MOVIE REVIEW

Save The Last Dance  (2001)

Starring: Julia Stiles, Sean Patrick Thomas
Director: Thomas Carter
Rating: PG-13

Studio: Paramount

Review Posted: 4.19.01

Rating: 3/4

By Michael Brendan McLarney

"Stage Flight"

Julia Stiles is an actress who continues to grow on me. Maybe it's the voice ... not showered with mercurial inflections that shuffle around the words being spoken; but a rather low, steady, direct pitch. It's the kind of tone that automatically commands respect while maintaining a certain magnetic intimacy. While a naturally attractive young woman, I think it's her voice that grasps my attention most.

In "Save the Last Dance," Stiles plays Sara Johnson, a sensitive, intelligent seventeen year-old ballet dancer who possesses immeasurable talent although is a bit self-conscious. Her dreams are too often dictated by her insecurity. When her mother loses her life in an automobile accident, her guilt-ridden conscious conquers her body and vanquishes her mind. She gives up her dream of ballet at the Juilliard School, believing her passion for dance has led to the demise of her mother. (The accident happened as she was racing to see her daughter audition.)

She subsequently moves in with her estranged father (Terry Kinney), a jazz musician who lives on Chicago's South Side. There, she enrolls in a predominantly black high school; a campus racially and culturally different from anything she has experienced before.

Sara is befriended immediately by Chenille (Kerry Washington), a strikingly resilient unwed teenage mother who is drawn to the newcomer's candid demeanor. Her younger brother is the gifted Derek (the very likable Sean Patrick Thomas), a brilliant young man who houses dreams to one day be a pediatrician and is also the school's most popular student.

An immediate attraction exists between Sara and Derek, even though neither one initially admits it. Soon, their love grows stronger, to the point where each holds the key to unlocking the secrets resting amidst the heart of the other.

While issues of race do exist, they aren't overwrought by the script. There are a couple issues touched on, including Derek's best friend, Malakai's (Fredro Starr) involvement in various gang-related confrontations; and the resentment felt by some of the African-American women upon realization of the newly discovered interracial relationship, the most vociferous opponent being Derek's ex-girlfriend, Nikki (Bianca Lawson).

Yet despite the cultural variations, the screenplay is smart enough to also realize that teens are intelligent, perceptive, insecure, sensitive, and resilient. The love between Derek and Sara isn't displayed as some kind of deep social statement, but simply the result of two people seeing the truth and beauty in each other and finding the courage to take comfort in that. Some viewers may claim the movie dodges the true issue of race, but director Thomas Carter and writers Duane Adler and Cheryl Edwards merely play up the traits that bring people together rather than those that keep us apart. I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

The movie's subplots are also developed with definitive skill, including the tricky relationship between Sara and her absent but still decent father, Roy. I like the scene late in the film when they finally come clean about the true feelings involved in the situation they're faced with. It doesn't contain a contrived embrace, followed by lines of forced, tear-jerking dialogue, but plays out as a simple, honest discussion about how their dreams and insecurities have impacted the lives they've chosen for themselves. Sara finally confesses her longings and deepest fear with regards to her upcoming audition: "I just want somebody there who loves me" she says, not as a whiny, pretentious teenager but a courageous young woman sensitive enough to feel it, and mature enough to admit it.

The scenes between Sara and Derek are also handled with a subtle-yet-deft touch. When Sara confesses her belief that she was ultimately the cause of her mother's death, Derek doesn't respond with the typical: "Don't blame yourself," "There wasn't anything you could do," or "It's not your fault." Instead, he gently but firmly grasps her shoulders, looks her in the eye and asks a simple, direct question regarding her very own dream; a question that is so undeniably true, it's amazing that it escapes from the minds of many people dissatisfied with their own lives.

The film also contains moments of humor, especially in the cultural differences Sara experiences. One scene has Derek helping Sara with her "moves." That is, how to carry oneself in a manner that doesn't reflect backwoods living. He shows her more "acceptable" ways of walking, sitting, etc. Imitating him move for move, Sara finally looks over, saying "Am I cool now?" - a cute, wry smile creeping across her face.

A love story that isn't so much about the love as what those involved are ultimately able to achieve by way of it, "Save the Last Dance" takes center stage, showcasing people overcoming a degree of loss by transforming it from an emotional blockade into a portion of the kaleidoscopic life experiences that make up the human condition. Loss isn't something to be forgotten, dismissed, or defeated, but rather viewed as something that provides us with courage, passion, and the ability to reach out.

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