Surrender Dorothy is the story of Peter, a waiter at a fancy restaurant who lives in a warehouse apartment and has no power outside of his home life. Into his life pops old acquaintance Lanh, a junkie that shows up on Peter’s doorstep looking for a place to stay. Peter agrees, but then uses Lanh’s addiction to control every aspect of his life, forcing him to wear a dress and act as the perfect suburban housewife in exchange for his fix. It’s the tale of a desire for power, and the weak Peter takes advantage of the even weaker Lanh in order to achieve his goal.In the world of modern-age film where “independent” simply means “has Johnny Depp,” Surrender Dorothy was a promising indie destined for some sort of exposure. The Kevin DiNovis-directed tale won major awards at Slamdance, MicoCineFest and both the New York and Chicago Underground Festivals. In a proper world, this would have led to some substantial word-of-mouth and a prominent video release.
Which, in an odd way, it’s gotten. The film is now available at “edgier” video stores thanks to TLA Releasing, a mail-order company that’s recently started a distribution arm. It’s got an eye-catching cover and a favorable Roger Ebert quote on the box, so it’s sure to get your attention.
That is, if you’re looking for a gay-themed film.
TLA Releasing, you see, like Wolfe Video and Strand Releasing before them, specializes in gay and lesbian films. Their description of Surrender Dorothy in its’ print ads ignores the film’s festival victories and promotes it as a “psychosexual cross-dressing drama.” Though it does mention that the film offers a “decidedly controversial twist in its treatment of same-sex relationships,” the film’s stark, brutal and darkly humorous nature and jaw-dropping climax is sure to come as a shock for someone looking for another Broadway Damage. (Of course, why anyone would be looking for another Broadway Damage is well beyond me.)
On the other hand, by the way the film was marketed to video retailers, only those stores with a fairly substantial gay clientele are likely to carry the film. This does the film a great disservice—by making it appear to only be of interest to gays, the film is bound to lose a hefty share of its’ potential audience. Surrender Dorothy would hold great appeal to fans of psychologically disturbing, original films, the same people who appreciate the distinctly non-gay Neil LaButte, whose examinations of power in Your Friends and Neighbors and In the Company of Men provide some similarities to Dorothy’s flinch-worthy central relationship.
Surrender Dorothy, in fact, doesn’t really qualify as a “gay film” at all; both of the lead characters consider themselves straight, and any physical activity between them is merely a consequence of their bizarre power struggle. Their sexuality is symbolic, and film features no supporting gay characters to speak of.
I’m glad that Surrender Dorothy is available on VHS and DVD and, honestly, the DVD looks great and has quite a few features. However, I’m afraid that it will alienate both those that would appreciate it and those that are victims of its’ unfortunate marketing. If TLA Releasing had tried to sell this title individually, without claiming any gay content, it could have reached a more appreciative, and potentially larger, audience.
A similar fate could have befallen the excellent Urbania, a Lion’s Gate Films production that got a small theatrical release last fall. The film follows one night of New York street wandering with Charlie, a young man who keeps getting into odd, urban legend-based encounters as he attempts to track down the man responsible for the death of his ex-boyfriend.
While the central character in Urbania is gay, and his reckless night certainly has to do with a former homosexual relationship, the film is probably just as likely to appeal to those who appreciated Mike Leigh’s Naked as it would a core gay audience. Charlie is a fascinating character whose sexuality is only overt when it has to be. With its’ wandering plot lines and cynical humor, it belongs on the shelf next to Slacker and Trainspotting, not Edge of Seventeen and Get Real. Urbania is more about being bitter than being gay.
Lion’s Gate did a fine job with Urbania’s release, marketing it as a standard modern-age “indie” film rather than something about a gay character. Lion’s Gate is no stranger to this type of downplaying, having turned Gods and Monsters into a sleeper hit and Oscar-winner.
However, theatrical exposure is one thing, and video cover art is another. Video store patrons are much more likely to rent a film that they’d never heard of than theater-goers. When Urbania was slated to be released with the same box art that had been provided for the theatrical release, making it resemble a thriller, Video Store Magazine flinched. At the end of a favorable review, writer Matthew Miller claims:
“…the most confusing this about Urbania is its false advertising. The packaging and even the trailer pawn it off as a thriller, where it would better fit into the gay/lesbian genre, since the whole focus of the film deal with the alternative lifestyle.”
While I don’t disagree with Miller’s statements that the thriller teasing may cause some accidental rentals, I take issue with the idea that Urbania is a gay/lesbian film. Urbania is a film I’d happily recommend to anyone, straight or gay, who I felt appreciates non-mainstream films. The lead character’s sexuality is just one facet of his multi-dimensional personality, and I wish there were more films with gay characters in which that was the case. By marketing it as a “gay” film (which would most likely mean that the cover would have star Dan Futterman either shirtless or with his arm around another guy, both of which would be gross misrepresentations) it would probably end up in the same situation as Surrender Dorothy. It would miss its’ most appreciative audience while angering gays looking for something more typically mainstream.Films like Urbania, Surrender Dorothy, Chuck & Buck, Gods and Monsters and the like show that films with gay themes are evolving, and “straight” audiences can appreciate them as well. I only hope that marketing executives can evolve with them.