium of the 90s, the film is a real blast that takes off at 100 per hour. Difficult to be bored, the characters are a treat, the story is hallucinating and the staging is very nice. The feeling that emerges for me is a real plunge into a world of madness, decadent, immoral, voyeur but so enjoyable.

The actors are very good, the light and the music are excellent, the editing is thundering, a beautiful surprise that certainly looks like a roller coaster and whose inevitable decadence is both tragic and pathetic, a story of friendship and opportunism, filled with characters as endearing as decadent. Like Boogie Night in a little less trash anyway, the trip is as terrible as exciting.

In the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, where also yours truly hails from, "Zillion" is rapidly becoming much more than just a successful movie. It's a phenomenon! It's been several years since a locally produced film managed to bring so many people to the cinema, and - even more remarkably - so many people from different generations, as well! The film was already playing for almost a full month in cinemas when I went to see it, and the theater was still full. That's extremely exceptional for a Flemish movie.

It's the story of an infamous nightclub that really only existed between 1997 and 2002, so you'd expect it mainly attracts audiences who partied and experimented in this short period, but somehow, it's popular among much younger and much older people as well. And righteously so, I may add, because "Zillion" is a unique and original film full of fascinating characters, throwback 90s moments, awesome Belgian dance music, and recognizable faits-divers.

The best thing about writer/director Robin Pront's ambitious project is the intriguing mixture of facts and fiction. The decadent disco was real, the even more decadent protagonists (like the megalomaniac owner Frank Verstraeten and porn king Dennis Black Magic) were real, and the unimaginably decadent drug/sex parties at the Zillion were real as well. I know it, I was there a couple of times. The storylines connecting everything together, though, are a mix between truthful and made up, but you don't know what is real or not.

One thing's for sure, "Zillion" is the most memorable and entertaining Flemish movie in years. The pacing is non-stop fast, it's darkly comical, representative of everything that went wrong in this country during the 90s, and it has an awesome all-star cast plus an even more awesome soundtrack.

Really great and entertaining biopic about the rise and fall of Zillion one of the most famous disco's in the '90 in Antwerp. The life of Frank Verstraeten is so amazing that the real question remains what was real and was was written for this movie adaptation. Great music from the '90 and absolutely terrific performance of Matteo Simoni as Dennis Black Magic. Also Jonas Vermeulen (starting as Frank Verstraeten) has his first major roll and plays an entertaining/crazy Frank. Must-see if you like music from the '90. It's a bit like a flemish Scorsese-film or kind of a Wolf of Wall Street film about disco in these wonderful years (1997-2002). Robin Pront really shows he has the maturity to grow even further and make great & entertaining movies for the crowd.

Good performance by the actors, story is less well written.

There is a lot of fiction and non-fiction in it that makes the viewer doesn't realize what's real or what's made up. . Zillion was a great nightclub in the 90's in Belgium but this didn't compare to the Zillion movie that could do a lot better.

After watching the Zillion movie 90's nightclub you would feel partying but this wasn't the case.

The 90s music was okay but that doesn't make this a great movie.

High expectations not fulfilled for the big crowd.

I'm still a big Zillion fan, like a lot of people in Belgium and beyond.

Enjoy the movie and the Zillion life.