The Last Days of Disco (1998)

Director: Whit Stillman

Whit Stillman doesn't parody, criticize, or even celebrate the WASP/yuppy subculture, he just depicts it. It's an easy subculture to criticize, but Stillman finds a way to sympathize with them while also making statements about society in general. The other great thing that comes with Stillman's familiarity with the subculture is his ability to write some really witty and entertaining dialogue that is so relatable yet so foreign at the same time. Both of these qualities are in full display in The Last Days of Disco, though it is not quite as interesting as his previous two brilliant films Metropolitan and Barcelona.

This film feels a bit more scattered and formless than the last two, and so the emotional power is lessened. But the movie does succeed in not being the exact same as the first two in the sense that while the characters in the movie are yuppie types, the setting is the disco era, and so the culture we see is one that is quite distinct. The movie actually looks at the end of this era, a time of promiscuity and fun. It's a time in which people can break the set of rules at night that they abide by during the day. It's certainly fascinating to see the end of this era, the end of the disco years, and how the difficulties of change affect some of the characters, especially with relationships. The Last Days of Disco is a film about precisely that, the last days of disco.

Grade: B