Zillion

The film, based on real events, tells the story of the Zillion Club and its owner, Frank Verstraeten. The club was popular in Belgium in the 2000s. Frank was a promising and forward-thinking IT specialist who wanted to conquer the world through his intelligence, ambition, and hidden complexes.

The tools and initial motivation already hint at how this story will end. There is a theory, and perhaps some research, that serious success is achieved by people who can be described as psychopaths. They lack compassion, are selfish, arrogant, and willing to go to any lengths to achieve their goals. But what is their purpose?

Psychopaths are usually people who become psychopathic, not those who are born that way. The roots of this go back to childhood, when misfortune in the family, bullying at school, or some other trauma forces the mind to change direction. Most often, this becomes a negative motivation in the future - to be better than others (in our case, to prove that Frank is "higher" than others). This can be done in different ways - becoming richer, having a beautiful wife, gaining power.

This can be seen in the film, where the main character achieves his goals with people, which helps him for his own personal reasons. His mother tries to realize herself in her son, giving everything she has for the sake of his success. The most beautiful girl in Belgium becomes his wife, not out of love, but because she is the best - as a thing. The wife herself does this because she is fleeing from the influence of her father's despot. A friend in the porn business becomes a profitable ally. And the club was created.

Since the initial motivation is rather low, the goals stop there. There is no development. And then it turns out that the complexes did not disappear anywhere, personal problems did not evaporate. They were drowned out by the desire to reach the goal, and when the goal was achieved (the goal was to realize the ambition to become higher than others), everything returned with a new wave. Suspicions from nothing to do and betrayals - the union became unprofitable, and everyone began to suffer from garbage.

All because negative motivation, although it can effectively lead to the goal, but these goals are limited and low - having a club and such a wife, the main character was already better and more statuesque than everyone else. Why develop further? The intoxication of success leads to failure, and the whole system collapses. Although, it would seem, with so much money and influence, it would be possible to do a lot of things instead of suspecting everyone. But there is no. This is the fate of psychopaths. Hostages of complexes that are both a gift and a curse.

The film is worth watching if you are in a philosophical mood and want to think about the basics of the universe and the behavior of primates around us. The film tries to show reality as it is, although we already see it every day, so I can't say what exactly the artistic value of the film and its meaning are, except to think about what drives us and what it can lead to. It is worth noting the camerawork, color exposure, and overall atmosphere - they pull out the situation much better.

In the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, where also yours truly hails from, "Zillion" is rapidly becoming much more than just a successful movie. It's a phenomenon! It's been several years since a locally produced film managed to bring so many people to the cinema, and - even more remarkably - so many people from different generations, as well! The film was already playing for almost a full month in cinemas when I went to see it, and the theater was still full. That's extremely exceptional for a Flemish movie.

It's the story of an infamous nightclub that really only existed between 1997 and 2002, so you'd expect it mainly attracts audiences who partied and experimented in this short period, but somehow, it's popular among much younger and much older people as well. And righteously so, I may add, because "Zillion" is a unique and original film full of fascinating characters, throwback 90s moments, awesome Belgian dance music, and recognizable faits-divers.

The best thing about writer/director Robin Pront's ambitious project is the intriguing mixture of facts and fiction. The decadent disco was real, the even more decadent protagonists (like the megalomaniac owner Frank Verstraeten and porn king Dennis Black Magic) were real, and the unimaginably decadent drug/sex parties at the Zillion were real as well. I know it, I was there a couple of times. The storylines connecting everything together, though, are a mix between truthful and made up, but you don't know what is real or not.

One thing's for sure, "Zillion" is the most memorable and entertaining Flemish movie in years. The pacing is non-stop fast, it's darkly comical, representative of everything that went wrong in this country during the 90s, and it has an awesome all-star cast plus an even more awesome soundtrack.

What a movie....because I'm old and lived through these years, it gets to my nostalgia. I did not really frequent the club, but did celebrate one New Year's eve there...and later on, my fraternity ('studentenclub' - more girls than boys haha, but didn't know how to put that in English) had quite some parties there (with women swimming in the tank - luckily we had 2 sisters doing synch swimming competively)). The overall feeling for the scenes inside the club are spot on....back then it was awesome...and the movie portraits that very well - moving stages, light shows, it was awesome.

Acting is perfect imho...of course I never met Frank so I cannot judge...I did encounter Dennis a few times...especially when he got refused from the club I worked back then.

All in all...great movie with great acting...but...do I find this movie great purely because I've been there and watched the glory Zillion was....or because it's a great movie? Bit of both I think....at least the score is AWESOME!!

Edit: Brigitta Callens (Charlotte in the movie) was not the girl to set up stuff like that...Brigitta used to frequent the club I worked in without having Frank spying on her....but then again, what does the floor ppl know what's really going on behind the scenes...

Second time watch and still as great as the first time ! Did i have fun ? Hell yeah ! Is it good ? It's great ! Overall a very wellmade Belgian movie based on a true story about the Zillion dancing (1997 - 2002) . Very entertaining ! Cast did such a great job ! Love the score too ! Really can't think of something i didn't like about this movie . This was an instant favorite the first time i watched it and now after a second watch it still is ! Definitely one of the best Belgian movies in a long time . Get some snacks or some pizza , something to drink and you will have a fun time ! I recommend it !

Really great and entertaining biopic about the rise and fall of Zillion one of the most famous disco's in the '90 in Antwerp. The life of Frank Verstraeten is so amazing that the real question remains what was real and was was written for this movie adaptation. Great music from the '90 and absolutely terrific performance of Matteo Simoni as Dennis Black Magic. Also Jonas Vermeulen (starting as Frank Verstraeten) has his first major roll and plays an entertaining/crazy Frank. Must-see if you like music from the '90. It's a bit like a flemish Scorsese-film or kind of a Wolf of Wall Street film about disco in these wonderful years (1997-2002). Robin Pront really shows he has the maturity to grow even further and make great & entertaining movies for the crowd.