Disco Boy

Aleksei (Franz Rogowski) visits Poland on a tourist visa from Belarus, but soon finds his way – through life-endangering means – to France. He realises his dream of joining the Foreign Legion and ships out to Nigeria. Meanwhile, Jomo (More Ndiaye) leads a troop of guerrilla fighters in the Niger Delta. The two are on collision course for each other, drawn together by almost mystical circumstance.

How the two connect is an electrifying, truly cinematic feat of imagination. Franz Rogowski – now a reliable hallmark of the most exciting European cinema, from Passages to Great Freedom to the work of Christian Petzold – is blisteringly fine form here. With hints of Claire Denis’s classic Beau Travail and cinematography from the peerless Hélène Louvart (The Lost Daughter, Happy as Lazzaro), this is an eye-opening debut.