THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO (69) (second viewing: 67)

Directed by: Whit Stillman

Starring: Chloe Sevigny, Kate Beckinsale, Chris Eigeman

The Pitch: A group of twentysomething friends in New York in the very early 80s - viz. "the last days of disco".

Theo Sez: A grand send-off for Stillman's UHB trilogy, with characters from BARCELONA and METROPOLITAN dropping in and a subway-ful of people disco-dancing as the credits roll ; the film remains, like its predecessors, slyly affectionate and quietly hilarious, though the emphasis on period does limit it a little (the final Elegy To Disco sounds surprisingly earnest - and a little meaningless to anyone who wasn't there). The ostensible theme is Can People Change? (or can we only change our context, not our selves?), but Stillman isn't one to belabour themes : often thought of as the indie world's Oscar Wilde, he's in fact closer to its Steve Rubell, a cinematic party-animal and inveterate people-lover, his work marked less by thematic complexity than a heady mix of gregariousness and irreverence. It's there in the comic debates about the "dark side of feminism", in the deconstructions of pop-culture touchstones (LADY AND THE TRAMP, notably - and far too wittily to dismiss as Tarantino-goes-to-college), even in the fissures that destroy our heroines' rocky relationship ; and it's there, most treasurably, in Chris Eigeman's disbelieving gasp when cautioned by his boss not to rile his more fun-challenged colleagues ("No teasing, Des") : "No teasing...?"