Metropolitan

Metropolitan (Criterion #326).
1990 Allagash Films & Westerly Film; distributed by New Line Cinema.
Starring: Carolyn Farina, Edward Clements, Chris Eigman, Taylor Nichols, Allison Rutledge-Parisi, Dylan Hundley
Director: Whit Stillman
Buy Metropolitan at Amazon.

It's a movie full of conversations.

Tom (Clements) attends an upper class debutante ball in Manhattan one night in December. When the party ends, Tom declines a cab, claiming he would prefer to walk home, and letting five others who were at the party take the cab. Those youngsters invite Tom to join them at the "afterparty" in a luxurious high-rise apartment, where everyone sips wine, smokes cigarettes, and have lengthy intelligent conversations about anything and nothing. Pretty soon, Tom is accepted into the group, and they regularly get together.

But Tom has a big secret: he's not part of New York City's wealthy elite, and instead, he lives in a small dingy apartment with his divorced mother. No matter, though, as Tom's new friends still accept him depsite his background. Tom soon finds himself drawn to Audrey (Farina), but an old flame from his past and another rowdy newcomer who owns a Long Island beach house might derail them before the romance even begins.

A largely obscure, and decent independent film. Whit Stillman went on to direct the somewhat more known The Last Days of Disco* in 1998. Highly recommended.


* I've heard online from a credible source that this movie will be released by Criterion sometime in the next couple of years. Stay tuned.