Brokeback Mountain

[marywebgirl]

I just discovered that this isn't opening in my neck of the woods until January 13th. That's a long time to wait.

On a slightly related note, one of my husband's co-workers was talking about this movie yesterday, only he kept calling it Bareback Mountain. Not snarkily, he was just screwing up the name. Much teasing ensued.

[Deleted]

See, I didn't think Jake was that great. I actually found him kind of annoying. I thought Heath's part was a lot more difficult and I think his acting was a lot better.

I agree about Heath's part being more difficult and internal but I think Jake's performance is just as subtle in its own way. He is all brash and annoying at the beginning but I think that was a choice. Like Jack Twist was thinking "How does a rodeo star cowboy act?" and was trying to be that rather than who he was. Compared to Heath he was over the top but I think that was more about a character he was trying to be rather than who he was. Does that makes sense?

I loved the movie. I do agree that the Linda Cardinelli scenes were unnecessary (especially because I would have rather seen stuff between him and Michelle Williams) but I loved the movie so much I didn't really care.

[lpatrice]

Sometimes I think Hollywood buys into that Red State/Blue State crap too much. There are people just as interested in seeing the movie in my state (Nebraska) as people in NY and LA. Yet the movie isn't showing anywhere near me, and I am not sure that it will be showing even after the wide(er) release date of January 13th.

Is is too much to ask for a couple of showings a day? Seriously, I work in a pretty large office and this movie has had people buzzing for a while. That includes gays, straights, people who loved the book, and even a few people (shocked the heck out of me) who don't "approve" of homosexuality but want to see the movie because of all the good/great reviews.

[huntergrayson]

lpatrice - I don't think it's a red-state/blue-state issue so much as an independent versus Hollywood issue. It's a modestly budgeted (12 million) film starring two non-huge stars from a boutique label -- it's going to follow the model of opening in a few cities and then expanding throughout the country. Focus did the same thing with Pride & Prejudice, didn't they? The model is going to be doubly applied given that it's an award contender ---they always open in the voting cities before the end of the year and then expand.

I'm not saying there isn't a conspiracy, it's just it's the distribution one I've decried in the "Dear Hollywood" thread (did you/your office feel the same way when Lost in Translation wasn't showing at a theatre near you?) in which Ziyi Zhang is gonna get praised for Geisha while her kick-ass work in 2046 got seen by no one (it's on DVD soon). And yes, that does have red-state/blue-state issues behind it and the only way to change that is to vote with your dollar.

While I think that Focus knew that Brokeback was a serious awards contender, the Venice Film Festival is a more "artsy" award and by no means a guarantee of success -- I think they had no idea it would sweep almost every critics organization, get the most GG noms and most importantly, be so successful with audiences across demographic lines. But it still is a small movie -- while Universal could lend them money, they've got their own Oscar campaigns to run, so I don't think that Focus has a ton of resources/money to quickly strike up 200 more prints and release/promote it in that many more cities.

Moldy -- The story was on the New Yorker website, but I can't find it anymore! Anyone? From my quick skim, Luren tells Ennis the story we hear in the film but he is unsure whether the car fell or he was attacked with a tire iron. Hence the flashback in the film. When he visits Jack parents and Jack's dad mentions the other guy (the only time that other affair is dealt with in the story, btw), Ennis realizes that Jack was attacked.. I would have liked to see that moment of realization in the film.

[sleepy]

I finally saw a full trailer for this at the movies today. It makes me want to see it even more. I got good-acting vibes left and right. Mr. Sleepy leaned over and said, "Okay, that looks good."

[Wol]

I saw it this weekend. Wanted to love it but just liked it an awful lot. Agree that it went on too long, a lot of stuff I could have easily done without and I don't think it would have hurt the story at all to excise some scenes.

I love Heath madly and I think he's getting the Oscar buzz because his character has the longer arc and makes a greater transition than Jake's. There's a bigger payoff there. Who he is in scene 1 is miles away from who he is in scene 200. I'm not a big fan of Jake's but I thought he was excellent. Love all the girls and thought they were wonderful. There's a lot to commend about it - performances, production design - but the story fell short for me in places. All things considered, I'd still recommend it.

[cleangenie]

I have to agree with Wol that I really wanted to like it more than I actually did. I think it works better as a short story because I thought the middle sagged. Also, maybe because I had read a lot about it in advance, I didn't feel any suspense about the ending. The lack of suspense for me translated into a lack of emotional investment.

[orchidthief]

A disappointment. Proulx's short story was much more moving.

The best thing about the film was Heath Ledger. The most hilarious thing (besides Anna Faris' cameo) was Jake's facial hair.

My friend and I seriously thought his moustache and sideburns were gonna fall out any moment.

I don't have any Oscar contenders to root for

Sad. First GNAGL. And now this.

[Neurochick]

orchidthief said:

A disappointment. Proulx's short story was much more moving.

The best thing about the film was Heath Ledger. The most hilarious thing (besides Anna Faris' cameo) was Jake's facial hair.

My friend and I seriously thought his moustache and sideburns were gonna fall out any moment.

I don't have any Oscar contenders to root for

Sad. First GNAGL. And now this.

I loved it, I nearly cried and I read the story months ago.

But I do agree with you about Jake' s moustache and that little paunch they gave him too.

[huntergrayson]

Worst. Moustache. Ever.

And on the note of bad hair-related things in the film -- what we can learnfrom Anne Hathaway's ridiculous Texas hair.

Ask and ye shall receive, lpatrice.. Straight from IMDB:

After seeing Brokeback Mountain perform strongly in a handful of conservative test cities last weekend, Focus Features has decided to accelerate its expansion schedule for the gay cowboy romance. Brokeback, which set a per-theater box-office record over the weekend for any non-IMAX movie released in more than 50 theaters, is expected to move onto 300-400 screens by Jan. 6. It currently is playing in 69 theaters and had been expected to expand to 250 on Jan. 13. Final box-office figures put the film's weekend gross at $2.5 million, with a per-screen average of $36,455.Reports about the film's surprisingly strong performance vied with reports about King Kong's tame performance in the national news media Monday. They shared a common theme -- that the weeks ahead will determine whether the opening results for each movie represents a fluke or a precursor.