On mountains & gay cowboys
Did get out to see Brokeback Mountain. Reading other people's reviews, I'm amused by how everyone has seen different things in the film. It certainly hit my buttons -- so adroitly that I spent most of the second half in tears.
I'm not sure it's a gay movie; in fact I'm not sure it's an x movie, for any single value of x. The themes that particularly struck me were paradise experienced & never quite regained, town vs country & constraint vs freedom, responsibilities shouldered & shirked, the perils & rewards of growing up, and most of all family: I think it's significant that Lee chose to end the film with the news of the engagement of Ennis's daughter.
Lee repeatedly juxtaposes opposites: expansive, light landscapes versus cramped, dismal interiors, riding free versus being yoked to responsibilities, living in affluence versus scraping along at the breadline. I don't think there's any black-and-white message, though. If anything, I suspect that the film points towards a middle road between Jack's 'live for love and fuck the consequences' fantasies & Ennis's 'we can't, and anyway what about child support' fears.
May attempt to write a coherent review sometime when I've stopped sniffling, but for now I give it 4/5. Highly recommended, if you've somehow missed it.
I'm not sure it's a gay movie; in fact I'm not sure it's an x movie, for any single value of x. The themes that particularly struck me were paradise experienced & never quite regained, town vs country & constraint vs freedom, responsibilities shouldered & shirked, the perils & rewards of growing up, and most of all family: I think it's significant that Lee chose to end the film with the news of the engagement of Ennis's daughter.
Lee repeatedly juxtaposes opposites: expansive, light landscapes versus cramped, dismal interiors, riding free versus being yoked to responsibilities, living in affluence versus scraping along at the breadline. I don't think there's any black-and-white message, though. If anything, I suspect that the film points towards a middle road between Jack's 'live for love and fuck the consequences' fantasies & Ennis's 'we can't, and anyway what about child support' fears.
May attempt to write a coherent review sometime when I've stopped sniffling, but for now I give it 4/5. Highly recommended, if you've somehow missed it.