Disco Boy

This is a great film which has so much to it that I feel like I need to see it again. It is a mesmerizing and at times hallucinatory experience. All the actors are great and even though there is not a lot of dialogue - the film is dense with layers of meanings. It is probably not for everyone - especially those expecting a Hollywood formula type thing. Many movies try to be "art films" and are difficult to stomach with predictable and pretentious art house tropes. This is really something different and new feeling. The soundtrack is incredible and sets ominous moods throughout. Every scene has its own power and depth. So great to see cinema like this.

Visually and musically, this film is simply perfect.

Is a combination of "Full Metal Jacket" and "Apocalypse Now" with added value. If you know these cinematic gems, whether you just respect them or even like them, you will surely be satisfied with this film.

This piece of art offers social drama, action and mystery with a critical tone towards social inequality and the effects of war with believable and likeable characters. And all without any imposition from the film everything flows beautifully to the rhythm of the soundtrack to the end.

Film did a great job with telling the story through the visuals. Even the post-credits reveal the story of the graphic design that the film offers from the start.

Well done.

Quite a beautiful and sad tale, but beautifully told without hefty dialogue.

What costs, what risks is Alexei willing to take to become a French citizen? And what costs, what risks is Jomo pushed to take to save his village? Are these men a reflection of each other, a manifestation the same human spirit? Udoka, the mystical and spiritual dancer of the tribe is the thread that weaves them together.

A strong focus on the characters' experience and struggles draws you in to the story. The acting is excellent, faces and expressions telling the narrative here. The imagery further supports the characters outlook and experiences through the film. The visual effects (such as a fight scene through IR goggles) convey the gravity of strong scenes without being gory or graphic, as well as relaying beautiful artefacts of nature as though painted with neon lights. They are excellently employed to highlight a tale about a technological society up against humanity's reliance on the natural realm. This is where Vitalic's soundtrack really comes into its own - utterly technological and synthetic, yet soulful, human and sympathetic. The soundtrack is exhilarating and at times crushing, but really well woven into the stories.

A wonderful and beautifully crafted film.

This multi-layered film depicts an internal journey that starts when two reckless guys from Belarus enter Poland with a three-day visa hoping for a life of a dream in France, where everyone drinks Bordeaux and eats Camembert. The journey changes its purpose and destination as the main character matures and experiences things one can never forget. His thoughts and dreams are hallucinating with memories and regrets, and by the end of the journey he will become someone else.

Throughout the film, we see a lot of injustice, violence, death and danger, as well as Alex and Jomo, the two main characters (or are they one?), with their two eyes: one black - for the real, the other one light - for the illusion.

PS: remarkable OST from Vitalic.

A local militia against the big oil corporations and corrupt authority; a migrant from Belarus seeking to become a french by serving in the infamous French foreign region. Just from the setting, the film could have turned out to be an intense drama - a criticism on imperialism and exploitation, or deep psychological drama of moral conflicts. But 'Disco Boy' uses such subject matters as the ground to create a (rather moody) mood piece than actually getting into the drama.

The film carefully veers around what could easily have been violent and shocking - the death of a friend, training process of the Foreign Region, a village burnt down... -, and chooses to only hint them through more artistic compositions and camera techniques (the fight scene between 2 protagonists entirely shown as the first person view through Alex's thermal scope vision being the most clear example).

The overall result is artistically impressive and hauntingly moody... but also vague and pretentious. The story of 2 men, who had to play tough and do things against their nature just to survive in the world, only to be ultimately consumed by the ruthless system... could have been more gripping and gritty. But they become more like characters in a fable or rather fantastical tale in this film. To me, it feels like they are further exploited, this time by the artistic ambition of the director.