Save The Last Dance (DVD)

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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 ...
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"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.

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The Cast
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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

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Technical Details
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Certificate: 12
Length: 108 mins
Year: 2001

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Bonus Material
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"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.

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The Message & Christian View Point
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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.

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Conclusion & Rating
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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.

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Trivia
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- 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
 

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