19/02/2023 - BERLINALE 2023: Giacomo Abbruzzese breaks free from genres with an intense and highly promising first film covering Europe, Africa, war and animism, carried by the brilliant Franz Rogowski

Franz Rogowski in Disco Boy

"Are you ready to take a few risks? – Anyone who’s scared needs to stay at home." Much like his Belorussian protagonist who signs up to the Foreign Legion after crossing Europe illegally to travel to France, Italian filmmaker Giacomo Abbruzzese doesn’t scare easily, as demonstrated by his highly original debut feature film Disco Boy [+see also:
trailer
interview: Giacomo Abbruzzese
film profile], which has rocketed straight into competition at the Berlinale.

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A journey both geographical (the story travels to Africa and the Niger Delta before returning to Paris) and mystical (featuring ghosts, visions and possession/redemption/liberation), this strange, incredibly physical and sensorial war film, which is awash with fleeting clues and cryptic symbolism beneath its intense action-movie exterior, flaunts a markedly modern personal style which has perfectly processed its various influences, ranging from Apocalypse Now to the global geopolitical tensions brought about by migration (and the environmentally unfriendly predation of raw materials), and from indoctrination of minds to direct shamanistic communication with souls.

Aleksei (introverted, frenetic and multi-layered German actor Franz Rogowski) is given the regimental number 021. Having undergone extreme training, he’s now a legionnaire. In five years he could have a French passport and change his name. But he also carries with him the petrifying weight of his past and primarily of the eight days which preceded his arrival in France at the beginning of the film: after crossing the Polish border in a bus for labourers, he fled with his friend Mikhail (Michał Balicki), but the latter ended up drowning en route. Aleksei’s life is now reduced to international comrades in combats who have been shaped by the drill sergeant’s mottos: "to forget the cold, you need to forget warmth" and "Look with your heart, not your eyes."

Much further south, in Nigeria, Jomo (Gambian Morr N’Diaye) heads up the MEND rebels who are fighting ("our eyes are open") against the economic imperialism eating away at the region’s prospects (its oil plants are reminiscent of Dante’s Inferno). But he and his sister Udoka (Ivory Coast’s Laetitia Ky) are also children of animist dances, and his path ends up crossing that of Aleksei (sent on a mission to rescue hostages), in the jungle, in the night and in the middle of a river. Only one of them will survive, and a whole other cerebral and more dreamlike film ensues…

A filmmaker with a keen sense for conveying atmospheres (significantly helped by talented director of photography Hélène Louvart and compelling composer Vitalic), Giacomo Abbruzzese doesn’t waste time with unhelpful dialogue, choosing instead to prioritise percussions or enchantments (as in a sequence using a thermal camera, the nocturnal sounds of the jungle, elements such as water, fire, mud, a spectacular helicopter winch moment, a New Age nightclub, etc.), the actors’ vying expressionism, and songs incorporated into the film’s narration (Amoureux solitaires by Lio and Non, je ne regrette rien by Edith Piaf). It’s an entire arsenal the director skilfully wields, cleverly set to a fast pace in a first feature film whose slightly elliptical nature vis-à-vis its deep "philosophical-magical" intentions doesn’t really matter, as it’s perfectly in step with the boundless spirit of its time and of a form of cinema straddling various genres.

Disco Boy is produced by French firm Films Grand Huit in co-production with their compatriots at Division, Italy’s Dugong Films, Belgium’s Panache Productions and Compagnie Cinématographique, and Poland’s Donten & Lacroix. The movie is sold worldwide by Charades.

(Translated from French)

Photogallery 19/02/2023: Berlinale 2023 - Disco Boy

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Giacomo Abbruzzese, Laëtitia Ky, Franz Rogowski, Morr Ndiaye, Leon Lučev, Matteo Olivetti
© 2023 Fabrizio de Gennaro for Cineuropa - fadege.it, @fadege.it