"The Last Days of Disco" follows a group of newly minted adults in the New York of the early 1980s. They're affluent, and recent products of Ivy League educations but they really don't have much of a clue as to what adulthood is all about. They're groping, but they're not sure for what. They all have jobs, but their lives revolve around a posh disco where they mate, mingle, and talk. There's not much of a plot; "The Last Days of Disco" is mostly a series of conversions. But the conversions are wonderful. Whit Stillman's dialogue is a delight; he nails what its like during those first years of adulthood when the life of the group is replaced by a mature individuality. The ensemble cast is wonderful to watch, not overplaying their characters. I recommend this movie very highly
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gbheron3 December 2000
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dzhaviland1 December 2020I was a disco queen and what I loved about this movie is that it captured the innocence and naivete of the time along with everyone trying to be what they thought others thought was "cool". No other movie really captures that aspect of the disco days so perfectly. it was a time where everyone was looking for love, walking into a disco hoping all eyes were on them but being naive in regards to relationships. So banal, ridiculous conversations happened constantly while trying to impress or create desire. Then you went home with either the person you had the most chemistry with or whoever you were left with at the end of the night. Generally the sex sucked and not in a good way(ah that was a touch of Charlotte I think). This movie perfectly hit on all those things and takes me back many years. The only thing it didn't have was the absolute joy and abandon many people felt while dancing. There was such a freedom and love of life. Ah well, nothing's perfect, not even disco.
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RDenial8 February 2004Several people have commented that the conversations in the club would have been impossible due to the loud disco music. I was a regular bar goer in the 1970s and 80s and though some rock and roll bars were deafening, most dance clubs were not as "loud" as they are today. Conversation was a possibility back then believe it or not. I think that is one retro idea that should be revived.
As for the rest of the film, I liked it. I did not think all of the elements worked however. For example, I would have liked to have seen more proof that disco was on its way out. Having guys walk around in shirts that proclaimed "Disco Sucks" and footage of a "death to disco" rally at a baseball game between the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox were both evident in 1979 when that game was played. I watched that game. Incidentally, the Tigers won by forfeit as the Chicago field became a disaster area. I would have liked to have heard more of the change in music. We did hear some Blondie, but this film was supposed to take place in the early 80s. I think the song "Bette Davis Eyes" would have been a good choice.
If you are looking for a celebration of Disco, this film isn't it. It does have some realistic portrayals of people who might have been involved in the scene. I watched the film because I disliked the whole disco scene and thought that a film showing it dying may be interesting and it did not disappoint me. If you are looking for a plot, this film doesn't have it. Not all of it worked and I was scratching my head a few times, but I think this film may become more enjoyable with a second viewing. I gave it a 7. -
walshio15 December 1998`You have no idea what men think about women's breasts,' womaniser Des McGrath (Christopher Eigeman) pleads. No, not a rehash of Boogie Nights, but the third instalment, following Metropolitan and Barcelona, of Whitman's `yuppie' odyssey.
This New York yarn centres on publishing assistants Charlotte (flawless snotty American accent by Kate Beckinsale) and her best friend/biggest rival Alice (Chloe Sevigny). Bitchy Charlotte - `In physical terms, I'm cuter than you, but you're much nicer than I am,' - and Alice fall in with a parade of self-absorbed fellows in pullovers and drab ties. The `verbal' action between this set of intellectual folk takes place at a ludicrous dance palace in the very early 80s, with the `disco movement' decaying and Reagan's soul-devouring materialism taking hold.
In the main these are disagreeable people, but as much as you urge yourself to loathe them, you can't quite do it. Whitman's wildly self-indulgent and witty script (`Do you think the neurological effects of caffeine are similar to that of cocaine?') makes them impossible to ignore and eventually their awfulness becomes disturbingly compelling. A bit like Friends, only without dumb Joey and flaky Phoebe.
Although, aesthetically and visually Whitman's film doesn't quite ring true clothing looks too 90s and they'd never be able to talk so much in a club the dialogue is fresh and chances are you'll be grinning from here to Bolivia when the "Love Train" rolls through the subway at the end.- Ben Walsh
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move_over_fatso30 December 20051) There is no action in this movie. If you need *something*, then avoid this movie like the plague. And while one may think to themself, "dayam, those actresses look fine", there are no gratuitous skin shots. Its not a movie like "Honey", where you turn off the volume and just stare at Jessica Alba.
2) Its not really about the End of Disco (despite the title). The soon to be dead Disco era is a BACKDROP for the theme of the movie. Casablanca was not about WW II. It was a romance movie, and the War was a backdrop. No one bitches about the authenticity of the airplanes, uniforms, historical details of the politics or legal procedures, or portrayal of the Moroccan culture. Yes, I wish the filmmaker was a bit more zealous about period dress and music. Oh well. And while there are reminiscent touches, its not a movie who's focus is dedicated to capturing the Disco period. If what you want is an homage to Disco, then you won't like this movie.
3) It IS a "Coming of Age" movie. It is about vapid, just-out-of-college Americans starting out in the real world. The movie mostly skewers them, but I can't help but feel a bit of nostalgia and loss for a period of life that will never come back to me (early twentysomething). I strongly suggest you avoid the movie if you're under 35. You do not need to have lived through the disco period to appreciate the movie, but you do need to be an old fogey. Definitely a movie for adults, in the non-NC17 way.
4) The actors put on superlative performances. They were portraying vapid, witless, bland, soon to be full-blown yuppies. The time period is perfect for reflecting on the contrast of soon-to-be-over perceptions of life and the world from youth to early adulthood. You can almost see their worldview evolve within the one(?) year time period of the movie. There's nothing sucky about the acting. The characters are mostly sucky people; that's why they seem wooden, vapid, and lame. (And Kate Beckinsale does an AWESOME American accent; because she's British, and there isn't a hint of her native tongue.) Yes, their dancing seems lame, because the general public are generally lame dancers. People did not break out like John Travolta on the dance floor every night. Its not a movie about dancing.
5) One should be appreciating the dialogue from a detached distance, and be struck by its wit and humor. Not living through these people in a first person perspective. This is for people who can appreciate reading James Joyce, Harold Pinter, or Evelyn Waugh, or any great novelist/playwright who doesn't beat you over the head (usually with a voice-over) with the meaning of every aspect of a scene. (Apologies if these writers aren't good examples; I'm having a problem recalling an ideal choice.) If the movie seems to drift and be aimless, its because life is not a continuous series of epiphanies, and this is not a typical Hollywood feature. If you need something more obvious, you WON'T like this movie.
Its actually a bit hard to like this movie, but I do. I have met people who have lived through the Disco era and waxed poetic like Josh towards the end of the movie. They're actually yearning for the illusions of their youth; which is kind of what the movie is about. -
USA conversationalist Whit Stillman's third feature, THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO trades on his personal experiences of NYC's disco-scene (salted with Harvard-disparaging quips) in the early 80s, ebulliently scrutinizing a coterie of freshly out-of-college yuppie-wannabes, who are habitually congregated in their common haunt, an unconscionably popular nightstand, meantime, their love life and career path wax and wane variably, signposted by its title when their disco days are unexpectedly being put paid to, time to grown up when reality bites.
Alice (Sevigny), a self-contained sylph dithering about making the right decisions - don't be judgmental, be sexy, always at the bidding of her more popular but stuck-up friend Charlotte (a fresh-faced Beckinsale, looking ghastly under the slap), both girls work in the same publishing house and mingle with the likes of Tom (Leonard), a spiffy environmental lawyer, Jimmy (Astin), an enterprising adman, No.1 and No.2 prospects on Alice's infatuation list, then there are Josh (Keeslar), a young assistant district attorney and Des (Eigeman), a college-dropout who becomes one of the managers of the said nightclub, both take a fancy on the quiet but intelligent Alice.
Gender study and sex politics are thrown into the mix where philandering and mendacity (using "gay excuse" to break off relationships), gender double standards (you are a titillating slut, I will not forfeit our chance of a one-night-stand, but afterwards, we are finished.), treacherous friendship (Beckingsale is totally in her wheelhouse as the paradigm of the so called "green tea bitch", avant la lettre), even venereal disease, collectively roil the dynamism of their pairing-off games, to somewhat wacky but consistently buoyant vibes, however, a byplay relative of an undercover police investigation is only patchily introduced as a frivolous plot device, fails to emphasize what is at stake, and the manic-depressive Josh, accorded with a forthright quirkiness and spontaneous elocution, potentially the most fascinating character among the posse, is wasted by the wooden, stilted performance from the blandly handsome Keeslar, whose recapitulation of the film's tenor near the finish-line comes off as a deleterious overkill.
However, club-scene hasn't died out, has been continuing luring new generations of hipsters and scenesters with theme-specific variations to this day, over three decades later, THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO is, to each their own, a sparkling eulogy of Whitman's own youthful abandon and disillusion, and on a sociological level, a zeitgeist-reflecting conversation piece that thankfully doesn't belie its maker's undue conceit and guile. -
Like his first film, Metropolitan, Whit Stillman's The Last Days of Disco is about young, white kids from an upper middle-class background with a talent for witty repartee and intelligent conversation. More importantly, like Metropolitan, Last Days is also about group dynamic in the late 20th century. In other words, this engaging, and entertaining, film is an anthropological study of a certain subtype of human-being: WASPy disco dancers from the early 1980s.
As such, it should be reprehensible, right? I mean, didn't American Psycho set us straight on yuppie-dom? Well, evidently not, because Last Days of Disco is a wonderful achievement for a number of reasons.
First, there is the satire. Yes, the film likes its characters, but it is not above acknowledging their inadequacies. No one is entirely likable nor is anyone a clear cut bad guy. They're all vaguely reminiscent of college-educated adults in their early 20s: smart and funny but still occasionally mean and prone to bouts of foolish behavior. They're not great people but you can't hate them.
Second, there's the narrative style itself. It focuses, more or less, on Charlotte and Alice but involves their friends, acquaintances, and lovers as well. In doing this, characters will show up unexpectedly (like Charlotte and Alice's roommate) and disappear just as quickly. I like movies that acknowledge that they're concerned with a certain number of characters and regard everyone else as incidental. Minor characters in a film need not remain static. They can and should change from time to time, for such is life.
Third, Last Days of Disco is a paean to that danceable sound. For all the truck disco has been given over the years, it really was a remarkable period of music. Yes, there was a lot of garbage--as there is with any musical movement--but the amount of innovation that took place during the years of 1976-1980 is impressive. We continue to feel the effects of disco and are beginning to accept it as a viable musical outlet. One of the nice points made subtly by Last Days is that, in a sense, discotheques were Utopian communities at night where the Upper East Side WASPS danced next to (gasp!) blacks and gay men! The climate of the discos was accepting of people of all colors and sexual orientations. It's nice to have a film display this belief and show the disco movement its due credit.
As much as I love Last Days of Disco, I think it is nevertheless an acquired taste. The dialogue, which I find scintillating, grates on the ears of others. Like the films of Wes Anderson, Whit Stillman's movies are a little precious. I like them; not everyone does. If you like interesting, though arch, dialogue and well-constructed characters, I suggest this fantastic film to you. -
BadRoosevelt30 November 2020This film follows the lives of several 20-something working professionals in New York City in the early 80s as they pursue their careers and variable romantic attachments. The lack of a strong plot is largely compensated for by superb performances, rich dialogue and well-drawn characters.
Having seen this film all the way back when I was still in high school and now seeing it again more than twenty years later, I have a pretty different take on it. Obviously when I was 17, most of the film's concepts of young adulthood flew way over my head. But years later, I understand the characters and their personalities so so so much better that I can't help but marvel at how well this film holds up. Behaviors and quirks stand out to me so much better now.
In some ways, life for young single people in NYC has not changed. In others, it has changed dramatically. The wide-eyed belief in an innumerable possibilities, the endless buffet of choices and yet the cock-eyed arrogance that you know everything you need to know when you're only in your 20s. In terms of the quality of life, the desperate need for roommates to counteract a woefully low salary at an entry level job is still a fact of life, perhaps even more so today. The grittiness of the club scene is one thing that feels a bit quaint in this film. Even in my youth, the more inclusive nature of the club scene began to disappear and to give way to more exclusive venues where ironically the white collar professionals would fit right in and others would not. In the period that is portrayed here, the NYC nightlife scene might as well be in another country because it was before hip hop came along and radically altered how young people interacted.
But one thing that rings eternal is young people exploring as many options as they can before they eventually gravitate toward their natural preferences and become real adults. In that regard, this is still quite an insightful film to watch, as the characters who are narcissistic and capricious tend to go one direction while those who are mild-mannered and unselfish tend to go in another. It's exciting to watch when you're bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and then alternately amusing and nostalgia-inducing when you're my age. Gladly recommended to anyone approaching adulthood or already there. -
lemon99310 June 2004Chloe Sevigny, the independent film princess, lands in the great emerald city by the sea. The final moments of the disco period are about to expire and she must dispose of her wickedly evil roommate, Kate Beckinsale. The disco is the epicenter of the film, the "Oz" if you will, where the wizard appears to control the music and lights of the city. Whit Stillman produces movies as often as the Olympics come around, but I like the tone he achieves here. Check-out the eighties publishing world depicted in the film. What's missing? No computers. The office seems less cluttered and more soothing to the creative spirit. There's an off-the-cuff reference to J.D. Salinger and his different works. There are many such random references scattered through the frames of the film. The director keeps you on your toes. The highlight of the film arrives on an iron horse by means of an impromptu dance sequence. The extemporaneous dance number spills out onto the subway platform and beyond the station. Nice touch.
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derek-duerden26 January 2021Over the years, I'd heard good things about this... although looking at some of the "worst film ever" reviews here I may have not grasped the full reaction.
Having decided to dive in (prompted by tangential discussion of Richard Beckinsale's brilliance in Rising Damp!), I was not expecting the comedy highlight of the film to be a discussion on the semiotics of "Lady and the Tramp", or the tone to be so all-over-the-place. Yes, there are drugs, and a bit of violence and sex, but mostly everything and everyone seemed so *clean* - apart from their "railroad apartment", which was quite scuzzy. As others have noted, too many of the men felt interchangeable, the music sounded very quiet and the benign office environment implausible (maybe that's the present speaking?) - but there was enough plot to keep me engaged. Not recommended, as such, but OK. -
TaoOfPoochie15 December 2020I came across this flick in dvd form at an estate yard sale, and now I know why the guy let me have it for nothing. First, I love "talky" movies, where there is little in the way of action and a lot in the way of convo and human relationships. But this film... none of the characters have distinct voices at all. It's as though the writer just took their own thoughts and musings and assigned different sections of the same tedious diatribe to different characters. It doesn't sound or feel like actual conversation - more like one person talking out of many mouths. Classic narcissistic authorship. All in all it's borderline unwatchable, and a wildly inaccurate portrayal of the time and place it pretends to represent.
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AlsExGal8 August 2016except my memory lane was in Dallas, not New York City. I just fell in love with this film and its characters, characters who could only exist as they did and together in that very late disco period.
Actually, Stillman got some things wrong, and maybe he did so on purpose. "Disco Destruction Night", occurred in July 1979, and he's got it happening "in the very early 80s" at about the mid point of the film. Since disco was completely dead - and its death was like that of one struck down suddenly by a heart attack - by the fall of 1980, he is probably aware of the anachronisms here, and just spun the tale as it was to prevent himself from basically making a yuppie version of Saturday Night Fever. Stillman must have been acutely aware of not wanting to be that film because, did you notice the film is devoid of even one song by the brothers Gibb, who are practically emblematic of the disco era?
The film's focus is on a group of recent college grads in their early to mid 20's. You could call them friends but they are more like acquaintances, and they all frequent one particular disco. The center of the film is the pair of - I guess you'd call them friends - Alice and Charlotte. Alice is a quiet girl. I'd almost call her an Amish girl in sequined clothes and platform shoes by night, business attire and sensible shoes for her job in publishing by day. Charlotte is a mess. She went to the same college as Alice, and she seems to seek out a connection with Alice much more than vice versa, even though Charlotte is the outgoing one. But she is constantly putting Alice down, steering her the wrong way in her relationships, and blurting things out that embarrass Alice. Charlotte seems like the kind of person who just wants other people around to make her feel better about herself. Among the men in the group we have an ad man who must be able to get clients into the club or he'll be fired, a lawyer, and an assistant manager at the club who avoids commitment by telling women he is gay.
In short, there is something unlikable about all of these people except maybe Alice, yet I found them fascinating. It's like "The Asphalt Jungle" (minus the crime) meets "Friends".
All of these people are college educated, some at the Ivy Leagues, yet they are underpaid, and in the case of Charlotte and Alice, doing jobs that in any other city would go to high school grads. They mate, decouple with varying amounts of pain and drama, are living their youth at a time when they believe "The H" - herpes - is the worst thing that can happen to you, and when disco dies, proclaim that it just CAN'T be dead. It's not disco they are mourning, it is their passing from one phase of their youth to a more mature state, although I doubt they even realize it yet. A youth lived in the most exciting city in the world in a time of unique cultural acceptance and sexual freedom, and now they are forced to march on to a more constrained existence. Their post college adolescence is over.
My favorite parts - Robert Sean Leonard as an environmental lawyer who seems sensitive at first yet denies his sexual partners certain vital "need to know" information, a hilarious deconstruction of Lady and the Tramp as only Harvard grads could do it, and the closing credits superimposed on what could almost be called a music video featuring "Love Train" that sends the film out on a joyful hopeful note.
Just a few words about the plot - there really is none. If you are looking for an action picture look elsewhere. But if you like films filled with great dialogue I highly suggest it. -
jtrapp12 March 1999Surprisingly incisive, literate dialogue-- good "period" details-- but the characters just aren't terribly sympathetic, which may be the point, but, well...
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d_m_s9 February 2014Really didn't enjoy this film even though it came highly recommended by some friends.
None of the characters were likable and all of the male characters just blended into one another.
The group of characters just repeatedly go to a highly regarded disco club and have relentless, banal conversation. It's a talking movie like a Linklater film only nowhere near as good. There's a very thin sub-plot about tax evasion and drug taking at the club but it really doesn't add any substance.
The club had no appeal, the music had no appeal, the characters had no appeal and the story had no appeal. -
bkoganbing15 January 2019If you like 70s music than this is the film for you. Other than those BeeGees classics that were in Saturday Night Fever you'll hear just about every popular song going during the era. The producers must have spent a fortune getting the rights for the soundtracks.
The plot is something like St.Elmo's Fire and set about 10 years earlier than the release in 1998. Some affluent 20 somethings two women, Chloe Sevigny and Kate Beckinsale are headed for a night on the town. They get involved with four guys at one point or another Chris Eigerman, Matt Keeslar, Mackenzie Astin, and Robert Sean Leonard. All them newly minted adults who haven't quite figured it out yet.
Eigerman's character was interesting. He's a general all around fixer/handyman at the club whose job is in danger because the right kind who might not fit into the elite it caters to keep getting in. He's really rather clueless but lovable in a strange way.
David Thornton who is a semi-regular on Law And Order, SVU as a sleazy defense attorney plays the equally sleazy club owner. He's got his hands in all kinds of illegality and Eigerman is the cause of his downfall when he shows Matt Keeslar what Thornton is up to. Keeslar has the job to make it stick and unwittingly brings about the end of this Studio 54 type club.
I did kind of like the ending. You could almost that Irving Berlin song from another era, The Song Is Ended, but the melody lingers on in that surreal finale on a subway.
For you aging hustle dancers The Last Days Of Disco is for you. -
SnoopyStyle17 November 2015It's the very early 80s in NYC. Alice Kinnon (Chloë Sevigny) and Charlotte Pingress (Kate Beckinsale) are recent graduates working at a publishing house as low pay readers. Dan Powers (Matt Ross) is their annoying co-worker and Holly (Tara Subkoff) is their quiet roommate. Jimmy Steinway (Mackenzie Astin) tries to bring his elderly client into the club. His club manager friend Des McGrath (Chris Eigeman) throws him out. Tom Platt (Robert Sean Leonard) is a charming environmental lawyer who gets together with Alice. They and others spend the nights in and out of the disco club.
The cast of characters is a bit too large. I wish Whit Stillman could trim a few out of the group. Alice and Charlotte are quite a pair. They're not real friends but rather opposites stuck together. Their relationship is fascinating. There are fun bits coming from Charlotte like Des' gay mouth. Chris Eigeman continues to be the best of the Stillman disciples. Dan is probably a necessary evil. I would like this movie more if the membership in the group is more stable and restricted to fewer people. -
Another winner from Whit Stillman! This is a very clever, well-written film in the Eric Bogosian or Hal Hartley style of a play for the screen. This film really does feel like theater in many ways, especially the funny and clever, tightly written dialogue.
Superb performance by almost the entire cast (the one exception being McKenzie Astin, who was fairly awful, but was barely onscreen so it was shrugable), raised the film to a level above its potential. Kate Beckinsale was the perfect bitch, so annoying that I wanted to pull her out of the screen and shake her repeatedly;) Christopher Eigeman nearly stole the show as Des, he played the character perfectly, his voice and tone always on edge, the defensiveness and womanizing, the stories he told, all a brilliant package. But Chloë Sevigny more than held her own, with her best performance that I've ever seen...everything from her line release to her body language stuck out; she became Alice.
This film is a definite must see...a great soundtrack, great sets, brilliant writing and better acting. It's a bit long, some scenes feel unnecessary, and at times he seems to be over-hammering his point, but Stillman has still provided us with a near-masterpiece, 8/1. -
wpjacobs26 February 2007Snowed in Sunday, I watched Whit Stillman's "Last Days of Disco." Though void of a plot, sympathetic characters or anything resembling an homage to disco, the movie had a few cute scenes with some lofty life questions to contemplate. It was no "Barcelona", but I sort-of enjoyed it. Although, I can't think of too many other people who would like it at all.
A common theme of movie is the idea that we are programmed from a young age to be a certain way. An environmental lawyer mentions the perhaps that entire environmental movement was caused by "Bambi." A nation of little kids witnessed the hunter shooting Bambi's mom and, a score later, the environmental movement comes along. Another character worries that "Lady and Tramp" was teaching girls to be vacuous and to be attracted to assholes.
In the end of "Disco," the characters learn that they may have been programmed at a young age, but it didn't matter too much. Stronger social forces push their direction more than anything else. One character, fearing she's a prude, tries to sleep around only to catch herpes. The affliction forces her back into an exclusive relationship. Another character wonders if he is happy in a relationship, but a job takes him to away from that relationship before he makes the decision for himself. A third character, though perhaps mentally unstable, is now able to live a normal life thanks to modern medication. None of them are at the mercy of their internal desires and personalities, but all of them are at the mercy of the winds of social change and luck.
The characters do not even know if they truly like disco. The movement is ripped from them before any of them chooses to abandon it. Furthermore, the characters do not know even if they like each other. They are thrust in and out of each other's company by larger forces and great deal of luck (where one went to college, economic forces, who happens to be in the club on a particular evening). There is a great deal of talk about controlling one's destiny, yet no one is able to.
Though I find in real life people are slightly more decisive and a lot less introspective than in "Disco," the movie makes an interesting point. We look often inward and strive to improve, change and mask ourselves. Perhaps we are all programmed and full of baggage, complexes and fetishes. Whether or not we can escape our programming is an interesting question, but dwarfed by larger forces. We may have control over ourselves, but that doesn't mean we have control over our destiny. -
mmmopens11 March 2002Third chronologically, but second logically of a divine trilogy, this look at the cusp between youth and adulthood in 80s New York shows Whit Stillman's Metropolitan wasn't just a flash in the pan, and 'Barcelona' didn't signal a slow decline. Gorgeous characterisation with magic Chloë Sevigny shining from her every frame. And if, like me, you though disco music was crass, this elevates it to another plane... A film for all ages.
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k84414018 June 2021The film is not completely hopeless, but it gives an impression of being written inattentively and in a hurry, or as though all the people should understand the script as its creator does. To begin with, it has a very vague exposition of characters. The female characters are represented very generally and only famous actresses help to understand them better. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about male characters. Firstly, these are no name actors. Of course even such actors can play well and be memorable, but these actors look very alike and it's hard to get accustomed to them and understand who is who and what their names are. Badly written script makes it even worse. I had a situation when almost in the end of the movie one male character kissed a girl and 5 minutes later I couldn't remember which one it was. It worth mentioning that usually I have no such problems with other films and the only similar situations happened while watching movies from 40's, where all the women looked identically. So this male cast and their storylines are badly managed. This interferes with full understanding of these characters and the plot itself.
The other problem is the disco itself. The film does not show us 80's, it shows late 90's during which it was shot. If any adjustments were made, they were made superficially. Also the movie depicts disco as something extremely dull and doesn't convey its spirit.
In the end I can say that the director/writer wanted to tell and show us something, and partially he succeeded, but this directing and writing is not fully professional. Even considering that it is not a blockbuster or otherwise popular film, these two aspects aren't performed on the decent level. Various art house films are easier to watch than The Last Days of Disco. -
Mr-Fusion21 July 2015Back in '98, it was "The Last Days of Disco" soundtrack I'd bought, trying to get into the genre (just look at the song list, a better disco primer there ain't). If a CD can wear out, it would've been that one. Fantastic album.
As for the rest of the movie - which I just got around to actually seeing . . . well it's not that I need a plot to enjoy a movie, just that the dialogue used to carry this one emanated from characters I really didn't like. Credit Whit Stillman's ear for dialogue, but there's also a vapidity to these people (ivy league educated but they've got no damn sense). It really was the music that kept me watching this. Although it seems the only thing that can sour a good Bernard Williams bassline is a proceeding Blondie song (agh!).
One other thing about this; that can't be what they thought the early '80s looked like. Outside of the workplace scenes, these actors could've stepped onto the streets of 1998 with no crowd reactions. It's bizarre.
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Pythius22 September 1998Don't be deceived by the title. The Last Days of Disco is essentially an incidental theme to Stillman's third film, the plotline really revolves around young Americans falling in and out of love at the same time as commenting on the various mores of their social set. The film is heavily laced with irony, as is typical to Stillman's other films "Metropolitan" and "Barcelona". Again, many of the jokes and humour will pass over the heads of some people unfamiliar with Stillman's style but it is well worth sticking out and/or viewing again. Stillman's obvious fondness for snobbery in modern American society is matched by his sharp perception. This third in an often (and perhaps erroneously) claimed trilogy examines the context of the club-going social set in the early eighties, unlike "Metropolitan" which examined the debutante set and "Barcelona" which was rooted in foreign perception of American culture. All are set in the early Eighties and make particular reference to those times. In this film, in particular, spot the many Disney references and the folly of the "Railway Apartments". The film has a very glossy look to it, especially in the actual disco, and this draws clever comparison to the later scenes in the characters house, where affluence (or lack thereof) is denoted by the mise en scene. The film's soundtrack is excellent, featuring many forgotten disco hits. Kate Beckinsdale and Matt Keeslar deliver outstanding performances in their roles with Chloe Sevigny and Chris Eigeman providing their usual excellent work.
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culwin10 November 1999Many people will not like this movie because it is too realistic. There is not a lot of action, because think about it, how much "action" do you have in your life? Most people's lives are filled with mostly dialogue, just like this movie. The dance scenes are not flashy, stereotypical examples of disco like you might find in Saturday Night Fever or 54, because most people don't dance like that. Not everyone is John Travolta. Also, noone in this story is all good, nor all bad. There is no "good guy" and "bad guy" - they are just people, and like in real life, they have traits and flaws. Many other people will not like this movie because it is not realistic. For me, it was this part that ruined an otherwise great film. I mean, who talks like this? Every other line was a great speech, and every other word was a 10$ word. Every conversation was philosophical and intellectualized, such that every character's lines had the same personality. Similar conversation was used in Pulp Fiction, but not constantly, and not beyond believability. In this movie you don't hear even one mundane phrase (Like "pass the salt", "whats up?", or "groovy, baby"). If you like lots of action, and don't like intellectualized conversation, then you probably won't like this movie, but otherwise I recommend it. 7 out of 10
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tcasenyc-119 September 2009I'm only giving it a "2" because there were a couple of marginally interesting bits of dialogue, & the female leads were outstanding. But overall...WOW does this movie suck! All the things everyone has written before apply: non-period clothes, sets & props; pretentious dialogue that came off as totally banal & unrealistic; REALLY horrible acting (love that they make such a big deal out of the little part by JENNIFER BEALS!!! WOW is she a terrible, terrible actress, excruciating even!! ... & what was up w/ that dude who ran the club, the one w/ the greasy hair & monkey face? Did he EVER work again after this??); but my biggest complaint, which I've had about "54" & other films set in clubs, & which other reviewers have mentioned here, is...WHY do they make clubs look so incredibly BORING???? The TV miniseries "Tales of the City," famously set in 1970s San Francisco, had several totally believable period scenes in clubs & bars, as have many other movies in which discos figure heavily into the backdrop (Carlito's Way comes to mind). Like other reviewers here, I'm wondering: have the people associated w/ this film ever actually BEEN to a club? I have seen the three films in the Stillman "trilogy" now & am totally perplexed as to why this guy was hailed in the 90s as such a genius? I've come across much wittier (& better-written) graffiti on the toilet wall of my favorite bar, & a zillion blogs. Was his father or brother in the movie business? Seriously, WHO thinks this is remarkable film-making? These are very well done student films, at best. You know it's a bad sign when, 45 minutes into a movie, you start READING A BOOK (exactly what I did, looking up at the movie on occasion, then going back to the book). Save your time, you will thank me.