Brokeback Mountain

[Neurochick]

admin said:

I thought the moustache was ridiculous. It looked like they got it and the sideburns from the prop closet at some high school drama department.

Ugh, talk about bad make-up, but the paunch is what nearly made me crack up.

[Benni]

A Premiere of Brokeback Mountain was held for the Crew Members that worked on it in Calgary last Wednesday Night. It sounds like Ang Lee came to it. Here is an article in the local paper interviewing him.

Ang Lee[/color]

It is opening in Alberta on December 23. I can hardly wait. Hey that is tomorrow already!

[mrpancake]

I guess I'm the only person who feels this way, but [small voice] I didn't really like it that much.

It was fine, I guess, but I thought it was the absolute epitome of an overrated film. I was afraid when I saw it that a lot of its praise was coming from the hype that the whole gay relationship aspect hasn't really been well done in movies before. I honestly believe that had this been a movie about a straight couple, it would just be another movie.

I didn't go in expecting that much, so I can't say I was disappointed. I just don't think it's at all worthy of all its critical praise. It had the makings of a good movie, it was shot beautifully and I thought the acting was strong all around, but the movie itself was just really...blah to me.

Also, I will give props to Heath Ledger and all, but I didn't think he was as amazing as everyone said. He did his part really well, but I was so annoyed with his grunting out a lot of his lines and the sort of mumbly way he did everything. I don't think grumble/softspoken=great!phenomenal!amazing! acting, personally.

I really get into the whole awards season thing, so I try to watch all movies that are nominated for best picture and the acting categories. But I did think Capote was a vastly superior movie if we're talking award-worthy.

[memememe76]

I honestly believe that had this been a movie about a straight couple, it would just be another movie.

How many British period dramas highlighting class struggles have we seen? If they had featured all rich folks, they'd be different movies too.

But I believe there are things in this film that make this film special that go beyond the gay relationship of Jack and Ennis. I think Ennis and Alma's marriage is fascinating. I love it when Alma doesn't hide the postcard from Ennis. I also love that she tries to push him out of the closet. I could watch a whole other movie about Ennis and Alma with the two girls.

Anyways, saw it in a matinee deep in the dreaded Suburbs (also Conservative as all hell). The crowd was surprisingly better than decent and no snickering whatsoever and they laughed at scenes that were supposed to be funny. Loved the hell out of this movie.

[Deleted]

I just got back from seeing it (Xmas Eve, about 75 people at the 7pm show). I really, really liked it. I took my 52-year-old straight, male friend (who seriously did not want to see it). He loved it, too. He just sat quietly through the closing credits, then turned to me and said "Ennis [deleting spoiler]. Poor guy." I could have hugged the big lug.

The closing songs by Willie Nelson (written by Bob Dylan) and Rufus Wainwright were wonderful. My friend says he's going out to buy the soundtrack.

That it would've been just another movie if it was a straight couple is sorta the point. This is about love, not just gay love. Love is love, need is need, loss is loss, guilt is guilt. One thing that isn't mentioned in reviews is that this is a story about the working poor. Jack marries rich but he's never a "rich guy", you know? Ennis is BROKE. I'm so tired of everyone in the movies being loaded unless it's a film ABOUT poverty. Yes, Hollywood, broke-ass people fall in love.

[Neurochick]

I honestly believe that had this been a movie about a straight couple, it would just be another movie.

I disagree. In my life I have known people who fell in love with someone of a different racial, religious or whatever background. It's the same issue, do you follow your heart or do you do what is expected of you? The tragedy of this movie is that is was about two people who did not follow their own nature. A friend of a friend liked Hispanic women but his family was Irish and said they'd disown him if he did not marry an Irish woman. So he married an Irish woman, was miserable, drove the wife nuts and eventually divorced her after a couple of children, he eventually married a Hispanic woman but much wreckage was left behind with wife #1. Life's too short not to follow your nature.

[bklynred]

Just saw this yesterday. Loved it. Still moved by it. What a tragic story. It's a simple story but but I just ached for both characters.

[Deleted]

I saw it today, I got all weepy at the end, and the guy in front of me was sniffling as well. I'm just so sad for Heath Ledger's character, what a messed up life.

There were also a lot of old, not older, couples (man/woman) in the theater, which surprised me.

[Deleted]

I'm absolutely dying to see this. I walked into my local theatre and had a private freak-out joy fest when I saw the poster in the coming soon section. Love the short story, have leftover crush on HL from when he was in Roar, have strange unidentifiable love for JG, AH and MW... Oh yes, I'm so there. And if any smart-assed straight people start making a fuss about the homosexuality, I will smite them all in their seats for daring to interupt. Not on my watch, yo. But maybe I won't have to - I sat in a full theatre including children when seeing Chronicles of Narnia today and didn't hear a peep from anyone.

[Deleted]

admin said:

I honestly believe that had this been a movie about a straight couple, it would just be another movie.

Can't you say that about a lot of movies? If Jungle Fever had been about two white people, it would have been just another movie.

Had Brokeback Mountain been about two straight people, the movie wouldn't have unfolded in the way in which it did...you wouldn't have had the plot of this movie. I mean, they would have come down the mountain and married each other. The fact that the characters were homosexual meant they could never realize their love for each other in the way they had if they were straight.

I would also add that what is so central to this film (at least in my opinion) is its exploration of masculinity and men's struggle with suppressing their emotions. Ledger's portrayal is just extraordinary in this regard. Someone from another forum worded what I'm trying to say so much better so I'll just post a bit of what he/she wrote.

...It's a damned shame, if you ask me. Because the film's strength goes way, way beyond such tacky things as Harlequinesque excessive displays of emotion. If girls go into this because they love gay boys because they're more demonstrative than straight men, they're going to be disappointed. Jack and Ennis are not a pair of giggly teenage boys emo-ing out over each other.

This is not to say that the uber-masculine emotional suppression is preferable, of course. In fact, the story makes it very clear that doing that is what destroys a man --and that goes regardless of the gender of the person he's in love with. Ennis can't be demonstrative with his wife and kids, either, and that's not just because he's in love with Jack, but because he's emotionally distant, period.

Some critics have found the film frustrating because they don't see the love between Jack and Ennis. I counter that they're missing the point entirely. The love is clearly there, for anyone who understands men from that culture, and understands the extremely subtle, unspoken way they demonstrate it. BUT even with that, it's clear that Ennis can only counter Jack's more-overt displays with fits and starts and half measures. He cannot meet him mid-way because he simply can't allow himself to feel ANYTHING. Not just love for another man, which is more terrifiying than anything else, but love at all.