''Surrender Dorothy'' is an independent film by director Kevin DiNovis which won first place at the 1998

Slamdance Film Festival The Slamdance Film Festival is an annual film festival focused on emerging artists. The annual week-long festival takes place in Park City, Utah, in late January and is the main event organized by the year-round Slamdance organization, which als ...

. The film stars Peter Pryor and Kevin DiNovis (who performed when the designated actor left the production a week before filming). The film is presented in

black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

. The film is also notable as it has the first film role for

Elizabeth Banks Elizabeth Banks (born Elizabeth Irene Mitchell; February 10, 1974) is an American actress and filmmaker. She is known for playing Effie Trinket in ''The Hunger Games'' film series (2012–2015) and Gail Abernathy-McKadden in the ''Pitch Perfe ...

, who appears in the credits as "Elizabeth Casey." The film was shot in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

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Plot

After the

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brow ...

-addicted Lanh robs his roommate Denis, Lanh attempts to hide out at the home of Trevor, Denis's best friend. Trevor is afraid of women. He uses Lanh's drug addiction to manipulate him, eventually transforming Lanh into Trevor's idea of a perfect girlfriend.

Cast

*Peter Pryor as Trevor *Kevin DiNovis as Lanh *Jason Centeno as Denis *

as Vicki *Marcos Muniz as Angel

Reception

Critical reception for the film has been mixed. '' The Stranger'' criticized it, saying that although it "makes the most of its tiny budget" it was ultimately "inarticulate and immature". A write for ''

Philadelphia City Paper ''Philadelphia City Paper'' was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The independently owned paper was free and published every Thursday in print and daily online at citypaper.net. Staff reporters focused on labor issues, ...

'' admitted that the film was "not without its flaws" but was ultimately "a bold, ballsy and attention-getting debut". ''Total Film'' panned it, giving the DVD release two stars and calling it a "yawn fest".

James Berardinelli James Berardinelli (born September 25, 1967) is an American film critic and former engineer. His reviews are mainly published on his blog ''ReelViews.'' Approved as a critic by the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, he has published two collections of r ...

gave it three and a half stars, praising DiNovis's performance. Noel Murray, in ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'', called it "memorable, but...also grubby, harsh, and lacking in wit". Leonard Klady wrote in ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' that it was "disturbing, hard-edged tale of physical abuse and sexual aberration that pulls no punches" but that it was ultimately "decidedly for niche tastes".

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

selected it for his first Overlooked Film Festival in 1999 in

Champaign, Illinois Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in Illinois outside the Chicago metropo ...

References

External links

Trailer for ''Surrender Dorothy
at YouTube * * American independent films 1998 films 1990s American films {{indie-film-stub