''Surrender Dorothy'' is an

independent film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is film production, produced outside the Major film studios, major film studio system in addition to being produced and distributed by independ ...

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 is held in Los Angeles in late February and is the main event organized by the year-round Slamdance organization. The organization ...

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

black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

. It is also notable for featuring the first film role for

Elizabeth Banks Elizabeth Irene Banks (; February 10, 1974) is an American actress, director, and producer. She is known for playing chaperone Effie Trinket in ''The Hunger Games'' film series (2012–2015) and an ICCA commentator in the ''Pitch Perfect'' ...

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

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

Plot

After the

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...

-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 *Keri Merboth as Nadia

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". Sam Adams of the '' Philadelphia City Paper'' admitted that the film was "not without its flaws" but was ultimately "a bold, ballsy and attention-getting debut". ''

Total Film ''Total Film'' was a British film magazine published 13 times a year (published monthly with a summer issue added, between the July and August issues, every year since issue 91, 2004) by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched in 1997 and of ...

'' 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. His reviews are mainly published on his blog ''ReelViews.'' Approved as a critic by the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, he has published two collections of reviews of movies on ...

gave it three and a half stars, praising DiNovis's performance. In ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an 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 created in ...

'', Noel Murray called it "memorable, but...also grubby, harsh, and lacking in wit". Leonard Klady wrote in '' Variety'' 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 criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

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 List of municipalities in Illinois, tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in ...

References

External links

Trailer for ''Surrender Dorothy
at YouTube * * {{Rotten Tomatoes, 1108706_surrender_dorothy 1998 films 1998 black comedy films 1998 comedy-drama films 1998 independent films American black comedy films American black-and-white films American comedy-drama films American independent films Films about heroin addiction 1990s American films 1990s English-language films English-language black comedy films English-language independent films