Discuss: Having Gay Pride Doesn't Help the Box Office
Filed under: Gay & Lesbian, Distribution, Exhibition
As proclaimed by then-president Clinton, June is Gay and Lesbian Pride Month. Pride festivities and parades are gearing up across the world with a flurry of color and rainbows, but lately, it's been about more than just extravagant celebration. Gay marriage is now legal in California, and more people are coming out, like the indirectly out Jodie Foster. Yet, as a new article by Reuters reports, these advancements are not doing anything for the LGBT box office take.
Sure, they're talking about a lot of indie films no one has heard of, but it's not like all of those films are worth just small whispers of existence (where the only people who have heard of it worked on it). The article specifically mentions C.R.A.Z.Y., the 2005 film from Jean-Marc Vallee.
C.R.A.Z.Y. is a great, gay-themed movie from Montreal that popped up years ago, yet it still can't score US theatrical distribution. It's the story of a father and son in a family of 5 boys, where the son lives with the pressures of being a Christ figure to his mother (he was born on Christmas), and a gay young man who has to hide his true self from his father. (Check out Jette's review.) While it has some strange twists, especially at the end, C.R.A.Z.Y. is full of great music (from Patsy Cline to David Bowie) and enough heart that it won a bunch of Genie awards in Canada, as well as Best Canadian Feature at TIFF in 2005. It's not a film destined to surf the huge wave of indie flicks like Juno, but it's the sort that could've easily created a solid following, if given half a chance.
Instead, as the article points out, indie films like this are falling into the shadows of success on DVD, television, and the web. This is, of course, excluding some star-led films for Focus, which are receiving bigger buzz -- from Brokeback Mountain to the upcoming Milk.
What's keeping some of these films from success on the big screen? Is there still a fear of public outing? Distributor fear? Or, are these films just falling to the increasing disinterest in big-screen movie outings?
But this isn't just about the abstract discussion. C.R.A.Z.Y. is the film I champion, but it's only one of many. So, please share any small or no-buzz LGBT films that deserve more than the dust of disinterest. The way it's going, that's the only way that we'll hear about them.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-17-2008 @ 10:06PM
sam said...
There is this great movie that just came out on DVD that should have gotten a national release -- it's called Shelter and won it's star several festival best actor awards for Trevor wright and also stars brad rowe. You all should check it out.
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6-17-2008 @ 11:39PM
François said...
It's sort of funny to read about C.R.A.Z.Y. struggling with distribution, because here in Québec, its home and native land, it was a huge success in its theatrical run. In fact, it's probably the greatest critical and popular success the province has ever known; it also won the Jutra (Quebec's version of the Genies) for best film and it was the highest-grossing local film of its year. Of course, in Québec the film was the equivalent of Brokeback Mountain; it featured a recognizable star in Michel Côté and had a lot of buzz going for it.
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6-17-2008 @ 11:58PM
EatingPie said...
You mention Brokeback and Milk as receiving a lot of attention, and money in Brokeback's case.
Okay, but these two movies are a case in point. I don't want to go to see a film where I'm banged over the head about homosexuality. I felt Brokeback had redeeming values, particularly in the implied Christianity of the parents. But "gay love story" just doesn't spin my wheels -- and probably not a lot of other peoples'. Like it or not, the majority of people are heterosexual and probably relate better to heterosexual love affairs.
That said, how about movies like Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang? There's a gay character. He was good... awesome... hilarious! And not in the cliche gay way. He was just a character who happened to be gay. THAT is the kind of movie we should see more of, because there are gay people in the world (duh!). And they don't bang us on the head with any agenda.
-Pie
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6-18-2008 @ 6:35PM
V.M.L. said...
I agree with you about KISS KISS, BANG BANG. That's one of the things I liked about the movie. Gay Pierre (Val Kilmer) wasn't a stereotypical gay guy. Like you said, he was just a character who so happened to be gay.
As for BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, heh, I really like that movie. I'm a heterosexual female but I enjoy gay romances! Heck, they're worth watching if you just broke-up with a boyfriend and you're sick and tired of seeing happy straight couples! XD I guess they're "escape from reality" movies for me, regardless if they have sad endings.
6-18-2008 @ 8:56AM
ciarán said...
I bought the Canadian DVD of C.R.A.Z.Y after seeing it a few years ago at the Philadelphia Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. It is a fabulous film on many levels, but the thing which almost stopped it EVER being released in any form in the States was, apparently, the soundtrack. Evidently there were BIG FEES to be paid to the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, et al., before it could be released here even on DVD.
This is the usual silliness which results in Americans having to suffer through endless commercials to pay for billions of dollars to acquire the rights to broadcast the Olympics while most of Europe sees them commercial-free for 25 cents.
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6-18-2008 @ 11:17AM
kevjohn2008 said...
There's the great film Saving Face (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0384504/) that I've mentioned here before. It's a great film about a Chinese-American doctor who falls in love with a ballerina but has to keep the relationship a secret from her traditional mother. It's one of the best films I've seen this year.
I don't seek out, or shy away from, LGBT movies. Oftentimes I don't even know what a film is about when I sit down to watch it. I'm just looking for a good film, with quality acting and directing.
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6-18-2008 @ 1:46PM
Monika said...
Agreed! It's a great film.
I think I've ranted about this before, but it still disgusts me that the marketing for this film erased the fact that it is a gay love story, and made it sound like it was all about a girl finding dates for her mom.
6-18-2008 @ 12:54PM
Ryan said...
I have Netflix so I get my gay movie fix there. Having said that all the movies mentioned in the article and the comments (C.R.A.Z.Y., Shelter, Saving Face) I have seen and can tell you how AWESOME they all are. Sadly there's also some really bad ones out there.
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