I watched this on the 29th of January, 2025, at the independent cinema.
Released in 1998 and set in Manhattan the early ‘80s, it’s a slice-of-life film about a group of friends navigating their working lives, relationships, and friendships, all under the whirling and sparkling eye of the disco movement.
It’s a great deal of fun! It’s very reminiscent of Friends in some of its aesthetics, although I don’t know if that’s because it was made in the 90s or whether it’s just the general ‘decades ago’ exoticism.
I really liked it, although I’m not sure whether that’s because of the actual quality of the film, or the aesthetic expressed through its cinematography, fashion choices, and music. The characters were funny, impassioned, and morally grey, embodying that common idealism of young professionals who haven’t been blunted into cynicism.
The plot was a little shaky - it could very well be described as a movie about nothing - and the dialogue was sometimes just impossible to make out, but it was done intentionally to portray a certain kind of philosophy. It wanted you to know that disco was a thing, that it was big, and people cared about it and its multitudinous, dazzling, and chaotic approach.
Everyone was also very … pretty? They were sharp and swift lines, fraying at the edges, twisting into knots and entwining in a formless dance.