Brokeback Mountain, A Break Through or Expected Revelation?

It's scheduled on my DVR (thank gawd for that!) I've also been proded into burning a DVD of the show for friends.

(That could be an unfortunate choice of words, you understand).

After my last post, I shut down my computer, left work a few minutes early, and got home by 4:10 - record time. So I saw most of it. Thanks for the heads-up, LW.

Y'all Welcome, mac.

Oprah being very gay friendly (I think her entourage may be at least 70%), it would have been a great show. We have a Steve Kaufman show in Laguna Beach and then at our gallery tomorrow so I am really tied up. Won't be able to see it until about 10:00 PM tonight. Since I will be stopping by the Daily Grill for dinner and some drinks, I certainly will feel relaxed!

In case you didn't catch it from the promos, Brokeback is only half of Oprah's show today. The other half is the guy from Big Mama's House.

The promo I saw online was for the Brokeback cast only but thanks for letting me know.

I'm sure it was close and I figured the SAG Award would go to Wiesz and Hoffman -- Gyllenhaal has future opportunities to be nominated again and would have been a dark horse in the supporting. His next opportunity is the investigating reporter in the film "Zodiac," one of many I'm sure he will tie up for just being nominated. "Crash" likely also closely beat out "Brokeback" for the cast award and I can see why -- it's about another touchy subject, inate racism and had a bevy of big stars all in one film. It's my number two as best film of the year.

"Brokeback Mountain" is a director's film -- the components all being expertly put together by a consumate talent, Ang Lee. There aren't many films, besides Terrence Mallick where the visualization is as important as any other aspect of the aesthetics. "Brokeback" is largely told in visuals with the terse dialogue faithful to Anne Proulx' story.

Also, Oscar acting awards are voted on by the entire voting body of the Academy. It could be very close with the five excellent performances that are sure to be nominate.

Academy Award nominations are tomorrow morning on the Today Show live.

"Brokeback Mountain" leads the Oscar nominations with 8, including Jake Gyllenhaal. The actor winners could be a replay of the Golden Globes and SAG Awards -- this is a director's film and all the components fit together perfectly which makes it a great film that will stand as unique in gay cinema history.

http://www.oscar.com/nominees/list.html

I saw Brokeback Mountain earlier today & am still mulling over my (very intense) reaction to it. To me, it was a desperately sad story of wasted lives & lost opportunities. Ennis, because of his deprived & lonely childhood could almost be described as emotionally stunted - unable to fully accept the one person (Jack) who knew & understood him better than anyone & responded to him with deep compassion & unconditional love. The tragedy was that Ennuis didn't fully realize this until after Jack's premature death. In a sense, the tragedy was that they were mis-matched: Jack being more open, easy going & optimistic, while Ennuis was fearful, repressed & unable to risk losing "respectability".

This extract from a review I just found puts it much better than I can: *(link to complete TimeOut review below)

Of course, the fact that Jack & Ennis were gay, living & working in a very male environment (first meeting in 1963), made it even harder for Ennis to even consider a proper relationship with Jack. How could he, when he wasn't able to properly accept himself? The memory of the two old (gay) men from his childhood & how they cruelly they'd been treated by small town community made such an option impossible. That wasn't going to happen to him!

The evocative settings & locations: Even the early Brokeback Mountain locations seemed dark, depressing & rather menacing to me. The various interior settings in the film seemed (intentionally) mean, impoverished & claustrophobic. Just like Ennis's life. The scene where Ennis explores Jack's sad little childhood bedroom (after Jack's death) was heart-breaking.

But there was a hint of optimism or hope toward the end of the film when Ennis agreed to attend his daughter's forthcoming wedding ... after quelling his usual dismissive reaction to the possibility of "closeness" or connection. It seemed that, by acknowledging to himself that he had loved Jack, that he was able to show & accept love (a little bit!) for the first time.


*
http://www.timeout.com/film/83318.html

Sorry, LW, that didn't really address the topic of your thread, did it? I just wanted to talk about my response to the film ....

No, that was too the point. I've made this comment before, both seriously and humorously, but what if Ennis decides to eventually move to San Francisco and live a gay life? The film is open ended -- if one is pessimistic they will come away with a profound sadness hanging over their head. If they are optimistic, they will imagine that Ennis wakes up and finds it wasn't Jack alone that brought out his "gayness."

The humorous response would be that Ennis moves to San Francisco and dawns a pink cowboy hat.

Lightwizard, did you happen to catch the show last night, based on a true story in Alaska, where the guy who cavorted with grizzly bears was ultimately eaten by one?

Quite interesting.

I just remembered the name of the show.

Grizzly Man

I wouldn't have even brought the subject up on this thread, but the fact that the main character (in my mind anyway) was gay makes it somewhat appropos.

Plus, I believe two of the grizzly bears were gay.

Well, for Ennis, at that stage of his life, that would be extraordinarily optimistic, LW! Just to be able to express some real emotion (& not just violently!) was a helluva good start to the rest of his life, I reckon.

What about the grizzly bear, msolga?

You could be right, Gus!

Anne Proulx has finally given out a detailed reaction to the film:

THE AGE ARTICLE LINK

I've read that review by Annie Proulx. Quite some time ago if I remember correctly

Let's just say in regards to Ennis' "violence," that men together in relationship can be a physical confrontation of egos. While hopefully a straight man is less likely to get physically overbearing with a wife, the rules change when it is two men in a relationship.

I have also but it was a truncated version.