25/10/2022 - Robin Pront goes somewhere we never expected him to go after his first feature film, to bring the early 2000s back to life in an Antwerp nightclub

Charlotte Timmers, Matteo Simoni and Jonas Vermeulen in Zillion

By way of Zillion [+see also:
trailer
interview: Robin Pront
film profile], a historical biopic which is released in Belgium this Wednesday 26 October, distributed by Kinepolis Film Distribution, and which brings the early 2000s back to life in the now legendary Antwerp nightclub, filmmaker Robin Pront is going to a place we never expected him to go to, after his first feature film The Ardennes [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Robin Pront
film profile], which was a sombre family-centric thriller.

"Life’s too short to pay taxes": as surprising as it may seem, it’s this innocent little aphorism, uttered off the cuff by his mother, which hastens the fate of Frank Vestraeten, an IT genius who becomes King of the Night by virtue of his stubborn nature and visionary disposition, but who fails to apply any such foresight to managing his personal or professional affairs.

At the end of the 90s, Frank has a brainwave: he starts to import electronic components from China which are impossible to find in Europe and selling them directly to local consumers. Success comes his way, but Frank is reluctant to bend to the national standards in force. Determined to live the high life and become part of the jet set, and driven by a serious inferiority complex vis-a-vis his appearance yet confident of his intellectual superiority, he decides to build the biggest nightclub in Belgium which will attract the most beautiful girls and will turn him into the King of the Night. In order to achieve his goal, he joins forces with Dennis Black Magic, a producer of hit porn films, and Miss Belgium. They form an unexpected trio who ensure legendary status for Zillion, before it crashes to the ground mid-flight, burdened by fraud, betrayal, and Frank’s dubious relationships.

The film charts the grandeur and decadence of a cantankerous geek. Behind the show lasers, the thundering beats, the podium dancers on all levels, coke by the kilo and a deluge of cash, it’s Frank Verstraeten’s comet-like trajectory that’s scrutinised here, an anti-hero who’s unlikeable at first glance, but whom we almost warm to on account of his perseverance and the scope of his ambitions, he who started out with so little.

Robin Pront tries his hand at an epic biopic which is part-Casino for its first person narrative, part-The Social Network for its determined geek protagonist, arming himself with a spectacular setting (the Zillion, a flamboyant nightclub and a character in and of itself) and a high-colour and even larger than life quartet of characters (when we deservedly add Frank’s mother to the trio composed of her son, his beauty queen and his porn king). The film’s artistic direction should help pull on Belgian audiences’ nostalgic heartstrings, with film codes having been partly invented for this very purpose. The aesthetic is inevitably eye-watering and flashy, but it’s true to the do or die decadence of the time. The ensemble is buoyed by the energy of its actors, Jonas Vermeulen coming good to lend real intensity to his anti-hero character, Charlotte Timmers lending depth to Miss Belgique, Matteo Simoni offering up complexity in his role as porn king, and Barbara Sarafian breathing a Machiavellian air into Frank’s loving mother.

Zillion is produced by FBO (Belgium), Woestijnvis (Belgium) and Millstreet Films (Netherlands).

(Translated from French)