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an absolute delight." —Rex Reed, New York Observer "A sharp, funny valentine to the chaos of love in the 90's." "A zippy and incorrigibly good-natured romantic comedy." "A stylish comedy...
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The Best of the Rest from Outfest 97
by R. Hunter Garcia, Entertainment Today It seems that Hollywood independent acquisitions people have been a little asleep at the wheel this year when it comes to scavenging the film fest circuit for high quality product with reasonable to great box office potential. In a year when so many films showing at Outfest 97 already had distribution lined up in advance -- and when few of the remaining were world premieres, meaning that they've already been shown at at lest one major festival before -- one of the great surprises was the number of films still available for distribution that no less than wowed audiences at their DGA screenings. The most powerful "Rocky-like" audience reaction came to Victor Mignatti's Broadway Damage, an irrepressibly infectious romantic comedy about three innocent NYU grads grappling with their first year in the real world of Manhattan. In one scene, the audience actually seemed to forget it was watching a movie and clapped and cheered as though they were at a concert when one character finished singing a love song (Cindy Soltoff's "Men/Someone"), one of three original songs in the film. Sort of a cross between Everyone Says I Love You and Next Stop, Greenwich Village, Broadway Damage is a great ensemble piece, but the primary scene stealers are Mara Hobel as Cynthia, a helplessly spoiled rich girl from Long Island obsessed with getting hired by New Yorker editor Tina Brown, and Aaron Williams as the heartbreakingly callow Robert, a young songwriter who reads the Cliff Notes to Zola's La Bête Humaine in order to impress a literary greeting card cashier whom he's afraid to ask out for a date. (As if to confirm the Rocky-like cheers, Broadway Damage later went on to win the festival Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature).
by Allen Kalchik, HeatStroke
Mignatti has written, directed and edited a new romantic comedy called BROADWAY DAMAGE. He spoke to HeatStroke by telephone from his home in Los Angeles, where he is currently putting together a trailer for the film. BROADWAY DAMAGE is the former New York ad man's first feature, one of four films selected to screen at Phoenix's 1998 Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, February 13-14. "When you look at popular gay movies--and I'm talking about independent gay films like mine, the festival type films--there are a lot of really wonderful gay and lesbian films out there that no one is ever going to see in a theater," Mignatti says. He explains that gay films have not made the kind of money that creates a trend in the distribution end of the film industry. "It's been awhile since gay films have made a significant amount of money. We had kind of a freaky thing five or six years ago with GO FISH, POISON and TWO GIRLS IN LOVE. I think we all hoped that was going to be the start of a money-making trend for independent gay films. But it really didn't do that--instead it was a kind of freakish, one-of-a-kind situation." Mignatti says last year, by comparison, most of the gay films that came out did terribly at the box office. "None of these recent independent films, from KISS ME GUIDO to LOVE! VALOUR! COMPASSION! have made the kind of money that creates a trend--that warrants the millions of dollars in marketing and advertising that must go into selling the film. Distributors don't see it as a worthwhile market. They are licking their wounds and have become very cautious. Some of them won't even look at gay product or consider handling it." BROADWAY DAMAGE, for example, has won Best Film awards at various festivals. Mignatti says the comedy has played not only gay film festivals, but has also been screened at some of the biggest international film festivals including those in Edinburgh, Seattle and Chicago. "It's gotten a real crossover audience as far as festival acceptance and exposure." And the film is consistently well-received. We've even had standing ovations at some of our screenings, with cheering and screaming." Despite that kind of acceptance, it has taken a huge effort on the part of Mignatti and producer David Topel to line up wide distribution for BROADWAY DAMAGE. "We are really lucky because after months of looking for a distributor, we have finally found one. But we're still not going to have a heavily financed release with a flashy ad campaign." For that reason, word of mouth will be really important to the success of BROADWAY DAMAGE. "That's one of the reasons festivals are so important. Because if 400 people see it in Phoenix and like it, and they tell five of their friends, then we can run our movie for a week in Phoenix -- that's really exciting to me." Mignatti says the recent success of gay-themed films geared toward mainstream audiences, like THE BIRDCAGE and IN & OUT, are important politically-- particularly in terms of the responses they generate in the media and popular culture. "A film like IN & OUT is important because politically, our journey is one that is taking baby steps. It almost has to be done in a subversive way, and so I think IN & OUT is enormously successful on those terms. But when people say [gay filmmakers] must be doing great because of the success of IN & OUT and THE BIRDCAGE and all that stuff, I think we have to see a very serious distinction there." He explains, "Those are Hollywood vehicles, essentially star-driven products. They are wonderful films in many ways and I enjoy all of them for various reasons. But my theory is that you look at those films -- and I include PHILADELPHIA in this -- in every single Hollywood gay movie, they always create that dynamic that lets heterosexual audience members feel superior to the gay characters." For a Hollywood gay film to be financially successful, like BIRDCAGE, IN & OUT or PHILADELPHIA, a heterosexual viewer must always be allowed to feel in some way superior, Mignatti stresses. "By contrast, mostly gay independent films do not create that dynamic ever, in any way. The movies on the gay and lesbian festival circuit and other independent films are very matter of fact about sexuality. Some characters and some relationships in them are gay, an you either deal with it or you don't. They don't create that weird safety zone for the straight audience." It is the lack of that apologetic safety zone, he suggests, that makes distribution companies leery of the product. BROADWAY DAMAGE is a touching comedy that deals with the lofty aspirations of three New Yorkers just out of college. All are looking for romance and direction in their lives. Two of the main characters are gay men, Marc and Robert, who are best friends. Each is hoping to land a career in the theater and find his own version of Mr. Right. The third major character is Cynthia, a witty, plump and very hetero Rich Daddy's Darling who shares an apartment with Marc. Why did this 38-year-old writer/director feel the need to create an original story so earnest, youthful and romantic? "Because I felt the world was ready for it and needed something like this," he says. "I was working in advertising -- directing TV commercials, videos, corporate films and high-end fashion stuff. So much of what I was being called on to do was supposed to be very edgy and very hip, and I realized a lot of edginess is just a disguise for cynicism." Mignatti says he started looking at images in popular culture and then looked inward. He had never considered himself a cynical person, but realized the work he was producing for others had taken a toll on his outlook on life. "I thought, 'What was I like -- what was my life like --before I became cynical and jaded?' And I flashed back to when I was about 19. When my parents had just dropped me off at NYU and absolutely everything seemed possible." Mignatti thought it would be a lot of fun to make a movie "about a group of friends that are just wide-eyed optimists -- hopeless romantics -- in a very cynical day and age. Three people for whom anything is possible. And that's what I did." Actress Mara Hobel co-stars as Cynthia. Now in her twenties, Hobel is best known to most audiences for her portrayal of little Christina Crawford in the camp classic, MOMMIE DEAREST. "This is probably her first role as an adult," Mignatti says. "I have very little memory of MOMMIE DEAREST, except that it was totally over the top -- so that is not why we cast Mara. The casting director brought her in and she was wonderful. She totally nailed the part." Having finally landed a distributor for his fresh and warmhearted flick, Mignatti is now very caught up in the process of marketing BROADWAY DAMAGE. He is also planning his next feature. "I'm developing two projects. One is another comedy, the other is a period film, set again in New York City, but in 1982." Both projects have primarily gay themes. "But I don't see myself as someone who is going to do exclusively gay things. I really don't," he says. "I think festivals like the one coming up in Phoenix are really important, because the gay community really needs to support gay filmmakers. It's a very hard thing to make a film, because of the financial aspect of it. And for most of these films, not to have any kind of outlet to bring money back in can be financially devastating." Like many openly gay artists, Mignatti seeks approval from within the community and yet has mixed feelings about the categorization of his work. "Look, we all know BROADWAY DAMAGE is a gay film and it's going to be mix-marketed. It's going to be marketed to the gay community and, hopefully, it will then cross over and be marketed in the straight community as well. That's the reality of it," he says with a sigh. "But I don't like labels and it kind of bothers me to have it always called a gay film. I really hope that someday -- and this is me being an idealist -- I just dream that there is going to be a time when we don't have to label all these things: a Gay film, a Black film, a Latino film. Really, I'm sort of over all that."
Chicago, Berlin, Kreuzuber By Dietrich Kuhbrodt, Jungle World, 18 Dec 1997 We saw the very romantic comedy BROADWAY DAMAGE, a delightful film (director Victor Mignatti) that without inhibitions, without asking anybody for permission, tells a story about gay group living and relationships in a very lighthearted way as if there has never been a movement for emancipation or any film esthetics after Frank Capra (Arsenic and Old Lace, 1941). A low-low budget film financed exclusively through selling shares ($5,000 each share) and without any subsidies whatsoever. Of course every German/European committee would have criticized the absence of subject matter and debated about why this film is important. Right on. The film thrives on being decidedly unimportant and that it's fun to watch it. And that you feel better after having watched it. I am allowed to dare to write that here because I wanna try out what it's like to get out of my academic role. Just for the fun of it. For our jury deliberation I tried to find out from our very romantic young director if he intended to play around with the aesthetics of the Broadway/Capra comedy - "I wasn't aware of that, I take what suits my purposes." Someone who just goes for what he wants. Don't we have to be alert? Who does he think he is? We worked so hard on our emancipation and then this someone comes along and uses it without thanking us for it and without bowing down. And aren't there still enough miserable people in this world? Just look at those faces, this director, these actors - they laugh and grin smugly and look you straight in the eye. Will BROADWAY DAMAGE find its way to Europe - when it is well known that we only get to see here about 10% of the US productions? |
