Brokeback Mountain

[flipp525]

A great article from the San Francisco Chronicle:

Why neocons can't stop landslide of 'Brokeback Mountain'
by Mark Morford
Friday, January 20, 2006

There is this theory, more of a truism, really, tossed about like a fuzzy beach ball by the gurus and the masters and the mystics since Jesus was but a lint ball of possibility in the Great Belly Button of Time.

It goes like this: When human consciousness expands, for whatever reason and with whatever stimulation and even if you can only measure it in hairbreadths, when our nasty habit of harsh judgment falls away and people begin to get a little bit, you know, lighter, there is always, as sure as there's someone who hates the sunrise, a clampdown, a recoil, a desperate need by the terrified and ever-paranoid conservative sect to, you know, put a quick stop to this so-called awakening ASA-damn-P.

As soon as people begin realizing there's more to this brief little slice of existence than hate and war and the constant drumbeat of fear, there's always resistance, a reactive sneer at the idea that people might be waking up, even a little, and it's all in the name of protecting the status quo and defending the power base and not upsetting any of those carefully wrought prejudices, about making sure everyone stays quiet and doesn't ask any difficult questions of the Authority.

Religious groups make phone calls and complain. Big chunks of money get thrown into the pockets of sanctimonious politicians. Quasi-religious bonk-job leaders declare sex and music and gay people the source of all woe, vice and disease. Ugly new laws get passed. And yes, bitter, convulsive justices get appointed to the Supreme Court.

Just like, you know, right now.

Witness, won't you, the confluent forces, the twin streams of conflicting culture represented by the amazing "Brokeback Mountain" movie phenomenon, a spare, sad and highly controversial little indie-style flick that is shaking up the homophobic community and raking in the Golden Globes and now seems a shoo-in to win an Oscar or four, as compared and contrasted with, say, the humorless, depressing, dry-as-death Samuel Alito Supreme Court nomination. Oh yes, we have a match. Do you see it?

Look closer. On the one hand, here is the astounding reach and power of this rare and striking little film, an emotional tinderbox of a movie that, in the wrong hands or with the wrong marketing or if it had been off pitch by just this much, could have very easily been trashed and quickly dismissed, hobbled the careers of two up-and-coming hunk actors and mocked across the board and demonized by the religious right as revolting gay propaganda, the source of all ills, proof of the existence of the devil himself.

Of course, the latter is still happening (isn't it always?), but the amazing thing is, no one seems to care. The screech of the right's homophobes is being easily drowned out by the fact that this astonishing, pitch-perfect film is now considered a movie that, quite literally, changes minds. Shifts perceptions. That moves the human experiment forward and makes people truly think about sex and gender and love and not in the way that, say, "Pride & Prejudice" makes you think, because that kind of thinking is merely sweet and harmless, whereas "Brokeback" slaps bigotry and intolerance upside its knobby little head and induces heated discussions of the film's dynamics and politics and ideas of love over a bottle of wine and some deep, curious sighing.

That's one side. On the other hand, here we have this relentless neocon spiritual death wish, as evidenced by the imminent appointment of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, yet another dour white male judge who, by all evidence, will do everything in his power to keep America's spiritual, humanitarian and sexual progress -- you know, the exact kind of universal awareness illuminated by intensely intimate movies like "Brokeback" -- locked in the ironclad box of anti-women, anti-gay, power-uber-alles conservative thinking for the next three decades or more.

Of course you may say: Oh please, this is just silly, no way is there a direct connection between Alito and "Brokeback." I mean come on, one's just a heartbreaking gay love story and one's a disheartening political maneuver, and they simply have no direct correlation in this world as we know it, and to draw a correlation is to, well, make stuff up.

To which I say: You are right, but only a little. Of course Alito is not about to be appointed to deflect "Brokeback's" message per se, but rather, he is being installed in general reaction to, in attack on, in preparation for, what Brokeback" and its ilk represent. Which is, of course, the aforementioned awakening, the shift, the movement toward something new and different and open. This is the ever-present push-pull of the culture. This is how we stumble toward the light, gasping and bleeding and with painful rope burns on our wrists. After all, there is no progress -- intellectual, spiritual, sexual or otherwise -- without a concomitant blood-curdling scream from the power brokers and the religiously terrified to hold it all back.

Change brings fear. Sexuality brings confusion. For every person who has his rigid homophobic ideology shattered by "Brokeback's" emotional hammer, there is a confused neocon who redoubles his efforts to replant it.

But it doesn't matter. No matter the heat and bile of the resistance, no matter how brutish or sanctimonious the stranglehold of our leadership, no matter how many complaints about nipples or wailings about intelligent design or accusations of a "gay agenda," no matter how many uptight neocon judges they appoint, progress still manages to find the cracks, slip through the holes and seek the sun. Consciousness expands anyway. The river flows on. The awakening continues. It is always the way.

And the Bushes and the Cheneys and the Rumsfelds, the Gonzalezes and the James Dobsons and the Sam Alitos of the world, they can only stand at the base of that mountain of new awareness and pass their laws and beat their chests and scream their resistance as the mystics and the masters just smile that ageless, knowing smile and walk away.

E-mail Mark Morford at [email]mmorford@sfgate.com.[/email]

[Penelope]

'Brokeback Mountain' is #1 Movie in America;
Thursday January 19, 2:01 pm ET
Film Surges Following Golden Globe Wins;
International Boxoffice Also Off to Chart-Top Start as Film Garners 9 BAFTA Award Nominations


NEW YORK, Jan. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Demonstrating its clear-cut filmgoer appeal worldwide, Focus Features' "Brokeback Mountain" has ascended to the top of the national domestic boxoffice, and is also off to a chart-topping start in its first overseas engagements in the U.K. and France. The breakout business follows the film's 4 Golden Globe Award wins earlier this week (more than any other film) and 9 BAFTA Award nominations (including Best Film) earlier today.
Playing to a steadily expanding audience in a host of U.S. cities and towns, the Ang Lee-directed film vaulted to the top of the national boxoffice charts on Tuesday to rank as the #1 film in America. "Brokeback Mountain" had been #9 over the recent four-day holiday weekend, which was then capped off by the film being honored with 4 Golden Globe Awards (including Best Picture [Drama] and Best Director) during Monday's televised ceremonies.

The "Brokeback Mountain" domestic gross on Tuesday was $742,412. The film had already been maintaining the highest per-theater average of any film in the national boxoffice Top 20 over the holiday weekend, and continues to do so. The Wednesday gross rose again, to $748,028, as the film retained the #1 slot. The total domestic theatrical gross of "Brokeback Mountain," through Wednesday, now stands at $33.6 million. The film is already among Focus Features' Top 5 boxoffice performers of all time, and is on track to become the company's biggest ever.

Focus president of theatrical distribution Jack Foley commented, "The unusual midweek surge to -- and hold on -- the top slot is particularly impressive in that the film is playing in only 683 theaters, which is but a fraction of the runs of the other films in the national boxoffice Top 10. The growth potential is still evolving and more and more exhibitors are requesting the film, so we're going to expand to 1,194 theaters for the coming weekend."

Overseas, "Brokeback Mountain" is #1 in the U.K. in only its second week of release. Playing in only 275 theaters, the film has earned nearly 3.5 million pounds sterling (equivalent to $6.1 million) to date. Debuting yesterday in France with 155 prints, the film is the highest-ranked new release with 37,331 admissions, and is the #1 film overall in Paris.

Focus co-presidents David Linde and James Schamus said, "Focus has worldwide rights to "Brokeback Mountain," and we are gratified that this universal love story is being embraced not only in America but now abroad. The BAFTA Award nominations the film earned earlier today will solidify the great business in the U.K., and, coupled with our Globes and other awards wins, provide the ideal launching pad for a successful international run through the winter and spring."

[Penelope]

One more; Robert Redford discusses the Utah theater ban of Brokeback and how Sundance fits in a conservative state:

Redford links film fest, 'Brokeback' controversy

By Scott D. Pierce
Deseret Morning News

PASADENA, Calif. — Robert Redford has always known his Sundance Film Festival would be controversial. Particularly because it was playing in arguably the most conservative state in the union.

But that's something he says he's always sort of enjoyed.

"Well, I'm perverse enough, I guess, to find it fun to do it there," Redford said.

"I certainly had fears. I mean, it was a pretty risky thing to put the festival in the mountains in the middle of winter, which would make it hard to get to. But that was sort of the point . . . to have a place for that new talent to go when I realized that it wasn't able to go anywhere."

And the irony of holding the film festival in a state where theater owner Larry H. Miller suddenly decided to pull "Brokeback Mountain" hasn't escaped his attention. As a businessman himself, he's not arguing with Miller's decision, which has brought international attention — and, in large part, derision — to the state of Utah.

"Well, I mean, I guess I support any individual's ability to speak on their own behalf," Redford said.

But he doesn't support Miller's decision, either.

"I think, as a matter of fact, it might back up on him. It might make him appear to be narrow and afraid of something," Redford said. "I don't think it will really work. I don't think it will hurt the film. I hope it doesn't."

And, in front of a room full of critics from around the United States and Canada gathered here for the Television Critics Association press tour, Redford expressed the belief that the decision by one theater owner to eschew "Brokeback Mountain" won't really affect Utahns much.

"Even though Utah, as well as some other Western states, are politically conservative, there's a much, much more bipartisan element to the people," he said. "They'll find another place to see that film."

(And it is playing in other Utah theaters.)

It's a situation not dissimilar from the one faced by the film festival.

"I wondered whether politically we would offend anyone," Redford said. "On the other hand, when you're promoting diversity as a virtue, you're promoting a democratic principle. And I guess I just had faith in that.

"So we've been not only surprisingly left alone but finally supported. We put a lot of money into Park City in 10 days, so I'm sure that's part of it."

The success of the Sundance Film Festival — something he was none too sure of during its early years — persuaded him to expand his vision to the Sundance Channel.

"Because, you know, you're in Utah," Redford said. "And because of its political conservatism, if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere."

He's also well aware that not all of the entries in the film festival will be embraced.

"Because it's nonprofit, we're not obligated to put the criteria of commerciality on it. That was one of the reasons for starting it," Redford said.

The goal is to "program for diversity," not for popularity.

"There's going to be a lot of films in there that people are just not going to like at all. That's part of the deal," Redford said. "I don't think it's changed. What has changed is now, instead of 350 people there, as it was the first year, there's 40,000, 45,000."

[Penelope]

Sharing this simply because it's so heartening:

'Brokeback' breaks norms
Friday, January 13, 2006
By Tricia Woolfenden
The Grand Rapids Press
GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Thousands of Grand Rapids movie-goers flocked to the local opening of "Brokeback Mountain" last weekend, perhaps defying the "conservative West Michigan" stereotype.

The controversial film, about two star-crossed cowboys in love that has garnered numerous award nominations and is an expected Oscar contender, was the No. 1 film in Grand Rapids, trumping such steady hits as "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" and "King Kong."

"Screen for screen, it was number one in town," said Ron Van Timmeren, vice president at Jack Loeks Theatres, which owns Celebration Cinema North and South.

Van Timmeren said, while some local people expressed objections to the film and its two-men-in-love plotline, the overwhelming reaction to the film has been good.

"There has been positive word-of-mouth," Van Timmeren said. "A lot of people are coming out of the theater in tears."

Local movie fan Max Trierweiler didn't know much about the film's subject matter before seeing the movie, but had heard good things about the film. He was a bit surprised at the detail of the love scenes between the two male ranch hands -- played by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal -- but said it didn't matter too much in context.

"I didn't know it'd be that detailed or graphic -- but it was a great movie," Trierweiler said. "(The sex scenes) didn't matter to me, but I could see how it would make some people uncomfortable."

Trierweiler, who saw the movie with his girlfriend and several other friends, is part of the so-called "crossover" audience that helped to boost the film's numbers.

More than 3,500 people saw the film at Celebration in the three-day span from its opening last Friday. Compare that to mainstream hit "Narnia," which sold 2,000 tickets in the same time frame.

Nationally, horror-film "Hostel" scored No. 1 last weekend, showing on more than 2,100 screens in its opening weekend and grossing more than $20 million. "Narnia" -- in its fifth week and showing on more than 3,500 screens -- took second place with $15.4 million. "Brokeback" ranked ninth, grossing $5.7 million.

Van Timmeren believes the controversy surrounding the film, combined with a slow and limited release -- the movie is playing on fewer than 500 screens nationally -- have helped fuel ticket sales.

"It's absolutely helping," Van Timmeren said. "There is a high interest in seeing it ... by limiting its release, they have built up a demand here."

The film also is playing at Cinemark at Rivertown Crossing Mall in Grandville.

[danfrank]

I'm excited to hear that "The Mayor of Castro Street" has been green-lighted. It's a helluva compelling story, though of course they could schlock it up. I don't have much of an opinion on Bryan Singer. Any thoughts on who should play Harvey Milk, or Dan White?

[Penelope]

Go for more 'Broke'? Maybe
The critical success of "Mountain" may help other gay-themed projects. As usual, it's all about the box office.
By Robert W. Welkos
Times Staff Writer

January 9, 2006

After the runaway success of "Wedding Crashers" and "40 Year-Old Virgin," Hollywood scrambled to make R-rated comedies. Now that "Brokeback Mountain" is drawing acclaim and audiences, some in Hollywood are pushing to get new gay- and lesbian-themed projects off the drawing board and into production.

Screenwriters and producers across Hollywood have been dusting off old scripts and brainstorming about new ones ever since the Ang Lee film about a love affair between two cowboys began collecting critics awards and nominations, including seven Golden Globe nominations, four Screen Actors Guild nominations and one Directors Guild of America nomination.

A survey of the six major studios plus DreamWorks, New Line Cinema and Miramax Films reveals that their development slates are virtually devoid of such projects. And although there are no shortages of gay characters in films today, studios say that what little they have on their development or release slates does not fall into the category of "Brokeback Mountain," with its portrayal of romantic gay love.

Nonetheless, this dearth of gay-themed projects hasn't dimmed hopes that "Brokeback Mountain" will usher in a sea change in the attitudes of audiences, which will cause studios to make more gay-themed films that aren't consigned to art house venues.

At Warner Bros., producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron express confidence that their long-languishing project "The Mayor of Castro Street," which now has Bryan Singer ("Superman Returns") attached to direct, will get made in the coming year. The project is based on Randy Shilts' 1982 book about the assassination of Harvey Milk, who was the first openly gay city supervisor in San Francisco.

Zadan and Meron, who were executive producers on 2002's Academy Award-winning film "Chicago," say they have spent 15 years developing "The Mayor of Castro Street" and now believe "Brokeback Mountain" has given the project new life.

"We believe, for the first time, this project is viable," Zadan said. "We are getting nothing but enthusiasm from Warner Bros. They are excited by it. Bryan is excited by it. Big actors all over town are wanting to make this movie. Our timing couldn't be better.... Then 'Brokeback Mountain' comes out of the blue, and that only fuels the enthusiasm."

A studio spokeswoman who declined to be identified stressed that, just like any other project in development at Warner Bros., a decision to greenlight the project would be based on the script and other key elements, like casting.

Since its release a few weeks ago, "Brokeback Mountain," starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, has grossed $22.5 million, and Hollywood is watching to see if it becomes a hit with mainstream "crossover" audiences as it continues its steady expansion into theaters nationwide.

Even if it does, some industry insiders say, "Brokeback" won't necessarily result in a flood of similarly themed movies.

Alan Gasmer, a literary agent at the William Morris Agency, said he isn't aware yet of a groundswell for gay-themed scripts at the studios.

"I have not seen or heard from any [studio] executive who says that is what they are looking for," said Gasmer.

"I don't think people are going to look at 'Brokeback Mountain,' with its modest business, and say, 'If we want to get rich, let's make movies about gay cowboys,' " said entertainment attorney Stan Coleman. "But what it does say is you need not be prohibited from making those movies, if they are made for a price and marketed in good taste."

Off the shelf

To be sure, there have been studio movies over the years featuring gay characters, from "Philadelphia" to "The Birdcage," but "Brokeback Mountain" has taken the genre further with its high-end production values and the frank way the men express love for each other.

The film is prompting renewed interest in projects that have kicked around Hollywood for years.

One is Peter Lefcourt's 1992 novel "The Dreyfus Affair," about two gay baseball players, the World Series and how organized baseball deals with the public relations fallout from their relationship.

Lefcourt said the book, in its 15th printing as a paperback, was twice optioned by Disney, then went to 20th Century Fox in 1997 for director Betty Thomas, then to New Line Cinema. Lefcourt said he had gotten the film rights back.

"We actually got close to [casting] Ben Affleck" at New Line, Lefcourt said, but Affleck did the big-budget "Pearl Harbor" for director Michael Bay instead. Lefcourt said he had heard that actor Don Cheadle had been interested in the project.

"We had a budget and were ready to go," Lefcourt said, then quipped: "I guess [Affleck] decided he'd rather kiss Kate Beckinsale in 'Pearl Harbor' than Don Cheadle in Burbank."

Lefcourt said that he believed studio bean counters were not so much homophobic as they were "risk-phobic" when it came to greenlighting gay-themed films. But he added that "Brokeback Mountain" has now "paved the way for these types of movies to be made."

Although TV and cable do not shy away from gay and lesbian themes and relationships, Hollywood has always had an uneasy time with movies that directly tackle homosexual relationships.

A generation ago, Patricia Nell Warren's breakthrough 1974 gay-themed novel "The Front Runner," about a homosexual relationship between a track coach and runner set against the backdrop of the Olympic Games, generated similar buzz in Hollywood. Paul Newman acquired the film rights and was interested in playing the coach, Warren said, but when the script didn't come together, Newman bowed out. The project then kicked around the industry for years. In the mid-1990s, Warren reacquired the film rights; she said there has been renewed interest in turning the book into a movie since "Brokeback Mountain." The novel has sold 10 million books and is in its 36th paperback printing.

"There are still a lot of people who would like to see this movie made," Warren said. "We get e-mails and letters all the time. One of the issues is economics. There are a lot of people in the industry ... who think of gay films as low budget. 'The Front Runner' is not a low-budget film. Its backdrop is the Olympic Games. You can't do the Olympic Games for $2 million. You have to be willing to spend the money for the talent and the production values. What I'm hoping is that now there is going to be more courage to putting money into gay-themed films.

"I think people are just watching the box office of 'Brokeback Mountain' very closely," she said.

The 1998 gay-themed film "Gods and Monsters" received critical acclaim but grossed only $6.4 million in North America. "I think that is one of the things that scared people off," Warren said. " 'Gods and Monsters' won [the Academy Award for] best adapted screenplay and never took off. The critical acclaim can be wonderful. But the key thing is going to be the income."

"Hollywood is driven by the greenback.... They always look at the risk factor," said producer and screenwriter Lance Dow, who is developing a movie script called "Immortal" about a gay comic book superhero. Dow believes "Brokeback Mountain" also paves the way for other straight box office stars to take gay roles and not fear career suicide.

"The walls are being torn away," Dow said. "Just like it was with the stars of old. There was a time when if you were a movie star you couldn't move to television. Now, it doesn't make any difference."

Have no fear

Dow has written a script, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," about a decorated U.S. Army Ranger put on trial when the military discovers he is gay. The producers, who include Jerry Offsay, the former president of entertainment at Showtime Networks, say they have a "key actor" on board and are waiting for a second star as well as a director.

Before "Brokeback Mountain," said Lee Levinson, who is also a producer on the project, it would have been much harder to interest a straight actor in taking a gay role.

"I think ['Brokeback Mountain'] helped us tremendously," he said. "It's going to help us in the sense that we are going to reach out to a heterosexual star for the gay role."

Gary Goldstein, who chairs the Writers Guild's gay and lesbian writers committee, said interest in gay-themed scripts has ebbed and flowed over the years.

"As somebody who has been writing these kind of scripts over the years, I've definitely seen the roller-coaster effect," he said. "I've written big studio screenplays with gay characters in a straight environment and even in those films, there is resistance to them. There is always the fear when you make a $40-million, $50-million or $70-million star-driven comedy, 'Can we get stars to play these parts and will the public accept it?' "

"Until now, audiences have been afraid to go to gay-themed films, and the studios have been afraid to get behind them," said K. Pearson Brown, who writes a syndicated column called LezTalk and is a radio commentator on gay film and has written a screenplay called "Who You Know" that she said was inspired by her own professional and personal relationships with Hollywood's power lesbians.

"['Brokeback Mountain'] has broken that barrier," she said. "I'm hoping this means future mainstream lesbian-themed movies will focus on the human stories and the romance and not be relegated to pornography."

[ITALIANO]

It is also possible, of course, that some straight viewers feel more confortable with the second part of the movie - which is more about unhappy homosexuals dealing with a hostile society and its rules - than with the first part, with the two boys merrily having sex with each other on the mountains. (And anyway I am confused by the reactions to it: is it too fast? is it too slow?).

Admittedly I also found the first half of the movie less affecting that the second one. But in retrospect I realize how difficult it must have been, for Ang Lee and his writers, to find the right way to convey - in an easily understandable way for the mainly straight audience - this most difficult subject: the unexpected, mutual attraction (and love) between two men, actually between two men who can't even find the words to describe it, to themselves and to each other. On stage, this would have been impossible. In a novel, and of course even in Proulx's short novel, much easier. But this is a movie - and I think that what Ang Lee has done with the material, while obviously not perfect, comes close to it in filmic terms. And I'm sure that the second part would be much less effective without his careful approach to the first one.

[Penelope]

In the midst of all this Brokeback Mountain brouhaha (and nice to see it doing so well at the box-office), something of a minor revolution occurred on Desperate Housewives this evening: the audience got to see Bree's son Andrew passionately kissing his boyfriend Justin twice, and a scene where Bree walks into Andrew's bedroom and finds both boys sleeping together naked. Yes, Andrew is a bit of a slimeball (blackmailing his mother and all that), but, still, man-on-man action on one of TV's highest rated programs (for broadcast TV, this was daring, I thought), and a love story between two men selling out theaters around the country! I like this trend!

[Penelope]

I saw Brokeback again last night, as it finally opened in Tampa and I was accompanied by mom and many friends (10 of us in total!). What struck me the second time was the chemistry between Heath and Jake; you'll recall that I had complained about the lack of affection between the two leads, but, this time, I really felt the electricity between the two, I could feel Ennis and Jack's love and desire for each other leaping off the screen.

I whole-heartedly agree with Nik about the role of nature in the film--that the relationship between Ennis and Jack is a natural thing, while their relationships with their wives are, at best, articificial constructions. Perhaps, too, this is why the second half works better for some people, precisely because there is more palpable tension as a result of the women's roles.

[ITALIANO]

Jake Gyllenhaal gives the best performance in the movie. But of course Heath Ledger got the better, more interesting character - actually one of the best roles for a young actor in recent memory - and did a surprisingly good job with it, so I can understand why most viewers (and critics) can mistake his performance as the best one. (And it's always easier to empathize with the more tormented character, by the way).
Anyway, both actors are impressive - the unforced chemistry between them is the best proof of Ang Lee's talent as a director. So while Gyllenhaal will probably be placed in the wrong category - he's a co-lead after all - I wouldn't be disappointed to see both of them holding Oscars next March (though I still have to see both Hoffman and Strathairn, so I could change my mind about this).

As for Michelle Williams, I completely agree with Mister Tee.

[Nik]

But it also feels like these two long to have their illicit meetings at Brokeback in order to escape the rigorous demands of society - which of course they are - more so than it does because they love each other. I don't think that was the intention.

Hmm interesting Sonic. I saw the surroundings though as a delineation of their relationship. Certainly there is a town and country dialectic occuring in the film and it is conflated appropriaely with class as well (SPOILERS: Ennis telling Jack, "You've forgotten what it's like to be poor" and Alma begging Ennis to move the family to "town" and then re-marrying a "town" guy). The film posits society or the city as constructed and restricting, just as their relationships with women are superficial and emotionally limiting.

When they return to Brokeback, nature takes over and their "real" relationship emerges. The wonderful implication then being that this homosexual relationship is natural. When Jack grabs Ennis in the tent that first night and sex follows, it is handled quickly as a natural occurance - something erupts in nature. Similarly when they part for the first time and Ennis breaks down seemingly out of nowhere, another eruption. When they return to the city and Ennis is getting married, it is all somber, contained and ceremonial. For me then the return to Brokeback was an escape from society that also includes an escape to a relationship lacking in artifice.

[flipp525]

I had no problem with the first half hour as we're experiencing first hand what silence passes for conversation in the mountains between two men who know nothing about one another. I think it helps us understand the isolation of each of these men and why the companionship is so key to the development of their future relationship.

I agree. Not only does this depiction feel more well-suited to the Western male architype Lee is clearly trying to evoke and perhaps revise, but these silences also speak louder in terms of portraying their mutual attraction more than a lot of dialogue might or the director pointing the viewer to obvious "moments" where they've fall for each other simultaneously.

I don't think it would've been believable for Ennis and Jack to sit there and try to deconstruct, piece by piece what is happening to them. Their lack of words eloquently express a lack of the ability to verbalize this seemingly taboo connection.

[OscarGuy]

Linda Cardellini (Scooby Doo, ER) was the woman Heath met after his divorce.

All beware the spoiler beast.

Something I think might help in the understanding of the attraction between the two on Brokeback. For me, I saw multiple things occuring. One, there was a bond between the true. Friendship, sure, but often friendship can lead to more. The scene in the tent has very little to do with love. It felt to me as if Ennis felt a need to get off and, having no women to screw, finally realizes that Jack is someone who (as we can easily tell from the beginning when Jack is looking wontonly at Ennis outside the rancher's office) has given him a sort of permission to screw him. I don't think Ennis realized at that time what his actions would eventually lead to.

The next morning, we see the standard self-recrimination, the decision that it was a one-time thing, something that he didn't want anyone to really know about but as time goes on and the time on Brokeback continues to progress, he realizes that there is something more there than the carnal fling they had one night. We never again see such an exchange between the two. It's as if it isn't as important to Ennis as it once was and that it is more important to develop the relationship.

It's not until he's married and in a happy life that he receives the first postcard and when he sees Jack again for the first time, that Ennis really understands what feelings he had for Jack. Absence does make the heart grow fonder in this case. It is then that Ennis begins forgoing the duties he cherished and lived up to for so long as the dutiful husband begin falling apart.

I think the beginning works incredibly well and the conclusion works equally well. I think the entire structure fits perfectly. I had no problem with the first half hour as we're experiencing first hand what silence passes for conversation in the mountains between two men who know nothing about one another. I think it helps us understand the isolation of each of these men and why the companionship is so key to the development of their future relationship.

[Sonic Youth]

Can I throw a little cold water over the Brokeback love? I found much of it very moving and much that left me cold. I'll get into this in greater detail tomorro, because I'm fighting sleep, but in a nutshell: I found the second half much stronger than the first. In fact, I thought the film was at its weakest in the scenes between Jack and Ennis, and it was very disconcerting to find myself during the first half hour or so in complete sympathy with Ed Gonzalez dismissive two-and-a-half star review. Much of the developing love story felt bland and Hallmark-y. What Clint Eastwood could have done with this section, or Peter Bogdonovich, or Terrence Malick. Part of the problem is the overuse of the score (which I very much disliked) and Jake Gyllenhaal's performance. To be frank, I've never liked Gyllenhaal and this role is beyond him. And when they re-unite several times, I never sense any true longing that Jake claims he has for Ennis. Jake's performance is just not very deeply felt, and it's a big problem. But it also feels like these two long to have their illicit meetings at Brokeback in order to escape the rigorous demands of society - which of course they are - more so than it does because they love each other. I don't think that was the intention. In the beginning section especially, it feels like the direction is in the service of the screenplay, not really nailing any special resonance beyond what's been written. I guess this is what some would call "point and shoot" filmmaking.

When Jake and Ennis are apart, however, it's another film entirely, and seeing how their lives are affected by this relationship makes for a much stronger film. The most impressive thing about Ang Lee's direction is the quiet, deft handling of the passage of time over the years in the middle sections. Basically, the filim is a three act structure, and I wish this was emphasized more. The first flush of their relationship throughout the summer serves as the prologue to the remainder of the film, and I thought it would have been stronger had this not felt like such a centerpiece of the film. And the epilogue arrives much too abruptly. I wish these two bookending sections were more evenly weighted to compliment each other and give the lengthy middle section greater prominence. Heath Ledger gives a performance that has a greater impact in the long run rather than in a scene-to-scene basis. Ennis is one of those roles than lives a complete life before us, maturing as the film progresses, his youthful insecurities deepening into contentedness. The women are phenomenal, each and every one, from Michelle Williams to Hathaway (who knew?) to the actress who played Heath's blonde lover, to the one who played Heath's daughter, to the one who played Jake's mother. This latter actress is only on screen for two minutes, has five lines, yet radiates miraculous humanity and compassion.

[Mister Tee]

Okay...this a very good movie: impeccably directed (no surprise, given the pedigree), splendidly acted all around, full of well-written scenes (though I did have a few story problems, which I'll get to in a bit), and a moving overall human-condition arc. But (you could feel a "but" coming) I had to agree with what my wife said as we left the theatre -- I expected something more special. Granted, it's difficult for any movie to measure up to the amount of praise being heaped upon this film, but still, I anticipated something bigger -- either something that broke new esthetic ground, or a truly emotionally overwhelming experience. Many seem to be finding the latter: in the men's room afterward, I overheard some people saying they were "cried out". But I stayed dry-eyed; absorbed and moved, but not swept away. (And I'm not a stone-face by any means)

This is, again, not to denigrate the film which is, as I say, a solid piece of work, and clearly one of the year's best. I just don't feel an immediate need to shoot it to the top of my list (Good Night and Good Luck holds on to the lead spot for now).

Let me get my major problems with the film out of the way first; they're nearly all centered in the initial Brokeback sequence. (SPOILERS MAY FOLLOW) For openers, I found the 10-15 minutes of limited dialogue/western vistas a bit dull; when Jack commented on Ennis' finally opening his mouth to say something, I was right with him -- please, SAY something. It seemed to take quite a while for the action to kick in.

And then...for me...it kicked in too fast. When Jack grabbed Ennis in the tent, and Ennis threw him off, I figured we were in for a bit of a seduction dance that would take days, if not weeks. Imagine my surprise when, after about ten seconds, Ennis made his move. Sorry...I didn't believe it. I hadn't seen the attraction (not from Ennis, anyway) that would make him violate such a strong taboo so quickly. I'd have believed it over time, but not in that moment (I leafed through the story in Barnes & Noble today, and see that's how Proulx wrote it, but she didn't make me believe it, either). Then I was surprised again when, the next day, Ennis says it was a one-shot deal -- and it turns out he means not one time, but one SUMMER. Again, I didn't see the struggle that I thought would be there in such a character -- it's as if someone threw a switch and changed him overnight. Which, again, I might buy if I saw such intense vibes between him and Jack that resstance was futile. But I didn't see it.

Which made it a bit of a surprise when Ennis was so thrilled about Jack's return to his life, but that kind of surprise I can live with -- from there, I thought the film worked exceedingly well (though I had to more or less visualize the early Brokeback sequence as I'd wanted it written, rather than as I saw it, for the whole thing to make sense). I prefer the Larry McMurtry semi-citified West to the mountainous one, so the story unfolding in these environs was more to my taste. The dual trajectory of Jack and Ennis was compelling to watch, and, while both actors are fine, I think there's no doubt Ennis is the more mesmerizing character. His tragedy is, I think, universally accessible, because in a certain sense, it's not just a story of a man who resisted a social stigma. He's a man who, hobbled by loss in his early life, is reluctant to grab hold too tight on anything, for fear it'll be lost. The childhood memory of the gay-slaying probably makes him think that loss would be more likely with Jack than with anyone else. But, the cruel irony is, he feels the loss every bit as fully as if he'd been with Jack every day (and his imagination, at least, makes him see the outcome as the one foretold in his childhood). This is a man's plight with which I think many can identify.

Anyway, for me, Ang Lee's best flm remains The Ice Storm, but that film had special resonance in my life -- more than one Friday-after-Thanksgiving, I've rushed to catch the last train leaving Track 39 at Grand Central. So, I understand that, for many, this is a very special film. And I'll have no problem when it wins best picture.

As for the performances -- Ledger is indeed outstanding, though I have trouble separating him from the other exceptional lead actors this year (I'd lean Strathairn, but that's just me). Gyllenhaal, on the other hand, is the clear class of a weak field -- I think he deserves every supporting award going. I thought Williams was very good -- moving in her silent moments, fine in her one big scene -- but I was surprised her role was as small as it was. Surely she deserves nomination, but my votes go Adams/Weisz/Bello, in that order. Oh, and I think Hathaway has been needlessly slighted: her telephone scene at the end is as strong as anything Williams does.