... Facing the huge opposition from everyone, will their romance survive? Will Sara get in to Juilliard? And will Derek end up on the streets?
So, having bought Save the Last Dance purely because it features Julia Stiles, I was very impressed with every aspect of this film. Save the Last ... Read review
Save the Last Danceenjoyed a profitable release in early 2001, with box-office earnings ... more
that exceeded anyone's expectations. Its performance illustrates the staying power of a formulaic film that avoids the pitfalls and clichés that would otherwise ren...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Save the Last Danceenjoyed a profitable release in early 2001, with box-office earnings ... more
that exceeded anyone's expectations. Its performance illustrates the staying power of a formulaic film that avoids the pitfalls and clichés that would otherwise ren...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Sara is a small-town girl with a big dream: to become a world class ballerina. But when ... more
her mother suddenly dies, Sara must abandon her dreams and join her estranged father on Chicago's gritty South Side. A white girl in a predominately black neighborh...
The sequel to the hot movie SAVE THE LAST DANCE continues in New York as Sarah (Izabella ... more
Miko) is one step closer to realising her dreams at Juilliard. Her commitment is put to the test as she finds herself torn between her talent for classical dance and her undeniable passion for the Urban hip-hop scene. Does she follow the advice of smart, sexy musician, Miles Sultana (Columbus Short) or her stern instructor Monique Delacroiz (Jacqueline Bisset)? Pulsing to some of today's hottest hip-hop music and featuring R & B sensation Ne-Yo, it's the long anticipated sequel about heart, hip-hop and finding your place in the world.
Production Year: 1997 - Drama - Director: Ronan O'Leary - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: James Spader, Anne Brochet, Barry McGovern, Anna Massey
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Advantages: Julia Stiles, decent modern soundtrack Disadvantages: A bit predictable
...
So, having bought Save the Last Dance purely because it features Julia Stiles, I was very impressed with every aspect of this film. Save the Last Dance is a modern teenage love story, set against the backdrop of a neighbourhood which regularly sees gangland fighting and racial tension. With such tense subject matter, this film could have easily overly focused on the racial and gangland elements or alternatively fallen down a path of over ... ...
"The making of Save the Last Dance" - This have all the typical elements of a making of feature, with behind the scenes footage and interviews, but for the duration of its 20 minutes does not really discuss any of the elements of the film in depth.
"Save the Last Dance: A Retrospective" - Another documentary, but unlike the previous one, this throws more light onto some of the elements of the film, such ... more
Sara (Julia Stiles) has one dream, she wants to get into Juilliard and become a world famous ballerina. On the day of her big audition she rows with her single mum as she has to work back and won't be able to make it in time to support her daughter. Knowing the importance of the audition to her daughter, she rushes to the audition but unfortunately is killed in a tragic road accident.
Having lost her mum and given up on her dream of being a ballerina after failing her audition, she finds herself begrudgingly relocating to the rough south side of Chicago to live with her musician father. Already struggling with the loss of her mother, she has to quickly get used to being a white girl in a mainly black neighbourhood and after an initial turbulent period of settling in, she is befriended by one of her black classmates, Chenille (Kerry Washington) and her popular brother, Derek (Sean Patrick Thomas). Through a shared passion for dancing, a romance blossoms, and with Derek's help she decides to try out for Juilliard once more. But the romance doesn't fit well with everyone, as Derek's gangland brothers blame Sara for taking him away from them. Facing the huge opposition from everyone, will their romance survive? Will Sara get in to Juilliard? And will Derek end up on the streets?
So, having bought Save the Last Dance purely because it features Julia Stiles, I was very impressed with every aspect of this film. Save the Last Dance is a modern teenage love story, set against the backdrop of a neighbourhood which regularly sees gangland fighting and racial tension. With such tense subject matter, this film could have easily overly focused on the racial and gangland elements or alternatively fallen down a path of over slushy romance between two races. But it doesn't, and in doing so has created an all round well balanced movie which focuses on telling the main story, but also allows the sub stories to flow naturally with out interfering on the main focus. Yes the plot of the film is very familiar, and all aspects of it have been worked many times before in much greater movies, you can honestly predict where the film will end up within the first half hour. But in my opinion, it is very hard for a film to come up with a new original idea, as most of them have already been thought of, and as long as it doesn't just rely on making a sub standard remake of classic scenes, then it does a good job.
Although the main focus of the film is the romance between Sara and Derek, as they battle with the opposition of both family and friends. You also have the sub stories, of Sara learning to accept the father that she felt betrayed the family when he left, the story of Derek as he tries to break free from his predetermined future of being a gang member, the story of Julia rediscovering her dream of getting into Juilliard and the relationship between Chenille and the father of her baby. Yes, all of them are pretty cliché and works on the idea of stereotypes, but they are also very real and although it never focuses on any of them in great depth, it does not shun away from painting a very realistic picture.
The lead role of Sara is played by Julia Stiles (Mona Lisa Smile), and in my opinion is probably why this film is so good, but then I am biased. For anyone who has only seen Stiles in her numerous teenage flicks, this is a very much more dramatic performance, which displays her ability to take on gritty roles as well as lighter more humorous ones. A big part of why she does such a great job is that although being the lead role, she never steals the limelight from the other main stars and allows them to blossom. Opposite her as Derek, is Sean Patrick Thomas (Halloween: Resurrection), who is basically a popular kid because he has the ability to make something of his life, but his friendship and loyalty to a gangland leader threatens to drag him back onto the street. Instead of being a stereotypical brash youth with attitude, he comes over as much more of a sensitive sole and the chemistry between his character and that of Stiles is very good. The other character with any real input into the film, is that of Chenille, played by Kerry Washington (Mr. & Mrs. Smith), the student who befriends the naïve Sara. This time the character does follow a stereotype of a brash girl with attitude, who is also a single mother but as the film moves along you get to realize that there is much more to the character than just the attitude.
The film is directed by Thomas Carter who went on to direct "Coach Carter", another set amongst the same sort of backdrop to this one. Although he is working with plot lines which are the main stay of countless other movies, he manages to make the whole experience a very worth while viewing, even though it is predictable. Part of the reason that I feel he has done a good job, is that he doesn't focus on one of the many elements of the film, and balances them all, so that you get a very unbiased movie. With a strong theme of dance running through the movie, it was very interesting to watch the character of Sara transform from her classical , ballerina style into a much more rounded urban style whilst maintaining her classical discipline.
The soundtrack to the movie features numerous modern R & B songs and artists as well as some pieces which I would refer to as mild rap. Although this soundtrack may sound like it may make this film not your sort of thing, the emphasis is always on the story and the soundtrack is only used to demonstrate the feeling of the scenes in a very effective manner.
= The Cast =======
Julia Stiles .... Sara Johnson Sean Patrick Thomas .... Derek Reynolds Kerry Washington .... Chenille Reynolds Fredro Starr .... Malakai Terry Kinney .... Roy Johnson Bianca Lawson .... Nikki Vince Green .... Snookie Garland Whitt .... Kenny Elisabeth Oas .... Diggy Kim Tlusty .... Lindsay Johnson
======= Technical Details =============
Certificate: 12 Length: 108 mins Year: 2001
======= Bonus Material =============
"Audio Commentary" - The commentary comes from the director Thomas Carter and in general is an interesting discussion on all aspects of the film from casting through to marketing. Not always scene specific, it does throw some light onto why certain things were done, or why the chose that song for the scene.
"Deleted Scenes" - There are four deleted scenes, which focus on the relationships in the film. Although they are all very interesting and well acted, they would have only served as additional padding and would have made the film overly long.
"The making of Save the Last Dance" - This have all the typical elements of a making of feature, with behind the scenes footage and interviews, but for the duration of its 20 minutes does not really discuss any of the elements of the film in depth.
"Save the Last Dance: A Retrospective" - Another documentary, but unlike the previous one, this throws more light onto some of the elements of the film, such as the choices of location, the dancing scenes and the dancing training.
"Crazy: Music video" - This is a music video directed by Thomas Carter for the song Crazy, performed by K-Ci & Jo Jo. The video is a mixture of footage from the film and the singers. Unlike many run of the film music videos this one is very clever and demonstrates the lyrics of the song very clearly.
"Theatrical Trailer" - The theatrical trailer for the film you have just watched.======================= The Message & Christian View Point =============================Although this film is basically a "succeed over adversity" type film, it has many more elements such as racial issues, stereotyping and family love. All of which are not explored in any huge depth, but provide a background for the love story.========== Conclusion & Rating ================For a film which has many different elements, some of which deal with tense subject matter, Save the Last Dance does a remarkable job of staying entertaining without loosing its focus. Along with this, it manages to deal with the emotive subject manner in such a way as to not demonstrate any bias or prejudice for one of them. A very well rounded movie, with very good performances, a decent modern soundtrack and some very good cinematography, Save the Last Dance is a very good interpretation of some very old plots. Although this will not appeal to some people, it is one of those films you will watch once and then find yourself returning to it several months later.
Save the Last Dance is available on Amazon for £5.97, which is a decent price when you consider the bonus features. But it is also available in several pack deals with a variety of other films of varying interest, all of which are at a good price of around the £11 mark.
= Trivia =======
- Director Thomas Carter cast Julia Stiles in the role of Sara after seeing her "table dance" in 10 Things I Hate About You (1999). - Courtesy of IMDB
Advantages: Decent movie with a brilliant soundtrack, some incredible dance scenes! Disadvantages: Semi-predictable romance and outcome.
This is one of those "feel good" movies about following your dreams which I found very enjoyable, albeit that a lot of the tale was quite predictable. There were a few twists and turns along the way, but I think it is obvious that things will work out in the end.
Sara (Julia Stiles) is a budding ballerina, whose dream is to attend Juilliard. At the beginning, she appeared almost selfish ( I felt). Her single mother has worked long and hard to give ... ...opportunity to pursue her dreams, yet Sara (although loving her mother dearly) seems almost brattish when her mother has to work later, on the day that Sara has an audition in New York. Desperately trying to make it to Sara's audition, her mother is in a car accident and dies. Sara had failed the audition anyway, mainly because her anger at her mother's non-appearance interefered with her concentration.
After her mother's death, Sara has to go live ...
poet831 22.09.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Save The Last Dance (DVD)
Advantages: Enjoyable movie, with a good cast and good dance scenes Disadvantages: Somewhat predictable, overuse of steriotypes
The Story:
Sara Johnson is an aspiring young ballet dancer, well on her way to making it big. That is, until her mother gets into a car crash on the way to an audition Sara made her mum promise to attend. Distraught from her mum’s death and devastated from her poor audition, Sara is forced to move to Chicago and live with her father. It’s quite a culture shock to Sara and she had trouble fitting in – a lone white face in a predominantly black school, ... ...you’re allowed into class. A friendly face, Chenille, takes Sara under her wing and introduces her to her brother, Derek. Sara may be an established ballet dancer, but she doesn’t know any hip-hop to fit into the local dance scene. Derek befriends Sara and becomes her dance teacher. Their relationship develops due to their love of dance, but they still have a whole host of obstacles to overcome. Opinion:
Julia Stiles does an excellent job playing ...
liz1102 20.04.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Save The Last Dance (DVD)
Advantages: Good music, great dancing, interesting setting. Disadvantages: Cheesy script, thin plot.
Save The Last Dance is a classic chick flick . We smuggled it past the boys on our trip to Blockbusters by telling them it was a ‘study of racial tension with some good hip hop music’. And we weren’t wrong, exactly. Teenager Sara (played by Julia Stiles) lives with Mom in a small town and loves ballet. Mom gets killed in a car crash and Sara hangs up her slippers and moves to a scary part of Chicago to live with her estranged father, ... ...the soundtrack which features artists including Snoop Doggy Dog, Ice Cube and Pink.
Save The Last Dance is perfect for a girl’s night in. Watch it in male company and you might have to suffer those imaginary sick-bucket noises men seem genetically programmed to make during the shmaltzy bits. ...
lula153 13.10.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Save The Last Dance (DVD)
Advantages: The music, issues relevant to our time, generally well done film with great acting and characters Disadvantages: The Romeo & Juliet story is all too common
After her devoted Mother is killed in a car crash, rushing to get to her daughter’s dance audition, Sarah (Julia Stiles – 10 Things I Hate About You) moves away, full of guilt and coming to the decision that she cannot continue to practise ballet without her. She finds herself living with her difficult Father (Terry Kinney – Fly Away Home) in a rough neighbourhood and enrolled in an inner-city school where she is practically the only white girl. ... ...few friends, among them, Chenille (Kerry Washington) and her brother Derek (Sean Patrick Thomas – Cruel Intentions). After going to a club one night, he offers to teach Sarah how to dance hip-hop, opening her up to a whole new dance culture. Their united love of dance pushes them together and they gradually become more than just close friends. Derek even persuades Sarah to follow her dream, providing the motivation and support she needs for her to ...
drusilla 23.09.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Save The Last Dance (DVD)
...he was actually 31 when Save The Last Dance was filmed! He was very realistic as Derek, and really made the part his. Whereas we never really get to know the real Sara, Derek is very 3-D and we get to know his personality as the film goes on. There is some chemistry between the two leads; enough so that you can genuinely believe they love each other, but not enough as there could be!
The other actors are generally unknown, but there are some familiar ... ...figures to see how well-received Save The Last Dance was!
If you have some spare time and want to watch a film, you could do a lot worse than STLD. It's a romantic drama that although doesn't really make an impact, is entertaining to watch and has a good soundtrack! If you dislike hip hop music though, you may not be too keen on this film as it features very heavily.
The urban, grey background contrasts slightly with the mildness of the storyline, ...
JessL 02.02.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Save The Last Dance (DVD)
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Advantages: great dancing Disadvantages: not a carry on from the 1st film
After a long wait and being a fan if the first film and soundtrack, it was a film that I definitely had to see and I can say that it is not a match on the first film. It continues the story of Sara, although originally played by Julia Stiles, Sara is now played by Izabella Miko. Also in the last film Sara boyfriend is Derek who is not in this sequel. So I do not really think this is a sequel, more like a film that has carried on the storyline, but has put in new faces in it, which I personally do not think has worked too well.
Continuing the story of the original film where Sara follows her dream and becomes a student at Juilliard, where Sara manages to become a star pupil of whom her dance teachers has great ideas for her. Unfortunately Sara becomes torn between her love for ballet and her passion for the urban dance.
To add more ...
When I first seen that there was a sequel to one of my all time favourite dance films I couldn't wait to see it. Until I noticed it was different people playing the roles. However, I still wanted to see what Sara Johnston would do after getting into Julliard. So I decided to rent it.
The Sequel is all about Sara Johnston and the adventures she finds at Julliard, the school she dreamed of attending ever since she realised she could dance. The film sees her making new friends and finding new love in a former pupil of Julliard, Miles. She helps him out by choreographing a dance piece for a piece of music for a show he's in but when she find out the truth about Miles' Family will she be so keen to help him? Pick up a copy to find out. It's worth it!
When it finished I thought it gave the first film a run for it's money! It was so much ...
Advantages: great choreography Disadvantages: flaws in plots and characters
the film's trailer which could be considered as a bonus as it is mostly unseen footage due to the lack of advertising of the film itself, (straight to dvd).
GO BUY IT IF ....you love dance and originall choreography.
GO RENT IT IF....you are in need of a feel good girly film,
....are intrigued by how the story in 'Save the lastdance' continues. ...
Sara Johnson is forced to move to Chicago following the death of her mother. There she finds life very different to the one she left behind in the quiet Midwestern town. Things look up for Sarah when she meets Derek, who shares her passion for dancing.
Release details
DVD Region
DVD
Studio(s)
PARAMOUNT HOME ENTERTAINMENT; TECHNICOLOR DIST. SERVICES
Commentary With Director Thomas Carter, Deleted Scenes, Making Of Featurette, Interviews, Music Video, Theatrical Trailer
Aspect Ratio
1.85 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Sound
Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround
Dubbing Sound
Dolby Digital 5.1 English German Dolby Surround Czech
Professional reviews
Review
"...SAVE THE LAST DANCE teaches that you should never give up your dreams and that love is all you need..." (Entertainment Weekly, p.63, 19/01/2001)
"...Well-crafted and smoothly paced, SAVE THE LAST DANCE benefits most strongly from its predominately youthful cast....Lawson and the most appealing Washington make impressions as vivid as those of Stiles and Thomas..." (Los Angeles Times, p.F1, 12/01/2001)
"...[The film has] smart performances and pulls off the rare trick of tackling some thorny racial issues without becoming blandly moralistic..." (Total Film, p.85, 01/04/2001)
"...[Stiles'] performance, and her dancing, blossom in a pleasant, spirited way....Thomas projects a potently attractive self-confidence..." (Variety, p.37-8, 08/01/2001)
DVD Description
With her dreams of becoming a professional ballerina decimated by the accidental death of her mother, Sara Johnson (Julia Stiles) is forced to move from her quiet Midwestern town to her father's ghetto apartment on the south side of Chicago. The stark urban environment's contrast of race and class compound Sara's loss and her misplaced guilt, which are both exacerbated by the fact that her mother had been en route to her dance performance at the time of her death. But when she meets Derek (Sean Patrick Thomas), a popular black student with a passion for hip hop and a future brighter than his troubled past, her repressed ambition and sorrow are released through a revitalized interest in the cathartic and expressive power of dance. Their friendship and mutual interest in dancing inexorably lead to a passionate romance that raises the sadly typical, bigoted resistance from Sara's white father and Derek's black friends. Widely hailed by critics for being as sophisticated and intelligent as it is viscerally passionate, SAVE THE LAST DANCE enjoyed the top of the American box office in its first weekend in release, playing to sold out shows across the country, a landslide affirmation that Sara and Derek are not as alone as they think.
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