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...CONTINUED
Save the Last Dance
(2001)
Dir: Thomas Carter
Right. So this is the story of Sarah Johnson (Stiles), a pasty, young ballet student living in cuddly suburbia. The day of Sarah’s audition for Julliard, her mom is killed in a car accident, while racing en route to lend her support. Feeling responsible for her mother’s death, Sarah swears off ballet. She is forced to go and live with her quasi-loser dad in big bad Chicago and is enrolled in a predominantly black high school. Things are rough at first, but Sarah is un-intimidated and soon she has made new friends. Among them, Derek (Thomas) a bright lad who is headed for medical school. He teaches her hip hop and gets her back on track toward Julliard. I think they even bone. And yeah, they make it. It’s a formula picture, but it’s pitch perfect. The race-relations issue gives it a contemporary edginess, and the palatable acting and dancing take it straight to the heart. But it made me cry because I ate some spoiled soup. The carton of roasted red pepper, tomato soup was to be used by August 19th, but it had been refrigerated since I opened it and ate the first half. Seemed worth a try. I only took three sips before dumping it out, but that was enough to snare me into a viscous sandtrap of emotion. I cried four different times. Taking pointers from my mom, I was watching television while I cleaned up the kitchen (actually the small white set that moms bought me. A white television! How quaint and girlish). I repeatedly had to stop what I was doing to sigh and swallow lumps. When Sarah and Derek broke up for twenty minutes, I was a frigging mess. As with Speed, I had actually seen Save the Last Dance before, but this made no difference. When Derek showed up to her second audition at Julliard and saved the fucking day, I had my slobbery face in my hands. I’ll probably buy this DVD if I find a used copy somewhere. Oooo, and Steel Magnolias too! I fucking looooove that movie.
By the way, got here at all costs: www.juliastiles.net . Be sure to check out “Julia’s Pad.”
You’ll cry too. Trust me.
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