How long can disco on?

By Russell Baillie.

Whit Stillman loves the night-life, and he probably loves to boogie.

So much so that the New York independent director has now made three urbane films about socialising after dark.

He says his latest, The Last Days of Disco, is the final of his three "nightlife comedies."

The trio started with his 1990 debut Metropolitan (a talk-heavy piece about a group of young New York Ivy Leaguers), followed by Barcelona (a talk-heavy piece about two young American snobs in the Spanish city).

The Last Days of Disco, which has connections, character- and time-wise to Stillman's previous films, is talk-heavy too, and so not a disco movie per se.

"It's kind of a great title that we liked and it has something to do with the film ... but it could be misleading because of people's expectations," says Stillman on the line from Paris, where he is writing his next very different film - about a Chinese opera singer during the Cultural Revolution.

Last Days is an ensemble piece set in the early 80s about a group of college graduates on the bottom rung of their Manhattan career ladders.

As with his previous, the film acts as an almost anthropological examination of a rarefied strata of American society.

With his dry humour and emphasis on dialogue, Stillman has already been labelled as a sort of young, Waspish Woody Allen

"I think anthropological is good but I wouldn't say that this is necessarily that rarefied in this film.

"Metropolitan was definitely rarefied, but this is a pretty big group that comes out of university, congregates in big cities, has white-collar jobs in communications companies and goes out for entertainment at night.

"I don't think they are living that high off the hog ... I mean, their apartments are much more realistic and down to earth than what you normally see in movies."

And perhaps, too, Stillman's characters are much more realistic than you normally see in movies. Which means they're not necessarily there to be likable.

"It's possible to think the characters are very distant from the audience.

"But we try not to make it too manipulative because in Hollywood cinema there is so much of that emotional manipulation where you just cannot resist identifying with the character. It's just all so clear.

"I think the idea is that it's a little more work in our film for people to identify with these people or get close to them. But that it's worthwhile."

The group, led by actors Kate Beckinsale and Chloe Sevigny, spend much of their evenings at a disco which resembles the famous Studio 54.

The place has already had its own movie - the inferior and quite aimless 54.

That film was something of a pain in Stillman's neck. It meant his distributors rushed him to have his film out earlier and that his efforts could be lumped in as part of a trend.

But even if Last Days isn't venue-specific, with its cracking soundtrack it's still got a feel for the period - and its demise. Perhaps that's because Whitman was there first time round.

"I really liked the period. I came to it sort of late but my attitude is exactly like the Josh character - when I first heard about it, when the first dance songs of the disco type came along I was thrilled.

"And finally getting to go to the places everybody was talking about ... the first time I went to Studio 54 was in 1978, in spring and it was really terrific.

"[The film] folds in a lot of information from a lot of different places but generally people from the scene in New York feel it captures for them the feeling of Studio 54."

But Stillman's film, as the title says, is set against disco's quick death.

"When it started going out, when it became under threat you also had the consciousness of something that was under siege.

"That whole `disco sucks' point of view was really dominant because it was the more fashionable point of view.

"Almost all the more serious people talking about music and journalists were very anti-disco. It was too sort of pop for them ..."

Not that Stillman is averse to decrying pop stuff himself.

Although his target, through a hilarious conversation in one Last Days scene, is that Disney cartoon favourite, The Lady and the Tramp. Clearly, here is a man with a grudge.

"It sprang from the irritation of watching it a million times with my kids.

"And it also stood in for me as this sort of cliche Hollywood romantic comedy formula, and I deal with this a lot because everyone is trying to turn films into The Lady and the Tramp.

"That's where the pressure is. That is what they want you to do. Every script you see is The Lady and the Tramp."

What: The Last Days of Disco
When: From today
Where: Rialto cinemas

Pictured: The Last Days of Disco director Whit Stillman.