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Save the Last Dance enjoyed a profitable release in early 2001, with box-office earnings that exceeded anyone's expectations. Its performance illustrates the staying power of a formulaic movie that avoids the pitfalls and clichés that would otherwise render it forgettable. Since there's nothing new here, you'll appreciate the original quirks in a character-based plot that's just around the corner from
Flashdance, and just as familiar. Sara (Julia Stiles) gave up a promising ballet career when her mother was killed while rushing to attend her daughter's crucial audition to Juilliard; Sara blames herself for the accident, and at her new, mostly African American high school in Chicago, she's uncertain of her future.
Derek (Sean Patrick Thomas) has no such doubts; his own future is bright, and his attraction to Sara is immediate; they connect (predictably), and Sara's dormant funk emerges, with Derek's coaching, as she learns hip-hop dancing in a local club. Obligatory subplots are equally routine: Derek's sister (Kerry Washington) is a single mom struggling with her child's absentee father; Derek's best friend (Fredro Starr) feels trapped in his gangsta lifestyle; and Sara's once-estranged father (Terry Kinney) is doing his best to correct past mistakes. Within the confines of this standard follow-your-dream drama, director Thomas Carter capitalizes on a script that allows these characters to be real, intelligent, and thoughtful about their lives and their futures. It's obvious that Stiles's dancing was intercut with that of a professional double, but that illusion hardly matters when the rest of the movie's so earnestly positive and genuine. --Jeff Shannon
The Humble and the Haughty - Reviewed on 2008-08-21
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On the surface, this is a movie about a poor white girl, who
uses black people, expropriating African American culture, to
get into Julliard's. But dig deeper, and you will find that
this movie is even shallower. She says to him, at one point,
"We spend more time defending our relationship than having
one." In other words, I know you like me, so just enjoy the
ride while I use you to get into Julliard's.
The choreography is spell-binding, and her dancing is amazing.
No, I have not seen many ballet performances, but if ballet
looked like her audition in this movie, would not ballet theatres
be packed? Must we, the "great unwashed" go to night clubs with
names like 'Platinum Fox' to catch a glimpse of this "ballet"?
Talented dancers like Sara, tend to get lured away to night clubs
with names like 'Platinum Fox', which pay more than "ballet
company". But Sara is not like that. In fact, she slips
a guy a twenty in order to get into a night club, to dance, for
free. She's a "Sister of Charity". Perhaps, "ballet company",
is a state of mind? Sara even dances in a yard, under a bridge:
Per chance, a "Julie yard", between two worlds.
Derek has faith in her, and her dad loves her. Together, they give
her hope. Tragically, though Derek has faith in his other friend,
his friend does not have somebody to give him love, support, and so
seeks other ways to "get respect". His friend gives up on living,
and Derek leaves him there, as he takes the subway to see Sara.
Bullets and ballet don't mix.
The poverty of the soul is far more horrific than a welfare check,
or the lack thereof. But instead of seeking spiritual riches, some
will settle, for respect, instead. But what they seek is respect
from others, rather than self-respect, as in that song, 'Respect
Yourself', which may also be a dance.
What Sara does on stage, is in stark contrast to what her dad does,
which is work, work so much, that he is rarely home. It is
sacrifice, it is love. He's not building a castle, he's just trying
to keep a dream alive. Trying to keep the eviction notice from
arriving. Trying to keep from drowning, in shallow waters.
Life without love is not living, but like a plant without water, is
dying. And so he sacrifices "jazz" for work, so that Sara might live.
He gives her what she needs, love. And it also happens to be the
strength whereby she might live (dance). What will it take to save
the last dance? Her life, at Julliard's. She seeks respect from
judges, but without that respect, would she still dance? Would she
still live? Her life, at "Julie Yards". Derek's friend is not able
to find self-respect, and so he tries to find respect from others,
and ends up being arrested: He "slips up", and is "taken down".
What will it take to save "the last dance"? Faith in a dream? Love?
Or a Hope that that dream is very real, and the poverty of a sofa-bed
is the illusion. Her room, poignantly, has no walls, stressing freedom
of movement. It's a sign. "You go, girl," in all directions. She's a
humble haughty.
In one scene, she looks down upon her foot which is bleeding, next to
an inviting bathtub. A hope of victory, and a fear of failure: They
are a contrast, the blood and the water. When you add up all those
minutes of performing on a stage, they may add up to a few days in
the life of a ballet dancer, compared to the years of training it
took to get there. Life is a temporal phenomenon. People build sand
castles, knowing they won't be around later. But stardust is real,
and eternal, even if you can't see it.
Pain is objective, whereas pleasure is subjective. What do you
delight in? Ballet? Or watching ballet? For one activity is less
painful than the other, but the other is where the magic happens.
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