But what the Italian director Giacomo Abbruzzese, on his feature debut, has done with this hoary premise is extraordinary.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 1, 2024

While the plot itself is a little nebulous, the atmosphere that Abbruzzese creates, through a hypnotic, pulsing electronic score and Rogowski’s febrile presence, is unnerving and intense.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 31, 2024

Disco Boy drives by with a certain striking aesthetic that can be hypnotic, and Rogowski is a sufficiently charismatic actor, enough to generate empathy. [Full review in Spanish]

| Feb 21, 2024

With a few psychedelic twists and turns, and some mysticism, it really gets to you in the end -- and the score is extraordinary.

| Feb 13, 2024

It’s an incredible filmmaking debut, and an unpredictable one as well, in which Franz Rogowski continues to prove he’s one of this generation’s most intriguing actors.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Feb 8, 2024

The writing is too vague, the direction too deliberately avoids any commitment to coherence, and if there is a deeper meaning in Disco Boy than what is seen on the screen at any given time, it eludes me totally.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Feb 5, 2024

Disco Boy makes up for its predictability with its haunting trance-like collage of scenes, with cinematography that is so spellbinding, it'll leave you watching long after the credits roll.

| Feb 3, 2024

Mr. Rogowski brings his typically deep interiority -- one that tends to break out into the world in unpredictable ways. The film isn’t equal to his talents, but it gets by on style, vigor and some big ideas.

| Feb 2, 2024

Even if it sometimes borrows too overtly from its obvious influence, “Beau Travail,” the 1999 opus by Claire Denis, “Disco Boy” is a lean but sweepingly ambitious film crafted with formal rigor.

| Feb 1, 2024

Bold, creative and unflinching, Disco Boy is alive with unpredictable political energy.

| Aug 15, 2023

Lack of clarity, it turns out, is what makes Disco Boy so enjoyable, and imbues it with gravitas.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Feb 23, 2023

This is bold film-making: a movie that wants to dazzle you with its standalone setpieces, but also to carry you along with its storytelling.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 21, 2023

This hugely inventive film finally doesn’t deliver all it promises, but highlights Abbruzzese as a distinctive voice.

| Feb 20, 2023

Unfortunately, Disco Boy is afflicted with the curse of trying to pack too much (in terms of both style and substance) into its 92-minute runtime, rendering it incapable of saying much at all.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 20, 2023

Getting in, getting down, and getting out as a style-hopping sizzle reel, “Disco Boy” heralds a promising new talent who totally has the moves.

| Original Score: B | Feb 20, 2023

Notwithstanding its openly derivative qualities, “Disco Boy” doesn’t want for boldness or surprise — Abbruzzese’s hot, fluxional command of sound and image keeps us curious.

| Feb 20, 2023

A sensuous, striking film experience. But, yeesh, that script by director-screenwriter Giacomo Abbruzzese is a mess...

| Feb 20, 2023