Comments | wertz: GAY OSCARS

wertz

GAY OSCARS

Jan 13, 2006 22:15

I came across an entry in Obsidian Wings' blog yesterday on the potential Academy Awards nominations of Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, which raised an interesting point, but spawned an excellent satiric response. First, the blog (excerpted):

Why is Jake Gylllenhaal being nominated for "Best Supporting Actor" in "Brokeback Mountain" by ( Read more... )

political diversion, movie madness, queerness

Comments 6

Landmark film?? anonymous January 24 2006, 10:41:14 UTC

I neither know nor care whether Brokeback is a landmark film. We have to see how it holds up over the next 10-20 years to even determine that ( ... )

Re: Landmark film?? wertz February 3 2006, 20:49:42 UTC

Sorry, I didn't see this until now. Not to counter your opinion, but to clarify my own:

And as for the adaptation of the short story. I, personally, was thankfully to lose lines like "gun's going off".
Difference between us, I guess. The line itself isn't highly pertinent, but its expression of the visceral, physical nature of the relatonship is. Sure, the film had tenderness and warmth in subdued abundance, but I had no sense of the fact that we all experience the world through our bodies, Ennis and Jacl included. I could read their pain in every seciond frame, but I never smelled their sweat - and the short story is moving not because it's some sort of frustrated valentine, but because what is being thwarted exists on the most primal level, based on the deepest desire.

But, i think overall, the film stayed remarkablely true to essence & heart her short story, which i think is beautifully conveyed in [the] passage below... The "hunger" that Ennis remembers in your quote may be "sexless", but it is distinctly physical nonetheless ( ... )

fargout January 30 2006, 21:20:33 UTC

wertz February 3 2006, 20:55:54 UTC

I'm with you. In the Proulx, Ennis' discovery of the shirt is almost unbearable. In the film - meh.

I wouldn't say it was the best film I saw last year (that would be Crash - or maybe Mysterious Skin), but it was very good. Just not a very good rendering of the source material. And certainly no landmark in gay cinema.

hardvice February 4 2006, 00:34:50 UTC

I somehow missed this entry the first time around. I'm glad you relinked it, because I'm glad it's not just me.

The very first thing I did after I saw Brokeback Mountain was to re-read The Celluloid Closet. The reason I chose to do so was that I was having a terribly difficult time reconciling all of the "revolutionary" hype with what I'd seen. I loved the movie, and I personally thought it was a capable (if selectively biased) interpretation of the story. The acting was superb, the direction was sublime, and it truly deserves every award it receives ( ... )

"brave" performances bon_homme_dane February 4 2006, 06:32:44 UTC

I agree that this "brave performances" stuff is a bunch of bullshit! Playing a homo in a movie is not a tough as being in a firefight in Iraq or climbing Mt. Everest.

I'm pretty mixed on this flick. I think Ang Lee did a great job shooting it. It's a very picturesque movie, but very sad. I mean sad by the isolation you described in your post. Youre right, there is no pleasure between the 2 charachters, just that constant grimness.

Really, I think I liked Capote better.