Directed by the amazing Whit Stillman ("Barcelona"; "Metropolitan"), "The Last Days of Disco" examines the life of several young, upward, professionals (or "yuppies" for short) during the early 1980's, when the disco craze was dying and the Decade of Decadence was beginning.
Alice (Chloë Sevigny of "Boys Don't Cry") and Charlotte (Kate Beckisndale of "Brokedown Palace") are two young publishing assistants who live as roommates in the city. Living on a love/hate relationship with one another, both girls decide to socialize with New York's club elite at the most popular club in the city.
There, they meet up with the likes of advertising execs and employees, odd club characters such as the Tiger Lady (played by Drew Barrymore's real-life mother, Jaid Barrymore) and others who give the film a unique flavor when it comes to recreating the disco era of the late 1970's/early 1980's.
While I really can't give away the details that moves the film to its' conclusion, all I can say that this film blows away the only other disco-era film that was released around the same time, "Studio 54." While the latter tried to recreate the final days of New York City's most infamous nightspot, it failed to capture the energy that disco era was well-known for. Unlike "Studio 54," instead of revolving around the life of one character, "Last Days" focuses on the lives of several young professionals, which gives it more flavor and attraction.
Personally, Whit Stillman simply is one of the best American directors out there. His films all involve wit, energy, love, and the elements that plague young adults now and then. In one I consider to be one of the best-written scripts in recent years, Stillman pours plenty of wit and insight on what it is to be young and successful in a large city.
Another great thing about this film is its' excellent disco-era soundtrack. Covering such classics such as "I'm Coming Out" by Diana Ross and "Everybody Dance" by Chic, I almost felt that I was transported to the club in the film. If you loved this film, I highly recommend picking up a copy of the soundtrack.
If you love Disco and/or films about life in New York City, I highly recommend this film. It is one of the best films of 1998, and after watching it I can't wait for Whit Stillman's next project.
If you can't stand to watch another exploding helicopter, "Disco" and the other two Whit Stillman movies are a good antidote. The characters actually say interesting things.
You may want to watch "Metropolitan" before watching "The Last Days of Disco" to understand the world the characters come from. You may be a little misled by watching "Metropolitan" first, though. It's a simple, gentle story while "Barcelona" and "Disco" are sexier and set in more exotic locales.
Some reviewers didn't like these movies because the characters speak articulately in fully-formed, grammatically-correct sentences. I can see where they might mistake it for bad writing or acting. The bio commentary on the "Disco" DVD talks about the film crew being impressed by the Sevigny and Beckinsale's ability to recreate New England prep school speech an indication that preppies really talk that way. I'm from California where we're all inarticulate, so I wouldn't know. Ultimately, I don't care people don't break out singing in real life, either, but you wouldn't want to do away with musicals. Notice that the non-preppy characters in these movies talk like "normal" people.
Buy The Last Days of Disco (The Criterion Collection) (1998) Now
Whit Stillman's 1998 film "The Last Days of Disco" remains one of his best pictures a refreshing, intelligent, and often subtly hilarious look at shallow yuppies living, clubbing, and loving at the tail end of the Disco era (i.e. "the very early 1980s"). The demure Chloe Sevigny and the bitchy Kate Beckinsale play a vastly different pair of publishing assistants who decide to room in a New York railroad apartment while they hit the highlife at night with a colorful group of supporting characters -not the least of which include advertising man Mackenzie Astin (who needs the disco to attract clients), club bouncer Chris Eigeman (a Stillman regular), and assistant district attorney Matt Keeslar (who perhaps has both the hots for Sevigny, and ulterior motives for visiting the disco himself).
The performances are uniformly on target, each character believably echoing the frivolous nature of the music, but also the genuine feeling for the time and place they do share. Stillman provides seemingly every character with a vital scene or line of dialogue, and comes down hard on their essentially materialistic ideals while never condemning them or turning the picture into a broadly comic spoof. Sevigny's character, in particular, is a credible portrait of a young girl lost in the big city, emotionally if nothing else, and Beckinsale creates one of the most effectively obnoxious (but believable!) women you're ever likely to see on the big screen, years before the actress dedicated most of her time to becoming a plastic action figure.
They all speak Stillman's prose, which is funny, insightful and hip, making "The Last Days of Disco" engaging and fun, filled with an enjoyable soundtrack, while the director handles each turn -dramatic and (predominantly) comic -with an unabashed love for the era. It may not have a gigantic, thought-provoking point, but then again, neither did the early '80s.
Criterion's Blu-Ray of "The Last Days of Disco" is basically a HD reprise of their 2009 DVD edition, with the added surplus of an excellent 1080p AVC encoded transfer and DTS MA soundtrack. Extras include a commentary from Stillman, Sevigny and Eigeman; four deleted scenes; the trailer, a behind-the-scenes featurette, stills gallery, and an audio recording of Stillman reading a chapter from his book "The Last Days of Disco, with Cocktails at Petrossian Afterwards."
Read Best Reviews of The Last Days of Disco (The Criterion Collection) (1998) Here
The Last Days of Disco is a fantastic movie, but only if you are prepared to really listen to the dialogue.
The thing that I like most about Whit Stillman's movies is his characters dissatisfied and confused with their lives as they may be. My favourite actor in all of Stillman's movies is Chris Eigeman, who always plays a cynical character, who is offensive to all, but who I still find likeable. In The Last Days of Disco, Eigeman is Des, a cocaine snorting, womanising underboss in popular nightclub.
Look out for the hilarious Lady and the Tramp scene in the movie, as well as the scene where Des snorts some hot coffee because it may contain the same effects as cocaine. This is a movie that gets heavy on dialogue, but is worth it. Even though the characters are pompous, they are extremely well developed and acted.
The Last Days of Disco is a fantastic movie, and for me brought alive the disco era in a way that movies such as Studio 54 did not come near. But only for people who like to really watch movies, not just have them on in the background.
Want The Last Days of Disco (The Criterion Collection) (1998) Discount?
"The Last Days of Disco" recalls a specific time the very early 1980's. The video opens with a shot of two young women walking down the street. The shot is framed in such a way that you only see the bottom half of their legs. It's a shot that immediately recalls the disco-era classic, "Saturday Night Fever" with it's similar opening clearly Whit Stillman (who wrote and directed) knows what he's doing.
The film is a sort of coming-of-age story of two book publishing assistants Alice (well played by Chloe Sevigny who can be seen in the current "Boys Don't Cry") and Charlotte (Kate Beckinsale). Looking to expand their social circle, they frequent a hard-to-get-into nightclub (not mentioned but obviously patterned after New York's famed Studio 54). The more experienced Charlotte ("Maybe in physical terms I'm cuter than you but you should be much more popular than I am") gives Alice lots of advice like how she should always try and throw the word "sexy" into her conversation or how Harvard guys can be amazing creeps. She talks of the "tremendous importance of group social life" and claims to oppose "all this ferocious pairing off". She's a bit of a phony, however, which we (like Alice) come to find out. But Stillman rises above making crass judgements about her, he doesn't make fun of her he essentially likes her, as he does all the characters. This includes Des, whose act is to pretend he's recently discovered he's gay in order to gain sympathy from women, before cruelly dumping them.
Deftly observed, "The Last Days of Disco" is one of the best videos I saw in 1998. It's an extremely talky, almost plotless, CHARACTER-driven story. The talk, however, is often very witty. Take, for example, the debate that films like "Lady and the Tramp" program women to adore jerks. Or the idea that the environmental movement started in the 50's after we all saw "Bambi". This is a terrific film that shines a light on a confusing time a time many were scarcely prepared for.
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I took a dear elder aged friend to this movie on a bad day in his life, hoping to distract him momentarily from events he couldn't do anything about. Instead, the movie re-invigorated both of us, and brought us repeatedly to tears. Say what you want about "feel good" movies, there are times when they are just what the doctor ordered!
