GLASGOW FILM FESTIVAL 2020 - Disco
GLASGOW FILM FESTIVAL 2020
Jorunn Myklebust Syversen's Disco is a harrowing portrait of religion within a claustrophobia-inducing and anxiety swelling environment.
Myklebust Syversen's film does a skilful job of portraying the surface of anxiety alongside the often invisible psychological underbelly. Particularly, leading actress Josefine Frida Pettersen as Mirjam is terrific in an emotionally complex and draining role. Pettersen showcases tremendous skill in terms of restraint here. A performance that could easily drown in excessiveness, she plays in a quaint and reserved manner that personifies the surrounding mental illness that the character is suffering.
Thankfully, Disco does not solely act as a one-note hit piece on organised religion — a sentiment it could do with ease. Granted, religion is a significant component of where Myklebust Syversen's film aims its sights, but there are far more layers in play. Arcs on the double standard of organisational faith, sexualisation of children and even sexual and physical abuse all take small but integral parts of this feature.
However, Disco never takes the next step to investigate or highlight said elements to a further degree. What transpires is not necessarily a flat feature but one that does, in fact, underwhelm. With a lacking insight into these themes, the feature undercuts itself and has a drastically disconnected third act that not only ruins the flow of the film but causes a structural issue.
The central performance from Josefine Frida Pettersen is outstanding, but there is little here in Disco for the actress to gravitate towards with only a sprinkle of thematic weight that surrounds the film. What begins as a promising insight into the trials and tribulations of a young woman finding herself in a claustrophobic faith-based family and an overly sexualised world, can not quite find its voice and raise it loud enough to make an impact.
