Brokeback Mountain

Penelope
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Post by Penelope »

Well, it finally happened. The Brokeback trailer played before Walk the Line and was greeted with laughter by members of the audience, something I'd not experienced before. It made me uncomfortable, and, worse, I wanted to say something, and I didn't; fortunately, a straight friend--the Johnny Cash fan--leaned over and said, "Don't let it bother you, they're frightened of the unknown and this is the only way they know how to respond." Is he right? Should have shouted "Shut up!" or was I a coward? Afterwards, he and his girlfriend said they woulda backed me, that's nice to know.

But it did bother me, to such an extent that I could barely focus on Walk the Line. I wondered if I could have said anything to make them stop--it's frustrating to realize that your life, your very existance is a source of laughter, that some people may not see your love as valid. And I wondered, when a character castigates June Carter for ending her first marriage ("Divorce is an abomination!"), or when Johnny and June struggle to contain their emotions and keep their love a secret, did the audience make the connections that I made?

However, I take solace from this: that out of 4 experiences with the trailer, this was the first such outwardly derisive experience; that it was really just a small quarter of the audience (actually, the most vocal were a trio of young girls at the front of the theater--and they were annoying through the whole film); and that the audience for biopic about a country music singer would automatically be largely conservative (audiences for Constant Gardener, History of Violence, and Proof would, I imagine, be much more open in their thinking).

So, yes, I know there will be resistence in some quarters, but I also believe that, as the word spreads about how great the film is, how deeply affecting it is, that it will have a positive reaction. We shall see. I pray that I'm right.
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"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
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Post by Penelope »

FilmFan720 wrote:I'm with Damien here. I too am very skeptical about the broad success of the film...outside of film circles like this board, I haven't talked to many people who know much about the movie, or are overly excited about it...does anyone know what kind of release schedule it has (is it going wide immediately)?

Tripp

Based on what I've read, the movie opens only in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco Dec 9. Then, and I'm quoting from a recent NY Observer article:

"From the coasts will come 16 markets in mid-December, 20 more on Jan. 6, and then 55 more in mid- and late January—and on it goes, with 38 more markets opening the film in early February."

Entertainment Weekly, on their website, has Brokeback listed as the 2nd most anticipated film of the season, just below King Kong at #1.

Right now, the level of anticipation is quite high primarily among film buffs like ourselves, gay men and women into slash fiction. But with the recent EW, Newsweek and Drudge articles, the movie is very much seeping into public consciousness.

Given that staggered release schedule, and the increasing anticipation/awareness, as well as the likely critical kudos, award nominations (Oscars, Globes, SAG, etc.), the film clearly has a chance to reach a wider viewership.

I think what's skewing some perception--perhaps, even my own--is that we really have no knowledge to go on. The last time a major, mainstream film was built around a gay male love story was Making Love in 1982, and it bombed. But, that was 23 years ago (and it wasn't a particularly great film), and there has been a considerable shift in attitudes. Yes, we still have the conservative nutjobs and, yes, there is still prejudice and intolerance--I am certainly aware of that.

But, there has also been increasing acceptance, particularly in popular culture. In the past decade and a half, we've seen the emergence of the independent Queer Cinema; while films such as The Opposite of Sex, Trick and Urbania may have been limited to the arthouse, you can find them at your local Blockbuster and have been shown on HBO and Showtime. On television, too, we've seen Will & Grace, Queer as Folk, and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy become media sensations--though, with the exception of QAF, the vast majority of TV programs have hesitated to show two men doing anything more than a casual embrace--still, it was visability.

There are also a helluva lot more out gay men in our culture than there were 23 years ago; we are coming out at a younger and younger age--in our early teens--so younger people are more accepting of it. We're out at work, at school, among our family and friends. I mean, my own personal experience is that I've always been out at all of the jobs I've held, and while attending college--indeed, I've always made it a point that people know--it's one way I feel that I can help to eradicate bigotry, by essentially saying, "Yeah, I'm gay, so?"

I'm arranging a large group of friends from work and college to go see the film the weekend it opens here in Tampa, and I suspect that may occur quite a bit around the country. And, obviously, word of mouth--which is already quite strong--will only increase as the film goes into release. Dare I say it--Brokeback is becoming something of an "event" picture--that cultural touchstone I'm talking about.

Fortunately, I've not experienced any of that snickering or giggling that's occurred elsewhere when the trailer is playing--the closest thing I've heard was a gentlemen who, upon realizing what the film was about, muttered, "Wha? Whoa!" On the other hand, at another time, a young lady declared, "I can't wait to see that!" And this is in an AMC mutliplex in the middle of conservative Hillsborough County.

Of course, there is going to be resistance--there are religious nutjobs and resolutely bigoted, macho types that will refuse to see the film. But, like I said, we're on new ground with this film, ultimately, it's difficult to assess the reaction--the film doesn't trade on stereotypes--I'm assuming--I mean, I suspect that's why some str8 guys are laughing at it--they're uncomfortable with the very concept of two masculine dudes in love with each other--Heath Ledger's comment about this so spot on: "They don't understand that you are not going to become sexually attracted to men by recognizing the beauty of a love story between two men."

Anyway, I hope I'm right. I really think this film has the potential to break out and become a considerable success.
"...it is the weak who are cruel, and...gentleness is only to be expected from the strong." - Leo Reston

"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
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Post by Damien »

A week or two ago, David Letterman was already making (lame) Brokeback Mountain jokes, so maybe the film has seeped into the general conciousness.

The jokes (paraphrasing):

Roger Ebert: "This movie touched me deeply."
Richard Roeper: "This movie made me want to touch Ebert."

and

"Opens wide December 9th. Very wide."
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Post by FilmFan720 »

I'm with Damien here. I too am very skeptical about the broad success of the film...outside of film circles like this board, I haven't talked to many people who know much about the movie, or are overly excited about it...does anyone know what kind of release schedule it has (is it going wide immediately)?

Tripp
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Post by rudeboy »

Damien wrote:I simply can't imagine straight males in the heartland having any interest in the picture. I hope I'm wrong.
I was skeptical too, but I'm starting to come around. Its clearly never going to be a huge blockbuster - that's too much to hope for. But there does seem to be a level of anticipation for this movie much wider than the gay or arthouse circuits. I have a number of straight friends, male and female, average moviegoers, who are looking forward to this film more than just about any other over the next few weeks. I think its going to do well. Very well, for what on paper reads like such a niche market film.

I'd agree that the macho crew will have no interest in it. But their girlfriends will.
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Post by Damien »

I'm very skeptical about the film's box-office chances. Gay-themed movies just don't do well, unless its a broad comedy like The Birdcage. I simply can't imagine straight males in the heartland having any interest in the picture. I hope I'm wrong.
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Post by Penelope »

I'm biased, but I agree with him. Box-office will, I believe, be the deciding factor. It's bound to be successful--the level of anticipation and word-of-mouth guarantee that--but if it goes beyond that, if it reaches real mainstream success to become a cultural touchstone--and I believe it will--then I really don't see how the Academy can ignore it.
"...it is the weak who are cruel, and...gentleness is only to be expected from the strong." - Leo Reston

"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
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Post by Sabin »

Jeffrey Wells chimes in. Again: not a terribly reliable source, but he has some opinions that some on this board will certainly want to hear (he's still a pretty obnoxious writer).

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It's time to say it straight (and I don't mean that as a pun): Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain (Focus Features, 12.9) is the movie to beat in the Best Picture race this year.

I'm not saying it will win or lose, but it's the one film everyone in the country will be talking about and deciding where they stand on it over the next five or six weeks, and these convictions will be about a bit more than just cinematic criteria.

The bottom line is that Brokeback Mountain is the only year-end prestige film that people are weeping over, and that matters. And it has a simple philosophical theme (i.e., ignore the pleadings of your heart at your own peril) which all Best Picture winners tend to have.

This is mostly a gut feeling, but I've called around a bit and it's the one film that seems to be truly gathering steam within L.A. and N.Y. screening circles (except for certain conservative harumphers and macho conquistadors) as an enlightened stand-out.

It's the classiest tearjerker. The most bravely made. The year's one big deck-re- shuffler. The stand-alone-under-a-lonely-nightscape movie that did something new and head-turning. A film that brought a sense of real compassion and vulnerability to the table, and is sure to goad anyone who sees it into a deeper understanding of what comprises human tragedy.

I haven't conducted any kind of scientific poll, but I'm hearing that Academy members are saying to each other than Brokeback Mountain is an almost-certain Best Picture nominee, which confirms what I've long believed would eventually happen anyway.

But I have to acknowledge something else, however reluctantly, which is that there are people out there who are not on the team and never will be.

Brokeback Mountain is at heart an emotionally shielded and heterosexual-attitude piece about two rugged western guys named Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Ennis del Mar (Heath Ledger) who fall in love with each other in their early 20s and spend the rest of their lives feeling all screwed up about it.

They both get married and have kids and take a stab at conventional domesticity while continuing to get together for "fishing trips" now and then. But the denial festers and eats away. Ledger's gruff, emotionally plugged-up cowhand is especially unable to act on his feelings for Twist in any lasting way, and all kinds of bad stuff kicks in down the road.

My repeated promises that this film isn't gay are getting tiresome, but it really and truly isn't. But those nagging impressions about it being a "gay cowboy" movie aren't going to go away, and the more recent (and catchy) "gay Gone With the Wind" label is going to stick also.

And I'm afraid...I'll just spit it out...that homophobia and closet bubba-ism (which is a bigger factor than some of us may realize) are going to start elbowing their way into the Brokeback Mountain conversation over the next several weeks.

I've been picking up indications of resistance in letters here and there...just hints and simmerings (following this article is a letter from a 26 year-old Milwaukee guy who's been picking up a certain vibe when the trailer plays)...but I'm starting to sense there may be more where this comes from.

And I'd be kidding myself if I didn't admit to the possibility of a subterranean, grumpy-straight-male, anything-but-Brokeback groundswell. If there's enough heft behind this, there's a chance that the scales could tip against Lee and producer James Schamus and everyone who loves and supports this film.

The fact that Matt Drudge, a conduit of conservative opinion but also a guy with a very sharp nose for what's happening in the hinterlands, has run at least two uh-oh items about Brokeback Mountain... this is a singificant barometric reading.

Focus Features wants to take the high road and I understand that, but The Battle of Brokeback Mountain is starting to take shape, and will fundamentlally be about whether people can look beyond their personal agendas and aversions and look into the fundamental truths contained in its story.

The more I consider the competition, the more I'm persuaded that no other film has come close to staking out, much less laying claim to, the emotional turf occupied by Brokeback Mountain.

The issue of whether or not it will gather more support than Steven Spielberg's Munich, which my ass-teletype and insect-antennae readings keep telling me is going to be received in a couple of weeks' time as a pretty good film but which has almost no chance of being this year's Million Dollar Baby, is almost moot at this stage.

How can I say that? What do I know? But just wait.

The older ooh-ahh crowd...the journalists and Academy members who voted or campaigned for Rob Marshall's Chicago two years ago...seem to be lining up behind Memoirs of a Geisha, and already I can see this emerging as a possible anything-but-Brokeback alternative (although I gag at the thought).

Capote is a sublimely haunted film that gets better every time you re-see it or think back on it. The New World will almost certainly be a compositional stunner (and perhaps more). Crash broke through and found its audience and deserves an industry-wide salute. And The Constant Gardener is thrillingly crafted piece that fuses the emotional and political into a kind of African third-world symphony.

But Brokeback Mountain is the daddy...the one movie with a grip on a profound human truth that we all recognize.

This is what we're sitting on...the rumble of mid-November. The question is whether or not people will summon the character and maturity to get past their chortlings about the cornholing-in-the-tent-on-the-fishing-trips and be big and open-hearted enough to be calm and cool and...#### it...let this film in.

We're all lonely. We've all let chances at happiness slip through our fingers. Life is so damn short it's not funny. What we feel in our hearts we'd better damn well act upon, or we'll sure as #### feel the consequences down the road.
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Post by Penelope »

Wonderful to hear that, Italiano! I can't wait to see it.

I have discovered I may not be the most obsessed Brokeback fan in the world--over at OW, a fellow posted this link to his dance remix of a track from the Brokeback score. If you like techno/trance, it's actually pretty good.
"...it is the weak who are cruel, and...gentleness is only to be expected from the strong." - Leo Reston

"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
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Post by ITALIANO »

... And you are right to look forward to seeing "Caché", Penelope. It's one of the best films I've seen this year.
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Post by Eric »

Yeah, I didn't mean I've been waiting on it like I've been wanting an underwhelmed review. Not at all. Just that I've been getting a little skeptical (especially since I'm not a major fan of Ang Lee nor The Wedding Banquet, and admit that in saying he's "respectable" that it should probably be read as though Pauline Kael were writing the word)... That's what I'm shamed by, that I should be the ying to Penelope's yang w.r.t. this film. I have a bi-sexual movie buddy who is just as perplexed by my reservations. He can't wait. He gets giddy every time the preview comes on.

Part (all) of me prefers subtext to text like some prefer foreplay to orgasm, and I sort of expect myself to think the Red River by-play is a great deal hotter than Jake and Heath connected by strings of saliva.
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Post by Penelope »

Ooops, so much for my reading comprehension!
"...it is the weak who are cruel, and...gentleness is only to be expected from the strong." - Leo Reston

"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
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Post by Sonic Youth »

Oh, no no no. I was asking Eric, not you, Penelope. He said "this is the type of review I'm shamed to admit I've been waiting on for awhile." I guess he didn't mean he was really ashamed, but just casually said it.

If Ed's review can be condensed to one sentence, I think it would be "Impersonal direction." Leave it to Ed to throw cold water on a milestone.
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Post by Penelope »

Conflicted only in that I assume everybody here visits most of the same sites I do, so posting something here that has already been posted everywhere else would seem, well, excessive, as if I'm too narrowly focused on one film.

And I am, I guess. There are some movies I'm very eager to see--my second most anticipated film of the season is Caché (a great director working with two of my favorite stars in a topical thriller)--but it's nowhere near the level of anticipation I have for Brokeback. I don't want to seem so obsessed, even though I am. There, I said it!
"...it is the weak who are cruel, and...gentleness is only to be expected from the strong." - Leo Reston

"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
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Post by Sonic Youth »

Why have you been waiting on it? And why are you shamed to admit it?

Conflicted?
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