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February 10, 2006
'Insanity' Claims Battery Park City For a Night
I also caught up Thursday with Robert Margolis and Frank Matter, the co-directors whose no-budget masterwork The Definition of Insanity enjoyed a fittingly insane reaction at the Regal in Battery Park City. You might remember last summer's Reeler coverage of Insanity, which earned last night's screening as part of its triumph at last year's Virginia Film Festival; the Audience Award winner received a Regal showcase, while the Jury Prize winner got $5,000.
Insanity auteurs Robert Margolis (left) and Frank Matter following their film's screening Thursday night (Photo: STV)
And wouldn't you know it: Insanity claimed both. Alas, after 20-something festival appearances, a Variety rave and a mantelful of awards, Margolis told me that the film is still on the distribution prowl. "It went really well tonight," he said at the packed afterparty. "I'm a little jaded, because the thing is, the screenings always go well. The audience is always very responsive. But we're still waiting for someone to come out of the audience with a checkbook and basically offer to buy the film."
So..... What? That did not happen tonight?
"That didn't happen tonight."
No checkbooks?
Margolis glanced around the bar. "None that I've seen."
Talk about a crime. While Margolis mentioned that a European deal or two might be in the works, he adds that Insanity--about a struggling New Yorker (Margolis, playing himself, but only sort of) who risks everything he has to establish an acting career--has been an especially tough sell to American distributors. "Right now," he said, "the thing is, we don't have any sex, we don't have any violence and we don't have any stars in the film. So they don't quite know how to market it, despite the fact that audiences come in and love the film. They come back more than once, actually. A distributor looks at it and says, 'How are we going to market it?' And I undertstand--there's a lot of money involved.
"So I have a certain amount of empathy for them. A limited amount of empathy."
And I have less than that, actually, because people really like this movie. They do see it two or three times at festivals or local screenings. It manufactures buzz everywhere it plays. And hell yes, it IS challenging, which makes its word-of-mouth appeal thus far all the more stunning. Basically, everybody but the indie film distribution community seems to get The Definition of Insanity. If we were talking about a $5 million acquisition, it would be one thing. But Jesus Christ--it is an DV comedy/drama that is actually funny and intense and wields audience goodwill to spare. Someone roll the fucking dice, would you?
Speaking of the definiton of insanity--characterized in the film as repeatedly failing at the same thing over and over while hoping that the result will eventually change--I asked Margolis if his experience with the film is starting to resemble anything close to that. "It's exactly the same thing," he quickly replied. "But the definition of insanity is also the definiton of perseverance. If the person who is insane suddenly hits it, and someone picks it up and they become a sensation, they get their film screened, they get their artwork done--they're not insane. It's just the ones who don't quite make it who are considered insane because they keep going.
"But I can't figure the difference," he added. "And that's what we're doing. We're pursuing our dream in a sense."
Beautiful. Now let us just hope that the next audience will bring those checkbooks along.
Posted by stvanairsdale at February 10, 2006 02:35 PM
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