ajkandy

Having seen all three of Stillman's films- Metropolitan, Barcelona and now

The Last Days Of Disco, which I caught on the Canadian Showcase network- I

noticed that all of his films comment on the passing of eras that were thought to last forever; the end of the old-money debutante party scene in

Metropolitan; the passing of American "imperial" influence overseas in

Barcelona; and here, the passing of a seemingly ephemeral era in popular

culture--disco-- that has resurfaced in the 21st century as the rave and techno scene. Chris Eigeman is again brilliant as the witty cad, and the film contains enough highbrow quips to keep you smiling all the way through, if it never is laugh-out loud funny. What I found interesting was Stillman's weaving of

cameos from his two earlier films. The "Sally Fowler crowd" from

Metropolitan and Charlie Boynton (Taylor Nichols) from Barcelona both

appear at the club, and if you read the credits, you'll realize that Josh shares the same last name (Neff) as Fred from Metropolitan- they are probably

related. In fact, whole scenes and exchanges seem to be lifted from

Metropolitan - the taxi ride over the bridge, many of the conversations- Joel seems like another Tom Townsend and Alice seems to be the new Audrey

Rouget---even down to the voice. What is largely puzzling about the cameos

was the fact that Metropolitan seemed definitely set in the mid-to-late 1980s and Barcelona in the 90's- not so much from pop culture references, since

there were none, but from costumes, hair and surroundings and exterior shots

of New York and Barcelona. Then, we're asked to believe that both those

movies took place *before* the late 1970s? In fact, aside from the soundtrack, there were no clues or costuming to place this film in the early 80s (Blondie appears on the soundtrack - that's about it). If he was going to celebrate the passing of an era, Stillman could have paid more attention to that- but in his defense he did avoid the white-polyester-suit cliches of the era. However, it seems more like disco is peripheral, instead of integral, to the lives of the characters, even as it purports it to be.... That club was awfully brightly lit, and the haircuts and suits were completely 1990s. It seemed to share art

direction more with Less Than Zero and American Psycho than with 54, That

70s Show (which doesn't exaggerate that much, believe it or not) or Boogie

Nights. Fine performances all around, fantastic dialogue, a great "evil"

character from Kate Beckinsale, and Chloe Sevigny is sweetly radiant. But,

like the best films, it isn't for everyone...only bad films are for everyone.

A lot of what made the legendary first cast of SNL groundbreaking, funny and memorable has been missing for a long time. A hybrid of Toronto and Chicago Second

City veterans, National Lampoon Radio Hour writers and

former Ivy League comedy stars, the first cast combined

outsider edginess with improv acting smarts and caustic

intelligence that melted the mediocrity of 70s politics and

entertainment. But today's SNL is so self-referential (and

self-reverential), an institution celebrated by its own 25th

anniversary special...the casting (barring the disastrous

1980-81 season) has been an attempt to Xerox copy the original cast (there is always a Chevy Chase-type, a Belushi-type, etc.) but now they have Xeroxed the Xerox for

so long that any resemblance to the revolutionary original

has faded. If they want to revive the original SNL spirit,

NBC should start a new show. Give them as little money as

possible, crack down on the writers, and cast young people

and writers straight out of off-Broadway, the Fringe, or

drama schools instead of from improv troupes like the Groundlings (who have, like many other improv troupes,

become copies of SNL in an attempt to become farm teams and not viable theatre). Sit back and see what happens. In the meantime, enjoy the old episodes on home video. ;)

...If you don't believe me, you can hunt up a 1983 book called "Footlights: One Hundred Years Of Cambridge Comedy" which is the history of the Footlights amateur theatrical society at Cambridge- whose alumni have included since the 1950s most of the auteurs of post-music hall English comedy.

Footlights revues since 1960 have included the casts of Beyond The Fringe (Jonathan Miller, Dudley Moore, Peter Cook and Alan Bennett), Monty Python (all of them), The Goodies (Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie and Tim Brooke-Taylor), Alas Smith And Jones, and Douglas Adams (Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy).

In 1981 the Footlights mounted an Edinburgh Fringe Festival show called The Cellar Tapes, whose cast included...Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson, and Tony Slattery!

The Cellar Tapes show won the Fringe's Perrier Award and pretty much guaranteed everyone jobs for life in British TV and film. The scene of them at school doing an amateur theatrical show for the university dons is a reference to this, supposedly.

Of the film, despite an interesting concept, some good moments and a talented cast I found this film disjointed, emotionally cold, only rarely witty, and even faintly unbelievable at times --the scene where Thompson breaks down and cries is so reserved and smug it's like she can never really let go- which she never does in anything she's in anyway!

It's rather as if they want to thinly satirize themselves- but only thinly, as if they take themselves too seriously to open themselves to self-mockery. For a better take on this concept, I recommend the 1998 film "Final Cut" starring Jude Law which has the current mob of Britpack actors playing themselves in an improvised film-- often times for laughs.

It's amazing how far Branagh's star has fallen since 1992 when he was The Olivier People Actually Liked. I guess some people really do peak early- he did the movie of Henry V (and wrote his autobiography) when he was 26! Since then?....Anyone?...Bueller?