Waiting for indie, comedy of manners director Whit Stillman is a little like “Waiting For Godot,” you never know if it’s ever going to come to pass. His last feature, “The Last Days Of Disco,” was more than a decade ago (1998) and the filmmaker has talked about two projects — his “Jamaica project,” now titled, “Dancing Mood” and his other long-gestating/ going-nowhere project “Little Green Men,” based on the novel by Christopher Buckley — for several years now, but none have come to pass.
So you could understand our skepticism. Things looked better when his debut, “Metropolitan” hit Criterion and when ‘Disco,’ appeared on Hulu for free earlier this year, but apparently legal problems still dogged the picture’s DVD release (we’ve had a dog-eared VHS copy for years, but the film essentially came and went on DVD almost immediately, so aside from a brief period, it was never readily available).
Now, we can finally put our doubts to rest as “The Last Days Of Disco,’ now officially (and finally) has a Criterion release date of August 25.
Like many Stillman projects, ‘The Last Days,’ wryly centers on a group of vapid and affluent 20-somethings (Chloë Sevigny, Chris Eigeman, Kate Beckinsale, pre-Hollywood-hotness makeover, still in her original mousy form), coming of age in New York during disco’s waning years in the late ’70s. The film will feature the following goodies:
* New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Whit Stillman
* Audio commentary featuring Stillman and actors Chloë Sevigny and Chris Eigeman
* Four deleted scenes with commentary by Stillman, Eigeman, and Sevigny
* Stills gallery with production notes by Stillman
* Stillman reading a chapter from The Last Days of Disco, with Cocktails at Petrossian Afterwards, his novelization of the movie
* Behind-the-scenes featurette
* Original theatrical trailer
* PLUS: An essay by novelist David Schickler
Here’s a scene from the film, but while we’re at it, can we now officially campaign for Stillman’s best work, “Barcelona,” to receive the Criterion treatment? A DVD is still in print, but it’s a shitty, bare bones version and that underrated picture deserves so much better. Chris Eigeman, who also stars in ‘Disco,’ is sheer genius in that picture.