Remember Mindy Cohn from The Facts of Life?
Well, director Casper Andreas did, and gave her a part that she goes to town
with in Violet Tendencies.
Cohn plays, to use the language of the film, “the
oldest living fag hag.” Which means she has sacrificed her own love life to
live through the loves and lives of her younger gay friends. She doesn’t seem
to mind until she finds herself as the last fag hag standing when another
female friend of the friends of Dorothy gets married.
What happens next? Well amidst the swirl of
Chelsea boys who haven’t grown up and don’t seem like they will ever reach
emotional maturity, Cohn’s character Violet starts seriously looking for love
in other places. Problem is, she has so much fun with the gay boys that the
straight men pale in comparison.
Sounds serious huh? All I can tell you is I sat
with a group of gay men watching this film and we all literally screamed with
laughter. And occasional horror at how politically incorrect it truly is —
think South Park meets Chelsea.
There will be moments that make you cringe with
embarrassment that you are actually laughing at this, but laugh you will. Out
loud. The dialog is sharp and the cast is pure pro. You’ll recognize soap stars
Marcus Patrick and Samuel Whitten among others. Mindy Cohn gets to be center
stage and matches comic timing and delivery without holding back on the central
emotional isolation she feels. She may be neurotic, but she is a fully
developed character: I wish I could say the same for any of the gay men in this
film. They are horrifically shallow. But if I think about the film as a live
action cartoon in the mold of Family Guy, well then, it’s brilliant.
It’s the closing night film at NewFest 2010 this
year, and there will be a party after the screening with much of the cast since
this is a pure New York City production. It promises to be a wild night, so get your tickets for Violet Tendencies here; don’t
miss it.
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