‘Disco’ movie review: Stylish treatment fails to paper over the lack of substance in this generic mafia story
The Hindu · S.R. Praveen ·
Disco’s stylish visuals can't compensate for weak writing and overlong, derivative mafia drama with brutal violence.
Everyday is Halloween in the ganglands of Ullas Chemban’s sophomore film Disco. In whatever grim situation they may be caught in, the mafia men in this film somehow find the adequate time and mood to dress up in matching colourful costumes before they carry out the hit. While the opening sequence has one gang dressed up in Santa Claus costumes, another sequence has yet another gang with goat head masks launching an attack on a police van.
Going by how this keeps repeating for the entire length of Disco, its costume designer was probably working overtime. Or, the screenwriter also pitched in, since the film borrows much of its story from typical gangster films and hopes to get away with it using its stylish treatment. Just like Ullas Chemban’s debut work Anchakkallakokkan, Disco too is strong in its technical department, but that is not enough to save a film which banks a little too much on stylistics.
Much of the story plays out in a coastal town, bathed in a riot of colours, that has more of a Latin American flavour than a Keralam feel. The mafia gangs and their acts also look incongruous if imagined from the Keralam context, but some of it seems plausible if you go by the internal logic of the film. The non-linear narrative and the numerous gang members make it tough to keep track initially, but things do fall into place later. The structure of the movie consists of repetitive slow motion scenes of the various gangs, overhead shots of the coastal village, romantic interludes of the various couples and gang wars, all of it interspersed with hip hop music videos.
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