Plot: What’s it about?
Ah yes…just when you thought it was safe to return to the Cineplex…more teen movies! No, they didn’t end with She’s All That or Varsity Blues, in fact they’re still coming out in droves. With American Pie coming out this Summer, it’s hard to tell if/when this trend will end. But to “Save the Last Dance’s” credit, it is a very well made movie and a notch above the “typical” teen movie. Julia Stiles, who is popping up more and more these days, stars as Sara Johnson. Sara is a suburban high schooler who has been involved and loves the ballet. And she’s quite good at it too. However, an opportunity arises for her to get into Julliard (the most prestigious school for the arts) and her mother is killed in an auto accident while trying to see her daughter perform. Luckily for us, the movie doesn’t dwell too much on that part of it. We’re not supposed to feel sappy and sorry for Sara, but we do know that she’s had it rough. Who doesn’t? Sara is then sent to live with her real father in Chicago. Roy (Terry Kinney) is a jazz musician, a loving father, but he hasn’t spent that much time with his daughter. For all intensive purposes, they’re both strangers. He lives in a run down apartment, and always has good intentions to get the place all fixed up, but he hasn’t gotten around to actually doing it yet. His time is consumed with music and not his daughter’s comfort.
The actual plot of the story, as evidenced by yet another trailer that essentially gives away the movie, is Sara’s struggle to get over her mother and her need to rediscover dance. Sara blames herself for her mother’s death as she yelled at her mother to make it to her dance tryout. Her mother was rushing to get there, and dies…hence the guilt factor. But what Sara has yet to realize is the fact that she is in different surroundings and she has to get acquainted with the new students at her new school, most all of which are black. She immediately befriends Chenille (Kerry Washington) and has an interest in Chenille’s brother, Derek (Sean Patrick Thomas). And this is where the movie excels. This could have so easily been another story about a girl fitting in and people making fun of the odd girl out, etc…but they avoid the after school special stuff and concentrate on the chemistry between Derek and Sara. And that’s what they have–chemistry. They soon start dating and he is interested to know why she is so uninterested in dance. He knows she’s good, but why did she quit? Also, Derek has just been accepted to Georgetown University and has aims at being a doctor. So Sara has fallen for a special guy, but is he the one who is the answer to all of her problems? Would there be a movie if he weren’t?
Personally I feel like I’m about ten years too old for this movie (and I’m under 30). It’s well-made and has a great cast of supporting actors. I like Julia Stiles, as she seems to be the type of actress that will be around for a while and not just another flash in the pan. Maybe it’s her deeper female voice, I don’t know. The movie didn’t really try and communicate some “save the world” message like others, but it has good values like determination and compassion can overcome most anything. Stuff like that. I found it predictable, but it didn’t seem to dwell on the interracial dating issue. I suppose we are in the 21st century and it’s just not an issue anymore. Save the Last Dance obviously found it’s audience, as it was quite a hit at the box office last Spring. Now it’s on DVD and wouldn’t you know it…it has quite a number of extra features to keep you dancing through the night…
Video: How does it look?
Save the Last Dance has looked about as good as any DVD that I’ve seen. Maybe it was the way it was shot, maybe I wasn’t looking for errors. Quite simply this is a stunning visual presentation. With a lot of the inner city shots being presented in a muted palette, mainly grays and darker hues, the image has no trouble taking it all in and showing us what a truly good DVD looks like. Edge enhancement, black levels, compression errors…all not a problem. Reference quality if you ask me!
Audio: How does it sound?
Alongside the outstanding video presentation is the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. Though it has quite a few of it’s moments, I wasn’t as thoroughly impressed with it as I was the picture. But when you have a perfect picture, everything else pales in comparison. Featuring a “hip hop” soundtrack, the front speakers get a workout as do the surrounds, at times. Dialogue is clean and well-centered and no distortion could be noticed (not by me anyway). I suppose only action movies can really bring out the true home theater, but a lot of others come close. This is one of those that comes close, but you won’t be disappointed with the way this disc sounds, that’s for sure.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Save the Last Dance not only looks great and sounds good, it has it’s share of supplements as well. First up is the feature-length commentary with director Thomas Carter. Carter gives a good, informative commentary here. He is also involved in the featurettes as well. He is very articulate as to how he made the film and the training that the actors had to go through to “sell” their parts. He seems happy with this movie, as he should be considering how much money it made, and if you’re really interested in the movie, then this track should satisfy your needs. Also included are some cast and crew interviews. These are pretty self-explanatory as they’re “seen one, seen them all” sort of things. But it’s nice to see the actors who are so proud of their work here. The Making of Save the Last Dance is also very interesting, it concentrates on how the actors were cast, what they did for their parts (training, etc…) and how the entire movie came together. Some deleted scenes are also included, which are even shown in anamorphic widescreen for your viewing pleasure. The scenes were interesting, but it’s clear to see why they were cut. I was a bit surprised that there wasn’t an optional commentary with the deleted scenes, you figure they had this disc loaded with extras, why not splurge a little more? Oh well…it’s a knit. A theatrical trailer in non-anamorphic widescreen is also shown as is a music video, “Crazy” by K-Ci & JoJo. All in all, it’s a good little DVD here and fans of the movie should definitely be pleased.
