Violet Tendencies #VQFF @queerfilmfest
It’s amazing what an outstanding movie can do to your emotional health. I knew coming into Violet Tendencies (Casper Andreas, 2010, IMDB) that it would be a fun and campy movie. What I did not expect at all was to absolutely adore it. Andreas does what many people fail to do in GLBT movies: he resoundingly succeeds at interweaving three story lines around a central axis, in this case adorable and amazing actress Mindy Cohn.
We have Marcus (Casper Andreas) and Riley (Samuel Whitten, in a role that wins the heart of everyone in the movie theatre), the writer/blogger and the fashion boutique PR manager, pondering the never-easy-to-answer question: “are we ready to have children?”. We have Darian (Adrian Armas) and Luke (Jesse Archer), exploring the question of how to be monogamous. We have an exotic dancer (Marcus Patrick) and his hidden past. And as the centerpiece to this puzzle we have our beloved-throughout-the-movie Violet (Cohn), who is best-friend-forever (BFF) to all of the above gay men (Violet is, in the GLBT lingo, a “fag hag”).
Violet is sick and tired of being single so she sets out on a quest to find her “fag stag” (aka a straight man who can hang out with gay men). Yes, by all accounts you *could* think that Violet Tendencies hits the mark on every single cliché and stereotype. Yet it does it with such an honest, candid, be-true-to-your-heart fashion that it is IMPOSSIBLE to hate any of the characters.
Yet, if there is a storyline that hits home and made me fall in love with them simultaneously is Riley and Marcus’s. Being a parent is never easy, and what happens when your partner has this crazy idea of being a father (Marcus) when you think you need to get ahead in the corporate world (Riley). How do you reconcile these apparently opposing goals, and learn to deal with loving someone unless you learn to love their goals and work together towards them? Explored in an honest, funny and fast-paced way, the stories of these gay boys who don’t want to give up their fag hag, are incredibly refreshing.
While Violet is the central axis, and her story is very well told, I think each and every one of the intertwined story lines are told equally in-depth and with enthusiasm, energy and veracity. I can’t praise Casper Andreas and his team enough. For a $200,000 budget for this movie, Andreas does amazing things. Casper was on site for a Q/A session hosted by Patrick Levesque from Homorazzi right after the showing and I absolutely loved his candor in answering our questions.
There is a second showing of Violet Tendencies and I would STRONGLY recommend that you make an effort to go and see it. By and large, this movie captivated my heart and that of many people who attended the screening. Thanks, Vancouver Queer Film Festival. This was an AMAZING choice.
The VQFF writeup for Violet Tendencies is included below.
Ever wonder what happened to teen star Mindy Cohn aka Natalie in the 1980s hit TV show the Facts of Life? Leave it to homo rom com director Casper Andreas to cast Cohn as the lead in his new hit, Violet Tendencies. Violet is Manhattan’s most fabulous fruit fly, but at age forty she’s ready to put down the martini glass and start a serious relationship. Without any straight people in her life to fix her up, Violet scours online dating sites only to be stood up and sadly disappointed. Her roommate Riley suggests she seek out the straight male version of herself: the mythical “Fag Stag.” Her modelesque co-worker Salome gives her conflicting advice, warning Violet that her gay friends are preventing her from nabbing a man. As Violet’s romantic quest becomes increasingly disastrous, hilarious and consuming, she overlooks the potential for love right under her own nose.
