Thursday, February 8, 2018
404 - The Last Days of Disco, United States, 1998. Dir. Whit Stillman.
An advertising employee walks into a club. The club manager says, "We don't accept your kind in here." The club manager kicks him out.
The advertising employee returns dressed as a jester. As others enter as characters from The Wizard of Oz. A Tin Man. A Cowardly Lion. Dorothy.
The club manager suspects something fishy. He pulls the hat off the jester. He sees the advertising employee. He kicks him out.
Welcome to Club 54 in the very early 1980s. Or at least a fictionalized version of something like Club 54.
The people are smart. Recent Harvard and other Ivy League graduates. Working at a publishing firm. Trying to find their way in life. Understanding that how they go out at night is just as social and just as political as how they perform at work during the day.
No pressure.
It might only mean your career. And the direction your life takes.
The clubbers are not hippies. They are yuppies. People of another generation. Upwardly mobile. Not just there to have a good time but to socialize. To network. To fall in and out of love. To find their way.
Yuppie Disco.
Disco is on the wane. But the players do not yet know that. They will discover it as the movie progresses.
Alice Kinnon and Charlotte Pingress are friends.
Well, they spend time together anyway. They went to school together. They work together at the publishing company. They go out together at night. They become roommates.
But with a friend like Charlotte . . .
Charlotte is not exactly a good friend to Alice. Charlotte has designs on Jimmy Steinway and she is going to make sure Alice does not get him.
She manipulates Alice. Under the guise of social advice. Alice is smart at the office--she recommends a book that Charlotte turned down--but she is not as socially savvy outside the office. So Charlotte uses her to get what she wants.
The men and women dress well. They present a strong image. They deconstruct pop culture--such as the Disney animated films Bambi (1942) and Lady and the Tramp (1955)--as if they are preparing to teach university, publish journal articles, and pursue tenure.
Whit Stillman is intelligent and understated. His film style resembles his personality as displayed on the commentary track. Soft-spoken. Witty. Subtle.
He tells a joke with a straight face. It is small. Insightful. You realize he sees things. Details. Astute observations. A fine eye.
He pulls you in. When you listen to him you want to talk to him. Over drinks. You imagine he knows how to order a good drink. In a more experienced way than the characters who are still working on it. He is a great conversationalist.
He also comes across as genuinely non-judgmental. Despite the fact that he is in a position where he could be. He seems to have an open heart and to be a good and decent person.
I have worked with Mackenzie Astin, who plays Jimmy in the film. We worked on another film. And we chatted a bit about this one. He is a good actor. And a gentleman.
When you watch The Last Days of Disco you want to go back and watch the rest of Stillman's work. And when you see that he has made but five films, you hope that he will continue to make more.
* * * * *
Whit Stillman compliments Robert Sean Leonard:
"He has an approach I hadn't really seen from other people, where he loves rehearsing and wants to rehearse as much as possible. . . . He came down to my place in SOHO on Saturday and went through some stuff. Every take was better. Everything he did. He was just working all the time. He has the best set manners I've ever seen, where he gets into costume and then comes to set and sits there reading a good book. He's just sot of this calm, productive presence."
How lovely.
"I'm a believer in low budget. I believe there are all kinds of things that come out of economies that help things."
"I'm not a real believer in realism in cinema." He expounds on this statement in an interesting way.
"I wanted to show the disco that I loved, that a lot of us loved, and that was so maligned."
"I love the churches down there (in Jamaica) and the Christians and their community." He expounds on this idea as well, and describes a film he would like to make there someday. The statement stands out as indicative of his respect for others. In this film he includes people singing hymns on a couple of occasions, not without irony, but also with an acceptance of faith as a natural part of life.
Frankly, one could cite many quotations from his commentary track. As I said, he is a great conversationalist.
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