USA conversationalist Whit Stillman’s third feature, THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO trades on his personal experiences of NYC'sdisco-scene (salted with Harvard-disparaging quips)inthe 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.

referential films: Stillman’s LOVE & FRIENDSHIP (2016, 7.2/10); Dylan Kidd’s ROGER DOGER (2002, 7.3/10).

（簡(jiǎn)單寫些東西，有機(jī)會(huì)再來(lái)整理）

Disco來(lái)自法語(yǔ)discothèque，圖書館和光碟合并而成，字面意思光碟收藏或者光碟的殿，強(qiáng)調(diào)空間的性質(zhì)一目了然。另外，迪斯科作為舞曲，主要是配合跳舞這個(gè)動(dòng)作，也暗示了其空間屬性，你不可能像60年代的搖滾音樂(lè)節(jié)一樣再去露天了。

再來(lái)聊聊迪斯科的其它屬性，我沒(méi)有專門學(xué)過(guò)音樂(lè)，這些是看書所得，仍然待求證。迪斯科每分鐘120個(gè)鼓點(diǎn)，并循環(huán)往復(fù)，沒(méi)有停頓。這樣的屬性適合逃避，遁世，仿佛在節(jié)奏里可以一直快樂(lè)下去。另外就是DJ的偉大發(fā)明：不斷混合音樂(lè)，以及節(jié)奏，刺激著享受迪斯科的人們。這里就和電影接上了，電影中的男男女女生活的結(jié)構(gòu)就如DJ手中的迪斯科一樣，愛(ài)情友情相互配對(duì)，片中也出現(xiàn)了pair off的討論。

迪斯科的興起是60年代各種解放運(yùn)動(dòng)的余溫，迪斯科構(gòu)成的空間，各種club，從Andy Warhol的Factory，Studio 54 到Club Kids將disco文化帶入漢堡店/廢舊車間，從隱秘到公開(kāi)，從匿名到壓倒一切的出名，從地下文化變成流行文化，迪斯科是革命的。迪斯科文化是對(duì)主流文化的反叛，是對(duì)白人/異性戀/男性主導(dǎo)的社會(huì)的挑戰(zhàn) ，年輕人尋求身份認(rèn)同，逃離壓迫的LGBT，追求獨(dú)立的有色人種和女性在這里大放異彩，用音樂(lè)和服裝語(yǔ)言表達(dá)自我。電影對(duì)此也是認(rèn)同并且展示給觀者，為什么角色們愛(ài)迪斯科，人性里面總有地方被迪斯科吸引，在迪斯科獲得認(rèn)同/愛(ài)情，展示個(gè)性和獨(dú)立。

但是迪斯科成為主流文化之后，那么它的沒(méi)落也來(lái)臨了。我認(rèn)為的原因有，大眾消費(fèi)音樂(lè)的方式變了，音樂(lè)從伴舞，變成的主菜，Music Video的興起極大改變了迪斯科，我們用視覺(jué)去享受音樂(lè)，而不是用身體去展示節(jié)奏了，電影中Charlotte不斷說(shuō)自己是要去電視行業(yè)，就在暗示。另外，性病和毒品埋葬了偉大的迪斯科，在逃避者中，毒品的出現(xiàn)加強(qiáng)的遁世和享樂(lè)，也讓人更無(wú)所忌憚，各種STI的泛濫，電影中提到的G和H，最致命的是AIDS的出現(xiàn)（有趣的是Chloe Sevigny在這部片子前幾年正好扮演了無(wú)辜感染HIV的少女），保守勢(shì)力的反對(duì)聲音和城市的監(jiān)管權(quán)力給迪斯科關(guān)了起來(lái)。導(dǎo)演不知道短短幾年后的911，將完全封印迪斯科，恐怖分子改變了公共空間的認(rèn)知，聯(lián)想到今天的covid19，之后的公共空間研究會(huì)更有趣，這些都是題外話了。還有一點(diǎn)，在迪斯科中，空間的二元對(duì)立（主要是公共與私隱）消解了，兩位女主角因?yàn)榻?jīng)濟(jì)原因住在同一屋檐下，因?yàn)榭臻g共享，產(chǎn)生了矛盾，但是到了迪斯科的空間，一方面她們的私人空間延展至此，另一方面，她們解決問(wèn)題也在迪斯科空間，比如提出搬出去以及和解。

但是我們知道，迪斯科沒(méi)有死，Josh的宣言其實(shí)也是Whit Stillman的，面對(duì)迪斯科的歷史和遺產(chǎn)，我們還有很多故事可以去挖掘和講述。迪斯科是偉大的，它可能是個(gè)幻境，如電影一樣，但它也是真實(shí)的，如記憶，如歷史。