Lizzy's Film Reviews

如果你喜歡那種......有點讓人坐立難安的古怪幽默感，絕對得看惠特史蒂曼（Whit Stillman）執導的電影，包括1998年出品的《最後迪斯可》。

故事發生在80年代初的紐約，迪斯可風潮即將結束。Alice（克蘿伊塞凡妮）與Charlotte（凱特貝琴薩）是好友，在同一家出版公司上班，她們薪水不高，與室友合租著狹長的「railroad apartment」住得辛苦，但仍盡量把握夜晚時光去迪斯可舞廳享樂。

較為內向的Alice與「女王蜂」型的Charlotte，關係是很不對等的。Charlotte言談中的「被動攻擊型（Passive Aggressive）」味道，聽在觀眾耳裡真是令人叫絕，但與她交談的對方肯定很不是滋味。Charlotte自認講話誠實所以偶爾會傷人，但實情是她根本不在乎別人感受。原本Alice對廣告人Jimmy（Mackenzie Astin飾演）有興趣，Charlotte卻嫌棄Jimmy，鼓吹Alice跟律師Tom（Robert Sean Leonard飾演）在一起，最後Charlotte自己倒是跟Jimmy在一起了。

Jimmy在廣告公司工作，重要任務之一是帶客人進去那家當紅的迪斯可舞廳（那年代的舞廳在門口有保鑣，視來客的地位與外貌穿著決定是否可以進去），然而舞廳老闆開始不准Jimmy這類「廣告人」帶人來，得負責趕人的舞廳經理，正是Jimmy的朋友Des（Chris Eigeman飾演），他若不照做就會被開除。Des還有個朋友是助理檢察官Josh（Matt Keeslar飾演），Josh與Alice相遇後很快就喜歡上她。

本片發生很多瑣事，仔細敘述起來頗複雜，但劇情並不重要，精彩的是對話，以及整部片帶來的某種朦朧印象與氣氛。

我很喜歡這部片捕捉到的青春氣息，這可不是什麼唯美浪漫的青春，而是那種......初生之犢不畏虎的、意氣風發張牙舞爪的青春，這一群二十幾歲的年輕人，在世界最大城市紐約，在自己的專業領域努力往上爬，想找尋社經地位匹配的對象談戀愛結婚，他們有點虛榮、有點做作、有點小孩玩大車、有點過度自信而滔滔不絕，每人都自認將成就一番大事，是未來的中流砥柱，追逐著光鮮亮麗，在友情小圈圈裡尋求認同，但內心也藏著某些不安全感、茫然與孤獨。我自己也曾經歷過那樣的心情，甚至非常懷念，那時還沒承受如此多樣的現實鐵拳哪，生活與心情多麼輕盈。

幾位主要角色的友情、感情、工作浮浮沉沉，他們還在找尋自己的定位，而常去的舞廳則因為稅務問題快要被勒令停業，迪斯可就要走入歷史了，感覺就像本來搭的這艘船快沉了，他們得趕快找到下一艘安全的船。過去習慣的生活、喜愛的避風港，即將消失。

片名雖是最後迪斯可，但迪斯可本身不是重點，就算代換成嬉皮文化或其他年代的思潮也行，總之，就是處在某種氣氛與思維中的年輕人，面對流行文化的改朝換代，也面臨自己生涯階段的改變。說他們緬懷迪斯可，倒不如說是緬懷自己的青春，與失去的純真。就連迪斯可的老闆，想要禁止廣告人進來舞廳的原因，也是希望讓舞廳回到更早期的味道，去除掉後來這批客人帶來的雜質。不過，今日的新潮，將變成明日的古老懷舊；年輕時聽見的音樂、看過的電影，會在中老年時突襲你的情感。大家依舊會一路犯錯、耍笨，只是感受再也不會一樣了。

這是一部講年輕歲月的片，但過了那段時光的觀眾看了會有更深感慨。片尾兩位角色知道迪斯可的年代過去了，但仍在地鐵列車裡隨著The O'Jays的"Love Train"跳著舞（該曲是迪斯可音樂的早期代表曲目之一），其他人也一起跳了，不過這群歡樂又積極的年輕人還不知道的是，也許那段記憶與精神永遠不死，但肯定將會凋零。在年輕時候可以常常體驗到各種「第一次」，年紀漸長卻得一一告別，一不小心，那就將會是你的最後一次，最後一次在迪斯可舞廳跳舞，最後一次心動，最後一次見到那個人......

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經典對白：
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Josh Neff: [referring to Lady and the Tramp] There is something depressing about it, and it's not really about dogs. Except for some superficial bow-wow stuff at the start, the dogs all represent human types, which is where it gets into real trouble. Lady, the ostensible protagonist, is a fluffy blond Cocker Spaniel with absolutely nothing on her brain. She's great-looking, but - let's be honest - incredibly insipid. Tramp, the love interest, is a smarmy braggart of the most obnoxious kind - an oily jailbird out for a piece of tail, or... whatever he can get.

Charlotte Pingress: Oh, come on.

Josh Neff: No, he's a self-confessed chicken thief, and all-around sleazeball. What's the function of a film of this kind? Essentially as a primer on love and marriage directed at very young people, imprinting on their little psyches the idea that smooth-talking delinquents recently escaped from the local pound are a good match for nice girls from sheltered homes. When in ten years the icky human version of Tramp shows up around the house, their hormones will be racing and no one will understand why. Films like this program women to adore jerks.

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Charlotte Pingress: It's really important there be more group social life. Not just all this ferocious pairing off.

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Des McGrath: Do yuppies even exist? No one says, "I am a yuppie," it's always the other guy who's a yuppie. I think for a group to exist, somebody has to admit to be part of it.

Dan Powers: Of course yuppies exist. Most people would say you two are prime specimens.

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Des McGrath: Yuppie stands for "young upwardly mobile professional". Nightclub flunkie is not a professional category. I wish we were yuppies. Young, upwardly mobile, professional. Those are *good* things, not bad things.

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Alice Kinnon: I think it's much better to wait until things happen naturally. Forcing things never works.

Charlotte Pingress: That's not true. Forcing things usually works beautifully.

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Josh Neff: Take The Tortoise and the Hare. Okay, the tortoise won one race. Do you think that hare is really going to lose any more races to turtles? Not on your life.

Alice Kinnon: I like that tortoise.

Josh Neff: So do I. But if you were a betting person, would you say, "That tortoise won against the hare; in future races I'm backing him"? No. That race was almost certainly a fluke and afterwards the tortoise is still a tortoise, and the hare a hare.

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Dan Powers: It's completely formulaic.

Charlotte Pingress: Of course it's formulaic, it's a formula.

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