| Slaves to the Underground | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Kristine Peterson |
| Written by | Bill Cody |
| Starring | Molly Gross Jason Bortz Marisa Ryan |
| Edited by | Eric Vizents |
| Music by | Mike Martt |
Production company | Neo Motion Pictures |
| Distributed by | First Look Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 93 minutes |
| Country | United States |
Slaves to the Underground is a 1997 drama film directed by Kristine Peterson and starring Molly Gross, Jason Bortz, and Marisa Ryan.
In Seattle's mid-1990s grunge scene, a female rock group named No Exits is struggling to gain attention. Guitarist Shelly (Molly Gross) threatens the band's future by jumping back and forth between a lesbian relationship with the band's singer Suzy (Marisa Ryan) and a heterosexual relationship with her ex-boyfriend Jimmy (Jason Bortz).
Shooting occurred on location in Seattle, Washington. [1] It is to date the last film directed by Kristine Peterson, who had previously directed six films, beginning with 1988's Deadly Dreams . Slaves to the Underground featured the film debut of actress Molly Gross, whose only other roles came that same year with Scream 2 and the made-for-television film Deep Family Secrets .
Slaves to the Underground premiered at the 1997 edition of the Sundance Film Festival, where it competed in the "Dramatic Competition" category. [2] First Look Pictures/Neo Motion Pictures would later give it an American theatrical release in November 1997. [3] Details regarding the film's box office revenue are not publicly available. [4]
It received a generally mixed response from critics. A positive review at the time came from Stephen Holden of The New York Times , who praised the film's spontaneous performances in November 1997. [5] LGBT publication The Advocate gave it a negative review in December 1997. The review states, "despite its setting in the Seattle music scene and its righteous send-ups of riot grrrl civil disobedience, Slaves feels forced and contrived from start to finish [...] the main problem is a rather large one — the insincere-seeming heroine of the film, Shelly, whose self-proclaimed 'confusion' regarding both her girlfriend, Suzy, and her boyfriend, Jimmy, reinforces every negative bisexual stereotype in the book". The review added that "even a kick-ass sound track — including cuts by Ani DiFranco and Joan Jett — cannot rescue a film that, A la Chasing Amy , seeks to portray a generation whose love lives have been complicated by rampant lesbianism (if only it were true). This ground was covered far more powerfully this year in Alex Sichel's All Over Me ". [3]
Reviewing from Sundance, Godfrey Cheshire of Variety said "its view of the alternative scene is cliched and exploitative enough to embarrass actual scenesters, auds of all sorts stand to be put off by its whiny, immature characters". Chesire also said that the film's fortunes "appear bleak beyond venues looking for examples of how political correctness is deforming indie moviemaking." [6] Another mixed review came from Russell Smith of The Austin Chronicle , who gave it two and a half out of five stars. He wrote, "respect is due to Peterson for permitting this level of frankness in a movie with such a clear political agenda. But Slaves to the Underground is so lackluster in such basic areas as editing, shot composition, acting and dialogue that the potential impact is diluted by half". Smith added, "finally, if a film is going to criticize Cindy Crawford for representing a false ideal of beauty, wouldn't those words ring truer if so many of its female characters didn't look like artfully disheveled beer commercial babes?". [7]
On December 30, 1997, Ink 19 magazine described the film as being "better than the critics gave it credit for" and "relevant to the times". It claimed that the film "[doesn't try] to be more than it is, allowing the viewer to more easily accept it at face value". [8] Slaves to the Underground was included in Magill's Cinema Annual 1998: A Survey of the Films of 1997, with the book stating that, "the Seattle scene, with its coffee houses and Generation-X angst, was captured much more effectively in Cameron Crowe's Singles (1992), while the lesbian sexually ambivalent-Nineties-riot-grrrl-tale was handled with more warm sensitivity in Alex Sichel's overlooked All Over Me (1997)". [9]
Chasing Amy is a 1997 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Kevin Smith and starring Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, and Jason Lee. The third film in Smith's View Askewniverse series, the film is about a male comic artist (Affleck) who falls in love with a lesbian (Adams), to the displeasure of his best friend (Lee).
Inside Monkey Zetterland is a 1992 independent comedy film directed by Jefery Levy and written by Steve Antin. The film follows Monkey Zetterland, a former child actor turned aspiring screenwriter and the goings-on with his eccentric family and friends. The story uses voiceover narration and is interspersed with fantasy sequences.
Tobi Celeste Vail is an American independent musician, music critic and feminist activist from Olympia, Washington. She was a central figure in the riot grrl scene—she coined the spelling of "grrl"—and she started the zine Jigsaw. A drummer, guitarist and singer, she was a founding member of the band Bikini Kill. Vail has collaborated in several other bands figuring in the Olympia music scene. Vail writes for eMusic.
Office Killer is a 1997 American comedy-horror film directed by Cindy Sherman. It was released in the fall of 1997 and stars Carol Kane, Molly Ringwald and David Thornton.
The Last Time I Committed Suicide is a 1997 American drama film directed by Stephen T. Kay. Based on a 1950 letter written by Neal Cassady to Jack Kerouac, it stars Thomas Jane as Cassady. The cast also includes Keanu Reeves, Adrien Brody, Gretchen Mol and Claire Forlani. It received a limited release on June 20, 1997.
The House of Yes is a 1997 American dark comedy film adapted from the play of the same name by Wendy MacLeod. The film was written and directed by Mark Waters, produced by Robert Berger, and stars Parker Posey, Josh Hamilton, Tori Spelling, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Geneviève Bujold. It was released in the United States by Miramax Films on October 10, 1997. The House of Yes received a divided critical reaction, with Posey winning a Sundance Award and Spelling receiving a Razzie Award nomination.
All Over Me is a 1997 American teen drama film directed by Alex Sichel and written by her sister, Sylvia Sichel. Alex Sichel received a grant from the Princess Grace Foundation to make a film about the riot grrrl music scene and then asked her sister to collaborate with her.
Touch is a 1997 American black comedy drama film written and directed by Paul Schrader. It is based on a 1987 novel by Elmore Leonard. It stars Christopher Walken, Richard Schiff, Bridget Fonda, Skeet Ulrich, Tom Arnold, Gina Gershon, Lolita Davidovich, Janeane Garofalo, LL Cool J, and Paul Mazursky. It was shot in Fullerton, California.
Safety Not Guaranteed is a 2012 American science fiction comedy film directed by Colin Trevorrow and starring Aubrey Plaza and Mark Duplass. It was inspired by a joke classified ad that ran in Backwoods Home Magazine in 1997. The film was screened at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. It received generally positive reviews. In fall 2024, the film’s musical adaptation will have its world premiere at Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Truth or Consequences, N.M. is a 1997 American neo-noir film directed by Kiefer Sutherland starring Sutherland, Vincent Gallo, Mykelti Williamson, Kevin Pollak, Max Perlich, Rod Steiger, and Kim Dickens, among others.
The Dying Gaul is a 2005 American drama film written and directed by Craig Lucas, his feature directorial debut. The screenplay is based on his 1998 off-Broadway play of the same name, the title of which was derived from an ancient Roman marble copy of a lost Hellenistic sculpture.
Sarah Jacobson was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer.
King of California is a 2007 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Mike Cahill, in his debut as a screenwriter and director. It premiered January 24, 2007 at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and opened in limited release in North America on September 14, 2007. It stars Michael Douglas as a mentally ill man who thinks he has discovered buried treasure, and Evan Rachel Wood as his weary daughter.
Not Bad for a Girl is a documentary on women musicians of the 1990s from the indie rock music genre grunge and riot grrrl and celebrates madness, creativity, and gender play. It was written, directed, produced and shot by rock phenomenologist feminist Lisa Rose Apramian, edited, shot and co-produced by drummer Kyle C. Kyle and co-produced by Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain. A DVD, with a booklet, was available for purchase at the official website and a release date for the sequel book is still in the works as of 2019.
Twelve is a 2010 teen crime drama film directed by Joel Schumacher from a screenplay by Jordan Melamed, based on Nick McDonell's 2002 novel of the same name. The film follows a young drug dealer whose luxurious lifestyle falls apart after his cousin is murdered and his best friend is arrested for the crime. It stars Chace Crawford, Rory Culkin, Curtis Jackson, Emily Meade, and Emma Roberts.
Riot grrrl is an underground feminist punk movement that began during the early 1990s within the United States in Olympia, Washington, and the greater Pacific Northwest, and has expanded to at least 26 other countries. A subcultural movement that combines feminism, punk music, and politics, it is often associated with third-wave feminism, which is sometimes seen as having grown out of the riot grrrl movement and has recently been seen in fourth-wave feminist punk music that rose in the 2010s. The genre has also been described as coming out of indie rock, with the punk scene serving as an inspiration for a movement in which women could express anger, rage, and frustration, emotions considered socially acceptable for male songwriters but less commonly for women.
Rhythm Thief is a 1994 independent drama film directed by Matthew Harrison. The standard 16mm black-and-white feature was made for US$11,000 and was awarded a Special Jury Recognition for Directing at the Sundance Film Festival. It was given a limited theatrical release in the US and Europe on November 15, 1995. In 2008, Rhythm Thief was released on DVD by Kino Lorber.
Seattle has a notably large LGBTQ community, and the city of Seattle has protected gay and lesbian workers since the passage of the Fair Employment Practice Ordinance in 1973. Seattle's LGBT culture has been celebrated at Seattle Pride which began in 1977 as Gay Pride Week. Gay cabaret traveled in a circuit including Seattle and San Francisco since the 1930s. Seattle had gay-friendly clubs and bars since the 1930s including The Casino in Underground Seattle at Pioneer Square which allowed same-sex dancing since 1930, and upstairs from it, The Double Header, in continuous operation since 1933 or 1934 until 2015, was thought to be the oldest gay bar in the United States.
Falling is a 2020 drama film written and directed by Viggo Mortensen in his feature directorial debut. The film stars Mortensen as John Peterson, a middle-aged gay man whose homophobic father Willis starts to exhibit symptoms of dementia, forcing him to sell the family farm and move to Los Angeles to live with John and his husband Eric. The film's cast also includes Sverrir Gudnason, Laura Linney, Hannah Gross and David Cronenberg.
Deep Family Secrets is a 1997 American drama television film directed by Arthur Allan Seidelman, that first aired on April 15, 1997 on the CBS television network.
