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The AfterElton.com Ranking Round-Up: Gay indie movies mostly tanking
Welcome to the AfterElton.com Ranking Roundup, a regular feature where we round up the rankings from various sources as to what is, and isn't, hot in gay male entertainment! Top Gay-Related Theatrical Releases(From Variety: weekly gross/total gross to date/per-screen average)
There's plenty of gay indie fare on the list this week, though most of the movies are playing in very limited engagements in only a smattering of cities. Success is decidedly mixed. The festival hit Were the World Mine is packing 'em in as it expands from a single theater to three, with an impressive $6,397 per screen average, and Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom continues its solid release. But those gay indie movies that have taken critical drubbings, including Breakfast With Scot, Tru Loved, and Otto; Or, Up with Dead People, are doing disastrously, with total grosses in the low double or even single digits. Cthulhu, the gay horror movie starring Tori Spelling, made only $32 for the whole week, at a single theater at the tail end of another disappointing run. Dostana is a gay "Bollywood" movie that debuted impressively last week, though receipts have plunged 71% in this its second week, suggesting word-of-mouth may not be strong. Is the gay content upsetting Indian-American audiences? More ratings and analysis after the jump!
DVD Bestsellers(At Giovanni's Room Bookstore in Philadelphia)
2. Dante's Cove, Season 3 3. Bangkok Love Story 4. Shelter 5. Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon 6. Bulldog in the White House 7. Dog Tags 8. Before I Forget 9. Strange Fruit
There is Oliver Stone's W, and then there is Bulldog in the White House, a 2006 movie that portrays the Bush administration as "a cabal of lustful and traitorous gay men" in a film that splits "the difference between political commentary and gay porn." Well, I give them credit for good marketing. Strange Fruit is a 2004 film that tells the story of a gay African American lawyer who returns to rural Louisiana to explore the lynching of a childhood friend.
Bestselling Gay Books(At Giovanni's Room Bookstore in Philadelphia)
1. Out of the Pocket by Bill Konigsberg2. Sarah by J.T. LeRoy 3. Unspeakable by Michael-Christopher 4. Skip Lane by Neil Bartlett 5. Got ‘til It’s Gone by Larry Duplechan 6. Lion Among Men by Gregory Maguire 7. Finlater by Shawn Stewart Ruff 8. Indian Clerkby David Leavitt 9. Hotel de Dream by Edmund White This week sees new works by heralded gay authors such as Leavitt, White, and Maguire, whose Lion Among Men is the third novel in the series that began with Wicked. Submitted by on Wed, 2008-11-26 08:47. |
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Amazed to see "Before I Forget" on that list
This is one of the very best movies of the year. The other is Andre Techine's superb drama of the early days of the epidemic, The Witnesses.
It's extremely hard for any indie movie -- gay or straight -- to get theatrical traction these days. That's why it's so important for sites like this one to let people know abut them in anticipation of their brief theatrical appearances and their arrival on DVD.
Well, let's face it: a lot
Well, let's face it: a lot of independent gay films aren't very good. Of the films I watched at the Philadelphia GLBT Film Festival, around half were quality and inspiring (Breakfast with Scot, Were the World Mine) and half were so horrible that people were groaning or mocking them (Bangkok Love Story, Dog Tags). I personally thought True Loved awful fare - the teens acted like they were still in 80s films (they should have been texting a storm) and every adult was a cliche.
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Bangkok Love Story
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Is Laura Albert still masquerading as J. T. LeRoy? It's probably a case of her books being out of print, but the question remains: why is Sarah suddenly a best-seller again at Giovanni's Room?
Dostana is one long music video
The only thing that keep me sitting over 2 hrs is John Abraham. He is one fine specimen. It's unfunny as I pronounced you Chuck and Larry. The sterotypical gay acting is over the top with both characters play butch one moment and fem another. Pretty much telling the audiences they are definately not gay. Well, maybe the more sophsticated audiences. Okay, those who actually went and watch the movie and not humor by the gay pretending plots.The final climax scene is a non starter. Did I say John Abraham is one fine specimen. I know this is a hugh step for the main stars to act gay and for Bollywood to make a movie using gay characters as the sub plot. I don't believe the movie can be seen as a significant step towards tolerance of GBLT in India. Would love to hear our East Indian members take on it.
I'm VERY pleased to see "Boystown"
I think that the state of gay indies merits more discussion
If only it were simply a matter of the good ones packing it in, and those getting mixed reviews tanking, I would be jumping for joy as it would signal that "quality" (I know that it's subjective) is somehow being rewarded over lesser films. It seemed as if the old days we were so hungry to see anything "gay" that even the most tepid gay movie would be a must-see as it gave many of us a window into a world that rarely (if ever) any of us had ever seen.
Now that we expect more from all films, I think that we are less likely to support those that have little to say and that, coupled with the increasing importance of DVDs to box-office returns, is leading to very few gay-themed films getting the kind of marketing/distribution that the better ones received in the 1980s and 1990s.
There is certainly much more product in the market place, but unfortunately few in the business are focusing on the commercial and cultural importance of seeing movies in a movie theatre rather than on DVD. There are exceptions, but the few that make it there seem to require a pedigree of sorts (a known director, well known actors playing gay, critical acclaim, and/or conventional commercial appeal) or else they get sent to DVD.
As is the case with almost anything, if independent films are going to have a rebirth via the movie theatre experience, it's going to have to come via sites such as this one as movie reviewers in traditional media are being let go, better and different types of films, and maybe a few break-away hits. Were The World Mine could be such a movie, but even in bigger cities, this film is being shown at gay film festivals right before being primed to be shipped to the stores. We'll never know if Shelter could have been a hit in the "movie-house" as the pay-per-view/DVD/theatrical release seemed to all happen at once. It might be the wave of the future in terms of commerce but it also takes away from the perception of what "success" is and limits the cultural significance and even who sees gay-themed films.
I discovered Boystown at a recent gay film festival and the audience loved it. I give it a thumbs up here at AE right when I got home and warned of other offerings that I saw that really sucked. The latter included the 3-Day Weekend, a terribly acted/directed movie with nothing to say as well Otto; Or, Up with Dead People, which was pretentious and frustrating. It at least offered some interesting imagery and cinematographic touches, but ultimately a dog.
My view is that even with subtitles, a movie like Boystown had the potential to reel in many lovers of independent film, irrespectively of their sexual orientation. Many non-gays will never see it and will miss the most fun I've had in the theatre all year.
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