Painter Stilts

Painter Stilts

The Last Days of Disco: Review

Watching “The Last Days of Disco” I’m reminded of some of the early works of Woody Allen, for sure, but it is there that many of the movie comparisons can end. “Disco” is written and acted like a play, with a cast of young up-and-coming actors giving their all and reading Whit Stillman’s verbose and heady dialogue which is created on an easel with a painter's eye touch and an appropriate wink. The movie should be applauded for its unique perspective of Studio 54 and the end of the disco era through the eyes of a group of white, upper-class yuppies, and not the usual weirdoes and misfits films about this era often focus on.

The story of “Disco” largely revolves around Alice and Charlotte, two women born to upper-class families but eking out a life for themselves in Manhattan as strong, empowered females. Most weekend nights they can be found at the unnamed Manhattan disco which is supposed to be largely based on Stillman’s experiences at Studio 54. Both women fall in and out of love and make bad relationship choices. The side plot of the story is about the unnamed disco club and its rise and fall from along with the rise and fall of the disco genre. The film does a good job of providing a small, but somewhat unrealistic view of the disco scene but doesn’t dig deep into the drugs, sex and debauchery of the era. I don’t hold that against Stillman or the film because I don’t think that is what he was going for. Many movies have already done that but Stillman’s style is more low-key, more poetic, focusing on relationships and dialogue over realism and scenery.

My biggest complaint is the sets. The scenes in the unnamed club come off as barely more organized than a high school musical. There isn’t a real sense of how massive and important a club like Studio 54 was, but instead you just see a large backdrop of typical club characters used as fake scenery for the dialogue and movements of the main actors and actresses. This is largely what I mean when I say the film resembles a play—more time and energy is given to the character interactions and their dialogue together. About that dialogue: some may find it a bit stilted at times, but that is often the complaint of great dialogue. Stillman knows his way around a scene and “Disco” is largely made up of great scene after great scene.

Sometimes “Disco” can come off as a bit too interested in preserving the legacy of the era, afraid to really dig into the ugliness of it, but I believe Stillman’s main goal was to largely use the era as scenery for a story that could be told at any time—a story about shifting relationships, betrayal and true love.

About the Author

Alan McGee is a freelance writer from MN.

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