Dave Cullen: Films

When does that hidden kiss become the shameful kiss?

Tue, 17 Jan 2006 07:36:38 GMT

The wonderful NY Daily News writer Wayman Wong posted this tonight on my Brokeback Mountain Discussion Board, looking back on the Globes ceremony:

I'm thrilled for the movie. I'm thrilled for Ang Lee. I'm thrilled for Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry. But couldn't someone in their acceptance speech even acknowledge the simple fact that the movie is a love story about two guys, and they're thrilled at how audiences have reacted to how universal that story is? Neither the word ''gay'' or ''homosexual'' ever came up. Look, I'm not asking for anyone to read a GLAAD statement or wave a rainbow flag, but something. . .

http://davecullen.com/forum/index.php?topic=285.msg13230#msg13230

Yeah, I was feeling a little of that too.

But I really starting getting irked when the film-summary/mini-trailer they ran for Brokeback a best pic nominee also skirted it. It's been one thing to omit it in the ads--if you're selling something, why grab the one aspect most unsettling to most of the audience and stick it in their face? But this wasn't (supposedly) about selling. This was supposedly a show about awarding the work, not selling it. (I know that's really naive, I know it's not true, but at least it ought to be a mixture of awarding and selling.)

At what point is it both dishonest and implicity copping to a self of shame not to admit what the hell it's about in the damn segment devoted to it?

I'm starting to feel more and more like this is the closeted movie. One of those ridiculous cases where everyone knows the guy's gay, but everyone pretends. In certain circles. Fine to discuss it, awkardly, on talk shows but not in the ads and not on awards shows?

For once they actually showed the clip of the boys getting close to kissing, so it was suggested. Suggested, great. Still, we get shots of the guys kissing their wives and dancing with them, but they still can't show the kiss that's at the heart of the movie? One of the other nominated films showed a bedroom shot and they can't show a kiss?

This really would have been the time. Just show the damn kiss!

One of the many crucial reasons for straights to see this film is to see two guys can kiss without the world coming to an end. For a lot of people out there, it will be the first time they ever see two men kiss. That's a real problem. Millions of us kissing each other every day of the year, but we're still doing it in hiding, so they're still unnerved by it, because it's been sanitized out of their lives.

That part of our lives is still very closeted. Not the sex, not gross PDAs--nobody needs to be seeing that--but the simple tender, everyday moments of happy couples holding hands, exchanged a brief kiss in public without a second thought. For thaty 99% of all gays 99% of the time still closet ourselves.

And it's a fully self-propogating system, because the straight people will always be unsettled by it and rightfully so if we keep hiding it.

Half a billion people watchig, they claim. Show them the damn kiss.

Maybe at the Oscars.

I won't hold my breath. But maybe. At least they'll be all done worry about any effects on the oscar race by then. They'll be worrying about getting the max box office bump out of the oscarcast, though.

And yeah, that's important to me, too. I'd rather see people actually get to the film and be taken in by the whole experience than just see one kiss, out of context, and out of emotional involvement on tv.

So maybe they're right, it's unpragmatic to do it.

Maybe I'm just getting angry again, that the longer this goes on, the more times they have to quake and wonder "should we show the kiss?" "should we mention the gay word?" it just reminds me how damn preposterous the whole situation is that most of the country has been sticking their heads in the sand and pretending millions of men in this country don't kiss each other, much less fuck.

It's freaking annoying. And I know I've been getting ahead of myself, feeling like straight people are finally starting to see it as this film rolls out--and not turning into pillars of salt!--but man, do we have a ways to go.

Which all leads me back full circle to Brokeback Mountain. What a wonderful, wonderful gift to our world this film has become.

My Brokeback Mountain site has moved!

Wed, 21 Dec 2005 22:07:22 GMT

The new page is here: www.davecullen.com/brokebackmountain/

Thanks so much to Parenthetical Greg, my new brokeback webmaster, for setting it all up. He has been amazing.

And thanks to all the moderators who have been taking over the discussion. This will simplify everything greatly. (For you and for me.)

Soon we will also have a real discussion board there, which will be so much easier for all of you to use, and I won't have to keep having these comment-thread posts on the blog.

And thank you to all the hundreds and hundreds of readers who have joined the discussion. This certainly took on a life of its own.

Update:

The new Brokeback Mountain discussion site is live.

Mrs. Henderson Presents

Wed, 21 Dec 2005 16:54:08 GMT

No time to say a lot, not much worth saying.

Really lightweight, annoying little trifle.

Mainly for tittering old ladies feeling a little naughty. A breast! they're going to show a breast! Oh my!

Junior high school humor for senior citizens. Quite the unfortunate combo.

And completely confused in tone. First half did not belong with second half.

What the hell hell happened to Stephen Frears? The Grifters and Sammy & Rosie Get Laid (nothing like it sounds) are two of my all-time faves. Been quite awhile. High Fidelity had moments, but felt pretty light. Dirty Pretty Things so tedious it was barely watchable.

I saw Mrs. Henderson at a sneak last week, and Stephen actually appeared after to answer questions, but I couldn't even bear to stay for much of it. (Plus most of the questions he had answered the same way on Charlie Rose a few nights earlier.) It was mainly too depressing, though, to watch such a great director talk about this silly little confection that wasn't even sweet.

And yes, Judi Dench was her ususal wonderful self, but perhaps a bit too usual. But how can you tell, really, when you're not really interested in anything coming out of her mouth after the first 20 minutes.

Sin City is vile

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 07:56:02 GMT

I just noticed Sin City showing up on critics' year-end top ten lists. (Chart here.)

Ugh. Gives me the shivers.

Really revolting film. And stupid, too, at least the first 30 minutes. First film I ever walked out of. My initial reaction here.

That little post also comments on the miserable experiment that was the film Yes, my second-ever walkout, two months later. Roger Ebert put it 9th on his list. Huh. One of us has a big problem.

Brokeback Mountain wins NY Critics: Pic, Director, Actor

Mon, 12 Dec 2005 18:24:41 GMT

Brokeback wins biggest yet at most important award outside the Oscars! NY Film Critics hand it Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor. Heath Ledger finally gets his due, from the most important source. (And was 2nd with LA, the next most important.)

Nice!

Brokeback swept both awards that really mean something: NY and LA film crits. This is SO sweet.

(Thanks for the emails, so I didn't have to monitor. Gotta get back to work. That's all till tonight.)

'Official critics' darling, Brokeback Mountain'

Mon, 12 Dec 2005 05:22:19 GMT

Oscarwatch began its latest post this way: "Ladies and gents, we now have our official critics' darling, Brokeback Mountain."

In the last 24 hours, it has won best picture and director honors from the LA and Boston film critics groups, made the AFI top ten list (no winner is picked), and trounced most of its rivals on the Broadcast Film Critics nominations by leading the pack with eight, double any other film except Crash (with six.)

Philip Seymour Hoffman also seems to be cleaning up the Best Actor awards for Capote--he was stunning, though I still prefer Heath; and Ang Lee for director; and Murderball is doing well for documentary; and everything else is still a very mixed bag.

Tomorrow comes NY Film Critics and National Board of Review (the former at 5:30 a.m. PST), then Globe noms on Tuesday. Full awards schedule here.

The more these awards pile on, the more media attention Brokeback gets, and the more it becomes The Film that everyone is talking about. It's The Controversial Film, and The Supposedly Great Film. That's a a strong pull for the curious. This is quickly becoming the must-see film for anyone who wants to be part of the cultural conversation. That's so cool.

I would love everyone in America to see this, because I really think it will open their eyes. I know that's not going to happen, but virtually everyone is getting exposed to it, and getting the conversation going is a huge accomplishment.

Now I just hope Brokeback can win NY. All these other awards and noms are nice for publicity and fun to watch the Oscar horserace play out if you're into that--I'm an addict--but they don't really mean a whole lot, outside their impact on those other events. As awards unto themselves, that I would really care about winning if I were a filmmaker--or when one of my books gets made into a film--there are really only two outside the guild awards and the oscars: LA Film Critics and NY Film Critics. We'll hear from the latter tomorrow. If Brokeback could grab both, that would be sweet.

Monday Update:

National Board of Review: Brokeback won Best Director and Supporting Actor for Jake, and made top ten list. (Good Night won best film.) Hoffman won yet again.

NY Critics to announce any minute. I will be out, but Jim will post in the comments

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(For comments on this, best to go to the latest Brokeback comment thread. See my Brokeback Mountain page.)

Brokeback Mountain breaks box office records

Sun, 11 Dec 2005 02:14:00 GMT

First a little background. Brokeback Mountain is using a strategy called "a platform release," where a film opens in a few theaters (five, in this case) to build buzz, and then rolls out gradually. The key number to watch in the early weeks is the per-theatre average. Anything above $10,000 is great for an arthouse pic, but to really blast off into the stratosphere, they are looking for $20-30,000. The biggest average ever for an indie pic was Syriana, with $74,900, just two weeks ago. (Which would be almost impossible without a major movie star.)

So the first-night results for Brokeback . . .

From BoxOfficeGuru's Saturday update posting this afternoon:

Opening to muscular results in platform release on Friday were a pair of awards contenders sure to post sensational averages this weekend. Focus Features debuted Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain in five theaters and grossed an estimated $192,000 for a jaw-dropping $38,000 average in just one day. Meanwhile, Sony premiered its Japan-set drama Memoirs of a Geisha in eight sites with an estimated $226,000 for a strong $28,000 average. Despite playing in only a handful of theaters, both pictures should pop into the North American Top 20.

Even a modest weekend multiplier of 2.6--(meaning sales will be slower Sat & Sun than Friday, but fairly close)--will give Brokeback a weekend theater average of $100,000.

That would put it 9th in the all-time top ten, right above Aladdin.
It will rank as the all-time champ for live action films.
It will be the biggest indie platform ever, 33% higher than previous champ Syriana.

Sunday Update:

It did set those records, with a $108,910 average. From BoxOfficeguru:

Exploding in platform release with one of the most spectacular grosses ever seen for a limited release bow was Ang Lee's cowboy love story Brokeback Mountain which debuted in only five cinemas but grossed an estimated $545,000 for a jaw-dropping $108,910 average per theater. The Heath Ledger-Jake Gyllenhaal drama has been showered with praise by critics and is already one of the top contenders for the Academy Awards, Golden Globes, and other prestigious prizes. This weekend, it was selected by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association as the best picture of the year with Lee also winning the director's trophy.

Focus Features launched Brokeback Mountain in three New York sites plus solo houses in Los Angeles and San Francisco this weekend and will expand on Friday to approximately 60 theaters nationwide. The gradual roll out is common for acclaimed arthouse films that need word-of-mouth and awards buzz to spread before convincing moviegoers in other parts of the country to open their wallets. The R-rated film can solidify its early frontrunner status if it receives major kudos from the Broadcast Film Critics Association, the New York Film Critics Circle, the National Board of Review, and the Globes which all announce their nominees or winners over the next two days giving the industry a clearer picture of the best films of 2005.

Monday Update:

BoxOfficeMojo ran a full story on Brokeback's record-breaking opening. Excerpt:

Director Ang Lee's cowboy love story rambled into three locations in New York City, one in Los Angeles and one in San Francisco and rustled up the highest per theater average on record for a live action movie.

Brokeback Mountain corralled $547,425 over the weekend, or a potent $109,485 per site. The average ranks ninth overall among the top weekend averages since 1982, behind animated features including The Lion King and Pocahontas. Adjust for ticket price inflation, and only Evita and Edward Scissorhands inch ahead among live action pictures, although each played at two venues where high averages were easier to achieve.

Distributor Focus Features' president of distribution, Jack Foley, reported that The Grove in Los Angeles, where Brokeback Mountain is showing on three screens, was the picture's highest-grossing venue. The New York theaters were each over $100,000, while the Embarcadero in San Francisco was over $80,000, according to Foley.

"It's overwhelming, basically," said Foley. "From what we understand, the sell outs began mid-afternoon. We had a good representation of males as well as females, and people from 35 years old to seniors." Foley added that women will be the key to the picture's future success.

Next weekend, Focus rolls Brokeback Mountain out to around 60 theaters, including 20 new markets like Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Miami, Seattle, Denver and Washington, D.C.

"Our biggest problem is going to be exhibition," Foley noted. "Brokeback Mountain's not ready [to expand widely]. I don't want to go up against King Kong any more than I am. We have to play to our strengths. Exhibitors are going to be in it for the quick money. We're in it for the long run. We have a film that needs very careful management."

According to Foley, the next wave of aggressive expansions will start on Jan. 6 with a plan to be at more than 300 theaters by Jan. 27, right before the Academy Award nominations are announced. Foley noted that the picture could go wider before then depending on how it is received in the meantime.

Tuesday Update:

ok, the monday box office results are in. and . . .

Brokeback made another $103,256 on Monday, which translates to a per-theater average of $20,651 for the day. That is unheard of for a weekday. It is one of the all-time best days ever for an indie film, including weekends!

Unbelievable. I think Focus figured they could sell out most of those theaters on the weekend, but continuing this on a Monday? Wow.

(And I have to brag for a minute. All these sites are now posting about the record, but as far as I know, I am the first one to make that call saturday, based on the friday numbers, and again sunday. all the box office sites used great big adjectives, but did not note the records until a day or two later.)

Link for day-by-day data on Brokeback from boxofficemojo here, but you have to register (free), to get to it.

Wednesday Update:

Brokeback did another $99,152 on Tuesday, that's $19,830 per theater, again, near-record levels even if it were a Friday night.

Brokeback Mountain wins top LA Film Critcs Awards

Sun, 11 Dec 2005 01:51:27 GMT

Brokeback Mountain grabbed best picture and best director.

Heath Ledger took second for Best Actor. Phillip Seymour Hoffman won it for Capote, which I also loved a great deal.

Full list at Oscarwatch.

A whole wave of more awards coming in the next three days: NY Film Critics, National Board of review, AFI top ten list, and noms from Golden Globes and Broadcast film critics.

Full calendar here.

Brokeback Mountain starts bombarding your TV tonight

Thu, 08 Dec 2005 05:22:17 GMT

Well, Brokeback Mountain has been written up in just about every print outlet imaginable the past two weeks. It exceeded all expectations there, but no telling how that will translate to actual acceptance.

Phase 2 seems to be kicking off tonight: they reach your TV. Separate interviews with Heath Ledger and Ang Lee consume the entire Charlie Rose show tonight, and according to reports from reliable readers, Jake Gyllenhaal will appear Thursday on The Today Show, MTV's Total Request Live, and The Daily Show.

Set your Tivos. Much more to come, I'm sure. Keep checking the comments threads if you're interested. I have no time to keep up, but you readers are posting a hot fresh link every hour or so. Thanks. (The current comment thread and the eight previous ones are linked on my Brokeback Mountain page. Always head there for the latest link.)

Indie Spirit Award Noms just announced

Tue, 29 Nov 2005 18:30:39 GMT

Taking this quick writing break to spread the good word, announced just in the last hour. Nom list. Press release.

I was happy to see two of my favorite small films of the year, Mysterious Skin and (to a lesser extent) Me and You and Everyone We Know nominated. (Skin for best director for Gregg Araki--quite the coup; and Me & You . . . for best first feature and best first screenplay.)

Most of the big awards were dominated by films also in the running for Oscars: Capote, Brokeback Mountain, and Good Night and Good Luck tied for second (with a couple others) at four noms.

Brokeback Mountain was tied for second : Best pic, actor, director &sptg actress. (Sorry Jake, nothing for you.)

My one shock was that the Brokeback Screenplay was neglected. I thought Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana did the nearly impossible -- took an amazing, award-winning story and improved on it. How often is the movie richer and more complex than the book? (Granted that the "book" was only 30 pages. But in most hands, it would have been fleshed out with pale filler. This version made me wish Annie would have written it much longer.)

This will of course, help Brokeback--perhaps more than any of the other well-known pics, as it has a special credibility problem with straight audiences. This may help ever so slightly to legitimize it as "a great film," instead of just "the big film for the gays." Every bit of cred helps.

And it may help a bit more in the Oscar race, as the only film with more noms, "The Squid & The Whale," is out of serious contention.

Watching Brokeback Mountain -- just about perfect

Sun, 20 Nov 2005 20:20:14 GMT

Watched Brokeback Mountain last night. Wow. Just about perfect.

Every bit as moving as the short story, and then some. They really fleshed out the characters, and I empathized with them more strongly. Enough that I'm not angry at Ennis anymore. I totally understand why he did it. How he thought he had to.

The problem with preconceptions is that it was hard not to sit there in the first half hour thinking, "Heath Ledger is doing fine, but 'a revelation'? Not quite getting that." (And there was plenty of quiet time to think.) But by the end I had forgotten all about that, and I was just in awe.

And Jake. Jake was just a joy to behold, every moment he was on screen. He really was. And that was his job--that was his character. And what a wonderful character to light up this movie. Would have been so much darker and flatter without him.

The women were great, too, and I'm so glad their characters were fleshed out. The book focuses on two lives ruined, but you get a powerful sense here of it tearing up all four. And to a lesser extent, hurting the daughters as well. Michelle Williams, in particular, is heartbreaking.

Oh, God, speaking of heartbreaking. My favorite scene in the book, hands down, was the reunion on the landing after four years--where they were so overcome with seeing each other, they grabbed each other and kissed passionately in broad daylight.

It was just as powerful on film, but topped by several others. I guess that says something extraordinary right there. The far-and-away best scene of one of the most beloved stories I have ever read, was bested about three times in the film. Would hardly have thought that possible.

The second night they get together out on Brokeback was . . . well, like nothing I've ever seen before, but only in the sense that I've never seen it with men. Picture one of the all-time great romantic moments on film, and then imagine it finally challenged by something just as beautiful, complex and tender with two men. Finally. First time ever ever ever I didn't have to imagine a stand-in for the woman up there.

It was just amazing. They had "gotten together" in a late-night drunken situation that Ennis was completely unable to deal with in the morning. Or the next evening. He tells Jake he's not queer, that it was a one-time thing and that's that. But he can't stick to it. When he comes into the tent, he's completely at war inside. Trying desperately not to do it, but his heart begging him to finally accept what it feels. It is so hard for him, his struggle is so palpable, and Jack is so perfect with him. God me balling again just remembering.

And their last climactic scene together and what comes after: that is just so intense, slammed me in the skull so hard so many ways one after the other after the other.

Just devastating.

And I'm not going to say a whole lot here, but I do believe Heath's finest moment comes when Ennis visits Jacks parents and gets some news from his mom. What he doesn't say. What he works so hard to hide. God. That poor, poor man. How can you possibly blame that guy?

---

So a strange thing happened to me after the film, while Ang Lee was interviewed onstage. (Streaming video and a news story on it here -- Thanks Mark. And FYI, Annie left early from the book signing, so I missed here. Didn't talk to her or Ang. Damn. But they sat across the aisle from us, and during the credits I got a chance to at least walk over and thank Larry and Diana for doing such an amazing job. They really fleshed this incredible story out.)

So the interview was great. To listen to him is to know you are in the presence of a true artist, whatever you think of this particular film. (Or The Hulk.) Late in the discussion, the Denver Post critic brought up they gay question a couple times, dealing with the gay issue, the gay this the gay that. It was oddly jarring for me. So weird to hear it called a gay film or a gay love story or gay anything. For the last two hours, I had just been lost in an exquisite love story.

I know, I know, I have scoffed right here about people saying it's not a gay film: What! It's two men in love having sex. That's called gay. The entire story revolves around the forbiddenness of their love--because it's gay--the whole tragedy is centered on the problem of the men being gay.

Yeah, I have said all that. And it's all true. In that sense, it is a gay film, in two distinct and crucial ways. But I'm now seeing the other point of view, too. It's also an aching love story between two people who just happen to be gay.

The other great romantic movie of the decade--Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind--was also a gripping love story of two people fighting desperately both for and against their problematic love for each other. But it wasn't a film about a memory-erasing device was it? That was just the vehicle, the problem to present for these two people to fight madly for the love being ripped away from them.

Exactly the same thing here.

All I know is, that in spite of knowing full well for the two-plus hours that it was the revulsion of homosexuality that was driving these two tragic lovers apart, I truly forgot about it being a gay thing. The love story was just too intense. It didn't matter what was driving these two guys apart, it was just about the intensity of the love between these two guys.

So I was literally startled to hear her using the gay word while I was still basking in that afterglow. Maybe because the concept of "gay love" is offensive to some part of me that is sick of hearing it distinguished from "love." It's exactly the same. For two hours I had not been watching gay love, I had just been watching love.

It didn't feel like a gay film. It just felt like home.

---

Update:

You guys kept adding so many comments (thousands), that long after this post, we started a whole Brokeback Mountain Discussion Forum.

And for links to everything imaginable, see our Ultimate Brokeback Mountain Guide.

Nine hours still Brokeback Mountain!

Sat, 19 Nov 2005 17:22:02 GMT

I've got to finish a chapter, get my hair cut, pick up my pants from the dry cleaners, and then I get to meet Annie Proulx, and possibly Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana and Ang Lee.

And then I get to watch Brokeback Mountain.

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

Stayed in working last night, worked my ass off all week, feel wrung out like a dishrag, but I got lots of copy so I'm happy and I like myself again and tonight is my night off. And what a night! Going dancing afterward. (Yes, I've been really good all week, so I get the whole . . . night . . . off! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.)

But not yet. If this chapter is good, then I will really go happy.

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(By the way, new Brokeback comments thread here.)

Update:

A few comment threads have now filled up. Check out my Brokeback Mountain page for the latest thread link.

How (much) will Brokeback Mountain change America?

Mon, 14 Nov 2005 07:23:02 GMT

Friday, The Hollywood Reporter published this wonderful piece, Ang Lee's 'Brokeback' explores 'last frontier'. It opens like this:

There's no doubt that a $13 million quality movie like Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain," which has wowed festivalgoers and reviewers in Telluride, Venice and Toronto, will play well in big movie markets around the country. The question is, how broad will it go?

No one knows that answer, because no one has ventured into this territory before. The movie is a groundbreaker. There's never been a homosexual cowboy movie, and while the indies have been supplying gay romances to the art house circuit for years, and gay series like "Queer as Folk" and "Will & Grace" have been pulling big numbers on TV, there hasn't been a mainstream gay love story since 1982's "Making Love," which bombed and was blamed by many for damaging Harry Hamlin's career. "It's the one last frontier," says Lee.

Reaches its most hopeful here:

Brokeback Mountain could be the mainstream gay romance that many people have been waiting for. One Toronto wag called it "the gay 'Gone with the Wind'." "Of all the gay-themed films I've watched," says Damon Romine of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, "this is the first one I've seen about two men in love, told in a way that straight people can relate to. People don't have to be gay to understand loss and longing and unrequited love. Hollywood churns out endless variations on the theme of forbidden love. This is a new take on that genre, a film that has tremendous potential to reach and transform mainstream audiences."

And gets serious about the marketing plan here:

Focus will release "Brokeback" in limited situations through the holidays -- as the big studio guns play themselves out -- and widen it in January. Since the trailer went out, Focus has placed a registration page for advance sales on the "Brokeback" Web site. The initial marketing push is to women and younger moviegoers. "You're looking for people who are empathetic," says Schamus, "and able to reach their emotions. And younger folks are way out ahead on this stuff. Overall, they are not worked up about gay issues." Becoming an Oscar contender should push "Brokeback" into must-see territory, as it did "Philadelphia."

And this morning, Newsweek unleashed a similar story: "Forbidden Territory". (It was incorrectly ID'd all over the web as their review. Author Sean Smith is their entertainment reporter, not their film critic. He writes pieces about the business of Hollywood, trends, analysis, so forth. The review will come soon, probably from David Ansen.)

More heartening words there:

The film, written by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, is a near-perfect adaptation of Proulx's work. It has already earned the top prize at the Venice Film Festival and is almost certain to be an Oscar contender. More than that, though, "Brokeback" feels like a landmark film. No American film before has portrayed love between two men as something this pure and sacred. As such, it has the potential to change the national conversation and to challenge people's ideas about the value and validity of same-sex relationships. In the meantime, it's already upended decades of Hollywood conventional wisdom.

And this fascinating take on the marketing, expanding a bit on the HR's take. There's more to it than this, but you'll get the gist:

That discomfort would seem to make the movie difficult to market. When the trailer plays in theaters where there are a lot of young men in the audience, it's often met with snickers or outright laughter. How do you get those guys to see the movie? You don't. "If you have a problem with the subject matter, that's your problem, not mine," Schamus says. "It would be great if you got over your problem, but I'm not sitting here trying to figure out how to help you with it." In an early meeting, Schamus told Lee that, from a marketing standpoint, they were making this film for one core audience. "Yes, of course," Lee said. "The gay audience." No, Schamus said. "Women."

When it came time to design the poster for the film, Schamus didn't research posters of famous Westerns for ideas. He looked at the posters of the 50 most romantic movies ever made. "If you look at our poster," he says, "you can see traces of our inspiration, 'Titanic'."

I'm skeptical that it can attract huge numbers of straight women, much less inspire them to drag their boyfriends. But it doesn't need huge numbers. Modest numbers for an arthouse film would be a nice start. Actual crossover success would be wonderful. I'm sure hoping.

And you can do your part by spreading the word. And organizing a group for opening weekend in your town. Advance group ticket sales here.

Anyway, the big, gay AMERICAblog posted a somewhat curious take on the Newsweek story today, which provoked a spirited and often interesting debate in its lively comments section.

Wildly divergent views there--and elsewhere--about how it will play to mainstream America.

Personally, I think it wll have modest success, beating most expectations, but well shy of a blockbuster. (Who knows, $30-60 million gross. I realize that's a big range. Hoping toward the high end, but would be satisfied with the low.)

Here's the thing: like most big cultural-moment movies, the number of people who actually see it at theatres will be a small fraction of the national population. But EVERYone will hear about it, read about it, end up talking about it or at least sitting silently and having to listen about it.

It will change the national conversation. How much it changes, that's the question. It won't make gay-love acceptable in southern Baptist churches next month. But it will leave the conversation changed.

And all the answers will start trickling in soon.

And I will see it in six days.

Till then, got to buckle under on my book. See you next Sunday.

Update:

You guys kept adding so many comments (thousands), that long after this post, we started a whole Brokeback Mountain Discussion Forum.

And for links to everything imaginable, see our Ultimate Brokeback Mountain Guide.

They're pitching Jake Gyllenhaal for supporting

Mon, 07 Nov 2005 01:55:27 GMT

I ran across this SAG For Your Consideration ad a few weeks ago and had no time to post.

If you're not aware, the actors/studios/handlers decide themselves whether an actor is nominated as best actor or supporting. And among other things, they use the FYC ads to indicate how they want themselves slotted.

It's Heath for best actor Jake for supporting for Brokeback Mountain.

Prolly cause Heath was getting most of the raves, so Jake was a longshot unless they downgraded, and he was also a leading contender to get an actor nod for Jarhead.

The latter is out the window with the hideous Jarhead reviews, but it's still his best strategy for a nom, longshot though it is.

13 days till I meet Ang and Annie

Mon, 07 Nov 2005 01:00:14 GMT

Ahhhhhhhhh. Thirteen days till I see Brokeback Mountain. It's closing the Denver Film Fest Nov. 19.

Ang is receiving the Mayor’s Lifetime Achievement Award, award, and will be interviewed onstage afterward. That will be very cool. (Especially since I think Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is one of the few true artistic masterpieces of the last decade in film.)

Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana are also coming. Even better.

But the best part: Ang and Annie are attending a smallish cocktail party fundraiser before the film, and a very kind and generous friend was nice enough to buy me a very expensive ticket.

Can hardly believe it. CAN NOT wait!

The launch of my love affair (with Brokeback Mountain)

Mon, 07 Nov 2005 00:23:19 GMT

As anxiously as I've watched the Brokeback film project develop, undevelop and redevelop over the years, I had never actually read the story. I guess because I missed it when it first came out, and then I wanted to see it as a film first.

(Book-first rarely works out well. By design/length books are nearly always far deeper and more complex, and the film never lives up. But I can appreciate a great film, and then go read the book for added/different levels of complexity. Almost always better that way. And I really never expected it to take this long.)

But then, on a Sunday almost exactly two months ago, something happened to change all that. Oddly enough, it started with Katrina, and my self-imposed exile for my book project.

So I'm finally, belatedly going to share how the story bowled me over when I read two months ago, why I got obsessive about it, and also my one big problem with the story. (Which I've since mellowed on.)

This is exactly how I experienced it that day (almost; a few small edits). an email to a couple straight friends composed late at night, September 4, 2005:

something odd happened today. a few things, starting with the hurricane, but ending with annie proulx.

and i wanted to get some opinions on it, especially from straight people, so i'm sending this to a few of my favorite literary friends, who whoops, i still have not thanked for all the help and insight getting started with faulkner last month. (who is now seriously threatening nabokov as my most idolized writer, merely on the basis of "As I Lay Dying," which amazed me more with every passing page, and which gave me several crucial insights about my own book, including the fundamental organizing principle. but that's not what i came here to talk about.

i was feeling kind of guilty about the hurricane. i hardly paid attention all week. brought to a head something i'm really struggling with now, this immersion/estrangement thing. i get so involved in politics and events, so worked up that i don't get any work done. so i've had a few stern talks with myself about turning all that off for awhile and being with my own project. letting the world spin around its axis without me for awhile. but then i leave for four days, and bam! the gulf coast is a hell on earth and i've ignored them and feel guilty. (because i could have made it all better if i had just paid attention? hahaha. guess not. and yet ...)

so i heard these vague rumblings late in the week that n.o. had not in fact dodged the missile, and then i heard from my friend ile down there, who told a blood-curdling story that apparent the rest of you had all been following all week, and i've been frantically trying to catch up in the few days since. so i needed something today to pull it all together for me, so i went to the new york times of all places, because frank rich is there, and his column did exactly what i needed it to, and then . . .

of course my eyes couldn't dart past the tiny little film section of the front page without taking a peek, and what were the chances i would not be absorbed by the headline: "Cowboys in Love . . . With Each Other"?

for reasons i couldn't entirely remember, i have kept myself from reading Brokeback Mountain for at least five years, saving it for the variously rumored film projects. (is that pathetic? a writer who deems the book less worthy than the film? but in this case--when we're talking about mass cultural impact, heath ledger and jake gyllenhaal trump annie proulx by a country mile.)

so i knew the times piece was going to give away too much, and i needed to avoid it, but i couldn't make myself. and when ang lee described himself crying at the ending--MINOR SPOILER ALERT; MORE AHEAD--of the two shirts hung side by side--well, five years out the window, i drove right to borders and came home with a copy.

(of course that was just the last straw. long painful spring and summer with my family over the gay stuff. a weird second coming out phase nobody ever told me was coming. they were all so accepting at first--or were they? on the surface yes, and do they want to, yes. but still, the idea of their brother actually making out with a guy . . . gives them the shivers. and they communicate it in so many subtle ways they're not even aware of, and i wasn't either until it all came to a head this past month, with a sad little coda last night at my parents' 50th wedding anniversary dinner. so let's just say i was primed.)

during the drive, i remembered why i originally put off reading it, before even the first rumors of a movie. annie proulx. i had to read Postcards during grad school and it bored the crap out of me. never finished it. don't know whether it was her or me not ready for her, but she left me with a very bad taste, and i was sure she was not up to the task of the kind of first great popular gay love story.

well, she was. really, really amazing. broke my heart, as intended. with a few glaring flaws here and there, but who cares?

i was really curious how it read to straight people, though. how much of it was great storytelling, and how much was it ripping me up over my own life slipping away without getting this damn love thing down?

and then annie surprised me at the end. she was definitely too heavy-handed with the tire-iron idea throughout, but the ending (hmmmm. i guess i'm assuming you've read it. i always assume i'm the last literate person on earth to get to any of the really good stuff), i was shocked at how off it felt. if ang lee had remembered correctly, that would have been an amazing ending, with the shirts hanging there together. but then there's a break, and then two paragraphs in a very different tone, with ennis having nightmares about his lover getting bludgeoned to death with the tire iron.

it took me just about a minute to figure out why that felt so wrong. then i realized it: only a straight person (or a sympathetic lesbian?) would write that ending. she thinks she NEEDS the tire iron to make this a tragic story. or perhaps that she really wanted to boldly address the worst horror of gay life: death at the hands of a tire iron. amazing. she had ALREADY addressed the worst horror of gay life, and she didn't even realize it. at least for homos today. (or in 1997.) i don't know one single gayguy worrying about the tire iron. and nearly every gayguy i know is struggling with his love life. even now that we can couple up, we have no idea how to do it. we're so freaking damaged by the time we make it out, and we have no women in our relationships to do most of the relationship work and . . . and we're just a mess.

but even in the time she set the story--or for thousands of years before--i do believe 99.9% of the homos in the world were successfully avoiding the tire iron. it's what they GAVE UP to avoid it, that's been the tragedy of gay life. her story completely nails it. THAT is the tragedy here.

and most of her instincts were dead on. brilliant to set her story over a 20-year period vaulting right past stonewall. these guys COULD have escaped their prison, and one of them wanted to, but ennis never had the guts to do it. he lives to tell the tale, but he's the most tragic figure here. she doesn't seem to grasp that. she thinks her dead character is the tragic one, but he gave it his best shot and failed; it's her other guy who did himself in.

part of her clearly seems to know that--she wrote the freaking story that screams it. but she didn't seem to fully grasp it. she feels the need to impose this other, physical tragedy, as if the other one wasn't enough.

that's what i found kind of offensive when i got to the end, even before i could grasp what was angering me. that that wasn't enough. i don't think most straight people get that, do they? that you can take all the tire irons out of the picture, you can take the work discrimination out of the picture, we can stop fearing for our lives for our jobs, for any of that stuff, but if we still can't find the love we crave . . . that's a tragedy too.

and that's ACTUAL one most of us are living with, by the way. (or at least a handy excuse for goofballs like me who just can't manage to bag a man. heeheehee.)

but it was still a wonderful story.

how odd that we needed someone other than a gayguy to write it for us. i'm sure hundreds, thousands, endless number of gay love stories have been written by gayguys for gayguys--wasn't leaves of grass a big sloppy gay lovefest? another classic i've never gotten close to--but we needed an outsider to yank it out of the romance genre, and make it palatable. we needed annie proulx and ang lee and heath ledger and jake gyllenhaal. god, i pray the movie is so wonderful straight people are forced to hear about it all through the oscar race and some of them actually go out to see it. or perhaps just the idea or the ad-campaign images of those two will be enough to get some people over the shudders of the idea of two guys kissing.

but i'm really glad i read the story. definitely opened up something inside of me. if only we had any of the quirky, oddball, intellectual gayboy hotties i'm looking for out here in the hinterlands. heheehe. maybe once i finally get my ass out to ny next year i'll find that boy. i hear tell they grow a lot of them out there.

---

Note: I have since eased up about the tire iron. I still think my point is correct, and that she doesn't seem to (get? trust?) how tragic the story already is. But so what. I'd actually forgotten all about it. (Seriously.) The strong stuff stuck with me, the flaws faded away. I still adore that story. Tugs at my heart every time I think about it.

Update:

You guys kept adding so many comments (thousands), that long after this post, we started a whole Brokeback Mountain Discussion Forum.

And for links to everything imaginable, see our Ultimate Brokeback Mountain Guide.

Jake's big break (Jake Gyllenhaal, of course)

Sun, 06 Nov 2005 23:42:45 GMT

Shew!

For a minute (week or two, actually), Jarhead was beginning to look like this year's Alexander. (Which I had to see in spite of the withering reviews, and yes, it really was that bad, though Colin Farrell was not.)

A consensus Oscar contender for possibly best pic and definitely best actor just a few weeks ago, its stock suddenly plummeted once people actual saw it. Early buzz was baaaaaaad.

And then the actual reviews poured in for opening day Friday, and they were only half bad--literally: 51% rating on Rottentomatoes cream of the crop--but that was way way way below recent expectations.

And the bad were really bad. Check out these capsules on RT:

Salon: "As hard as the actors work, Jarhead feels false right down to its seductive visuals."
LA Times: "As much as we intellectually admire Jarhead, it's a cold film that only sporadically makes the kind of emotional connection it's after."
NY Times: "Jarhead is a movie that walks up to some of the most urgent and painful issues of our present circumstance, clears its throat loudly and says nothing."

But . . .

THE GREAT NEWS:

It blew away expectations at the box office this weekend, doubling tracking. Check this out from boxofficeguru (the link will go bad in a week):

Universal invaded second place with one of the year's biggest surprises, the Gulf War saga Jarhead, which debuted to an estimated $28.8M. Doubling expectations, the R-rated pic starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Jamie Foxx averaged a sensational $11,925 per theater from 2,411 locations. That was the biggest opening weekend average for any wide release since Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in mid-July. Directed by Sam Mendes (American Beauty), the $72M production pulled in young men and played especially well in larger urban markets. . . . 52% of the crowd was over 25 and 57% was male.

Thank God. As much as the reviews dash my hopes for one of my most eagerly-awaited films of the year, and knocks Jake Gyllenhaal out of the oscar derby, it did something else I wanted even more.

It solidified Jake's status as a bone fide star.

Just in time for Brokeback Mountain.

Yes, it's just all about Brokeback these days, isn't it.

But hey, it's important. Really important. I've been watching this film project develop for years, and the key to the whole impact was that it wasn't just some tiny indie film, it was a big project starring two hot young rising stars.

Since then, their stars have tarnished a bit. Jake had one huge hit in his career: The Day After Tomorrow grossed $187 million domestically last year. Heath had a big early success in The Patriot, but followed with one commercial dud after another. And Jake wasn't the reason for Day's numbers, so we were still waiting to see whether he could anchor a pic and sell it.

Did he. Whether it was him or Kayne West's Jesus Walks in the brilliant ads and trailer, he is suddenly big right now. He's got two big hits, so the one can't be written off as a fluke.

Next month when Brokeback opens, and a month after that when it goes wide, Jake will be fresh off a big hit: playing a jarhead in the Marines, of all things. A movie eaten up by millions of hardass young straightguys. Sure can't hurt.

Might even given them an excuse to see it when their girlfriend suggests it: Oh yeah, he was that cool Marine dude from that war movie last month.

OK, maybe.

I don't know how many straightguys it will lure in, but it changes the essential equation about Brokeback. It's now starring a real star.

Thank God.

Capote

Sun, 06 Nov 2005 07:05:34 GMT

I swore off blogging for a bit to stay focused, but this I need to talk about.

Just saw Capote. Extraordinary. Especially for a writer. What a gift to get such a glimpse at his process. But . . .

Huge but. But what a cynical take on him. I just don't buy it. He got all those people to open up to him by faking empathy? When he was truly just cold blooded, calculating and entirely manipulative? I guess there are con artists that good out there. I just found it way too hard to swallow.

Now I totally buy that he manipulated people. And that he was routinely conflicted: horrified and saddened, while at the same time at work--he could spot great potential for his own gain at the same moment he experienced great sorrow for them.

But this film showed only half of that equation, hence very little internal conflict. He cared only about himself in this version. Monstrous megalomaniac.

I wrote down CYNICAL! on my note paper about 20 minutes into it. Later I replaced it with cruel. Eventually, comical. Mommy Dearest level ludicrous when he whined that they were torturing him by keeping his alleged friend the killer alive.

Maybe he really was as cold blooded as the killers. But I found that aspect of it exceptionally unconvincing.

And just about everything else about the film pitch perfect. Unfortunately, that was the central conceit.

So I still admire it greatly, with one gigantic reservation.

Mark it a deeply flawed masterpiece.

---

Note: I don't fault Philip Seymour Hoffman's acting, by the way, which was stunning. (And everyone else in the film was exceptional, too.) Unless they left the other half on the editing floor it was clearly written that way and directed that way. Not his decision, it would appear.

If you thought the Brokeback trailer was heartbreaking . . .

Wed, 26 Oct 2005 02:11:24 GMT

And even my straight friends do. (Shew!)

But man. I thought I was done feeling fresh pain until the movie finally got here. Then came the theme songs. (I guess that's what they are. Apparently both play out in full over the closing credits.)

Gay.com got permission to post both to the web today. Not just snippets, the whole songs. (Thanks to them, and to Mark for the heads-up. Thanks for all the great comments on Brokeback from you guys, especially the steady supply of fresh links.)

First, there's Willie Nelson singing Bob Dylan's "He was a friend of mine." Listen here. Lyrics here. Good song, touching, seems appropriate. Didn't really move me that much.

Then there's Rufus Wainwright. Wow. You could say he's an acquired taste, so don't expect it to sound ordinary. And he's a bit of a mumbler, so the lyric sheet will help. Once you get used to his style, this song may haunt you for ages. (Listen.)

Made me cry. Half the afternoon.

Not just the song, of course. I'm sure it was powerful in its own right, but when that powerful connection of story and song comes together, watch out. I was crying for Jake. And especially for Ennis, that freaking little goofball (spoiler alert, one phrase only), too chicken to make his own life happen. And of course, for me.

No, I didn't have their problems with love. Got my own. Yeah, I bet you do too. But I've got my own. God, why couldn't you have made a few more gayboys?

That's my latest lament. My shrink told me 15 years ago I was a strange kinda guy and there was a woman out there for me, but I was prolly going to be searching ten times as long as the average guy, because it was going to be someone really unusual that would satisfy me, and vice versa. He said he had never told any of his patients that before; just wanted me to know what I was up against.

That was before I accepted the obvious, and crossed 95 percent of the population off my list. God. Like the odds weren't daunting enough already. Especially in a small city.

Oh lord won't you make me more gayboys, we're lonesome in ev-ery way . . .

Hahaha. I was hearing that to the tune of Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys in my head. I know it's stupid, but it's sure what I'm feeling. Never claimed I could write song lyrics.

Hennyway, Rufus' song is "The Maker Makes." Wrote it and sang it. Apparently the Brokeback Mountain theme song. And he really captures my heart on its more troubled mornings.

Ready for the lyrics? Read 'em and weep. But listen along first:

One more chain I break, to get me closer to you
One more chain does the maker make, to keep me from bustin' through

One more notch I scratch, to keep me thinkin' of you
One more notch does the maker make, upon my face so blue

Get along little doggies, get along little doggies

One more smile I fake, 'n try my best to be glad
One more smile does the maker make, because he knows I'm sad

Oh Lord, how I know,
Oh Lord, how I see, that only can the maker make a happy man of me

Get along little doggies, get along little doggies, get along

Man. Don't think you need to be a gayboy to feel that pain.

Stirs the same place inside me as Old Man River. That's surprising. Nothing's ever done that before. That song stood apart for me.

And I didn't need to be a black man or a slave to feel it.

I don't think you'll need to be a gayboy for this story or this movie to rip your heart out. But I think it rips an extra place or two if you are.

Update:

I suddenly thought Jack Twist / Annie Proulx might have a comment to add there: You have no idea how bad it gets.

IFC nominates Brokeback Mountain for Best Film

Wed, 26 Oct 2005 01:48:57 GMT

IFC announced its Gotham award nominations today, honoring the best indie cinema of the year.

They only have a handful of categories, and Brokeback Mountain was nominated in both where it was eligible: Best Ensemble Cast, and Best Feature.

Cool. More evidence that they really did come through with something special. And that it may make a dent in the popular psyche.

Especially since one of my two favorite critics--Peter Travers, of Rolling Stone--was on the nominating panel. The full panel:

Karen Durbin, Film Critic, Elle magazine; Rajendra Roy, Director of Programming, Hamptons International Film Festival and Competition Selection Committee Member, Berlin International Film Festival; Lisa Schwarzbaum, Film Critic, Entertainment Weekly; Peter Travers, Film Critic, Rolling Stone.

I can't wait till Nov 19, when it plays the Denver Film Fest. Ang Lee, Annie Proulx, Larry McMurty and Diana Ossana are all coming. I'm not normally star struck, but sure would like to meet them.

Brokeback Mountain--my writer friend in Rome gives the goods on the love scenes and . . .

Thu, 13 Oct 2005 06:13:52 GMT

As promised, an informal review from the only person I know of who has actually seen Brokeback Mountain--and luckily, she's a great writer, whose opinion I respect a great deal. (Her earlier, briefer take here.)

I asked her specifically about how explicit the contact between Jake and Heath was.

Her report. Warning. Massive spoilers:

Okay the setup is that these 2 characters meet on a blustery Montana street in front of their would-be Employer’s office. They get hired to spend the summer as shepherds on Brokeback Mountain. One is told to stay below and keep camp, cook the meals, do the grocery list and meet the guy who brings the supplies each week) and the other is way up on the ridge tending the sheep (keeping a lookout for the menace of wolves, etc., sporting a rifle, making the long trip up and back each day, etc. And sleeping up there, as well.)

Initially Heath Ledger ("Ennis del Mar" - loner, orphan type) is below, cooking the meals .. And Jake Gyllenhaal ("Jack Twist" rowdier, rodeo type) is up with the sheep. He comes down each morning for breakfast and each evening for dinner. This sets up a "husband – wife" or boyfriend away at work all day, girlfriend home tending the hearth scenario (for lack of a better description.) It should be said that Ledger’s character (Ennis) is ultra quiet, shy almost to the point of silent whereas Gyllenhaal’s Jack is more of a dandy outwardly expressive.

Without blowing the entire film, a set of circumstances contrive to have them switch roles, and then to eventually have Ledger’s character not be able to make the passage back UP the mountain for the night shift. And yes, they do end up in a PUP tent together, but not right away. The first and only true sex scene takes place in that tent on a freezing Montana night ... Just fyi Ledger is the top and Gyllenhaal is the bottom. And this seems to somewhat typify them throughout the film, the top being less at ease with his sexuality then the other, less able to get past that self loathing which torments him for much of the film, more stuck in attempting to play the role of the straight man ...

So, yes, the scene is fairly explicit in that you know immediately that they are fucking — and that Ledger is on top, Gyllenhaal on bottom, but you don’t really see the equipment, if you will, just that cowboy belt buckle being wrenched undone, and the jeans dropping and, oh, yea, I guess you get to see Ledger’s bum ... AND, by the way, their fucking "sort of" comes out of nowhere -- a sleepy, middle of the night grope that quickly leads to more, and is without sentiment or kissing or any tenderness, during their first encounter ...
But clearly there was the almost agonizing build up of the long, slow, quiet first act of the film ... (all of it framed in the desolate, rugged, heartbreaking Montana landscape, mind you... The setting alone does an amazing job of "throwing them together" in a way, and this — me thinks — is intentional, also a great backdrop utilizing the usual straight male cowboy cliché, but then working against it, against type ... These guys are rough around the edges, they are hard-working ranchers -- comfortable with rifles, essentially comfortable with hardship, with few expectations that their lives are going to be anything but difficult ... and the landscape doles out hardship over and over again, especially Brokeback, itself, even in summer it snows and is impossible. And there are several shots that show the distance between these two characters, the one below glancing up to the campfire far, far above on a lonely mountain in the distance ...
And, of course, the name of the mountain lets you know that this relationship will, in some way, break them, no? But here again, I digress ...

Anyway, yeah, I’d say it was explicit in what it alluded to more than what it showed. But it was more explicit than any other gay sex scene in a mainstream feature, as far as I know ... The rest of the scenes between them move between a sort of need to almost bloody one another, rough-house like bear cubs or young boys -- an eventual kind of initial glee about or warm glow from being together, while off and alone in the wilderness ... alternating with rather tender scenes of them kissing or holding one another, as they come back together over the next 14 (?) years ... But Ang Lee doesn’t belabor it. He doesn’t bother to show you much after their relationship has been established. But their joy during their first reunion after that summer (several years have passed) is truly touching. Their embrace and their need to be close to one another, but all of it needing to be hidden as they are no longer isolated on the side of a mountain.

I’m not sure that I answered the question. You know I only saw it once and it has now been several weeks since then and I didn’t write a word about it after seeing it, except whatever I emailed to you ... And that night I dashed off to a double feature with the Clooney film "Good Night & Good Luck" ... So the fact that the film isn’t more vague should, I guess, be a testament to the strength of the movie, to Lee’s handling of this tale... Some of my friends found it overly sentimental. But I didn’t, not really. I didn’t think it was nearly as sentimental and over the top as something like "Cold Mountain" (UGH!!) (I pick that one because it is also a period film, it also deals with love and longing from a distance ...etc.)

Some part of me is trying not to RUIN the entire film by telling you too much, mind you ...

The understated quality made it more powerful, if you ask me ...

Good Night and Good Luck

Wed, 12 Oct 2005 18:07:43 GMT

Oh, and this from the same friend in Rome, same email from mid September, during the Venice film fest (see previous post on Brokeback):

I also saw the Edward R Murrow Flic directed by George Clooney
Good Night & Good Luck

Maybe 2 dimensional to some degree, but a pretty perfect 90 minute film

Love robert downey jr no matter what

So nice to see a black and white film

Kudos to clooney

Holding out on you on Brokeback Mountain--my friend's mini review, from Italy

Wed, 12 Oct 2005 18:05:36 GMT

I knew I had something to post about Brokeback. (That I could do without using up writing time during the week).

A writer friend lives in Rome, and Brokeback Mountain played one night there, one showing, as part of the Venice Film Festival, during the fest last month. She went.

And I forgot to post the mini-review she emailed me. (Because I emailed back to ask permission to post it and she forgot, I forgot, blah blah blah). Here now:

I thought the film was gorgeous. Maybe a wee bit sentimental toward the end, but not any more than any most films. Think Ang Lee took a great risk. He’s not gay, himself, I don’t think. BTW I saw it with 2 straight guys (open minded, cinema prof + screenwriting prof, but straight nonetheless) and they really liked it too. We were maybe the only straight people in the cinema. Best looking crowd ever at the movies. Ha.

Anyway it was ... A classic heartbreaking love story ... told in a very straight(no pun intended, but yeah)forward manner.

A bit of a downer, though. The despair of the American West, the desolation of Wyoming, the hardship of that lifestyle, that era (1963 – and on thru 70’s), the self loathing, the denial, all of it, the separation, that they never forget one another, etc etc

I think she means downer in a good way. I think it needs to be. Annie Proulx's short story was sure a downer in the end, but a glorious tragedy. Romeo and Juliet was a big downer.

Hennyway, she neglected to mention the level of intimacy on the screen, which seems to be a huge question around the blogs over here (and which Variety and Hollywood Reporter oddly ignored. Strange. They're both reviewing for commercial reasons, and that's the big question about its commercial viability, right? And they fail to mention? Very strange.

So she's sending me something today, and I'll post tonight, after I'm done working on the book. (I was up way past two on a late-night writing binge last night, so I got a special dispensation to take a few minutes off this morning.)

See you then.

'Most gay films are awful'

Wed, 12 Oct 2005 04:30:50 GMT

I may have spoken ("spoken"?) those actual words on this site before, but so glad to read them in the Washington Blade.

Ken Sain refers to Brokeback Mountain as "probably the most anticipated gay film of all time"--which I think is a fair statement, and the phrase I've been looking for. (Not the first, hard to quantify it being "the biggest," but that captures it.)

Hennyway, then he says:

Here's a fact many gay film fans know that most straight people probably don't: Most gay films are awful.

We've had our fill of the cliché coming out, or male hookers, or dying of AIDS, or straight boys playing gay to get the girl stories.

Amen to that. And he ought to add, way too many peole with more agenda than talent, too many people with plenty of talent but insufficient resources . . .

Lots and lots of reasons. But those seem like a few of the biggest.

Agendas and art, rarely a good thing. I remember when I starting out writing, I really thought you started with the theme, dreamed up a story to convey that. Blech! Almost gua-run-TEED to produce a pile of preachy godawful drivel.

(Not just a gay problem. Switch on Oxygen or Lifetime and watch one of their Very Important Movies for women. Same impulse.)

Stamp it out, dammit, stamp it out. Just make your freaking art, tell your story and let it carry whatever message emerges.

Lot of gayboys with an ax to grind, though--understandably--and by God, they are going to grind it at your cinema whether you like it or not.

So it's not hard at all to understand the mountain of crap. But that doesn't really explain the dearth of diamonds.

But who's making them? Not all the talent rises to the top to be sure, but quite a bit of it does, and if you had made it big in a cutthroat field--as actor, director, writer, cinematographer . . . would you want to risk it all on a big gay love story?

Maybe, but you'd be in the minority.

And if you were still struggling at the bottom, and you had a great idea for a great gay film, who the hell is going to dump a load of money into it to surround yourself with lots of other great talent?

Of course lots of great films get made on a shoestring, but lots is relative. We all know most of the pack is just garbage. Just like most music demos, most novel manuscripts in the slush pile, most everything in art.

But if you go to a gay film fest, they've got to fill it up with something, and man, there is a whole lot of dreck. (I happened to be in NY for its gayles film fest this spring, and one of them made me feel so sorry for the director. He was in attendance, and he was all proud, so we kept our mouths shut, but good God. He really wanted to make a wonderful film, clearly, but were the fest organizers really doing him or us a favor by pretending it worked?)

Anyway, Ken in the Blade and me and a whole lot of other people are hoping this might finally be The One. Our little Neo.

I think Annie Proulx just sat down and wrote herself a little love story. Keenly observed, as vivid in her portrait of Wyoming as it was of two men struggling with their inability to just start a freaking ranch together and live out their lives in bliss.

Sure there are big ideas lurking there, but front and center it's just a brutally honest love story. And the bad guys are sometimes the two lovers. Especially Ennis. I just wanted to smack that boy sometimes.

She actually gets herself in a little trouble when she pushes the gaybashing idea a bit too hard, I think--not that it's front and center, but it's lurking. I'm hoping Ang will maybe mute that slightly.

But regardless, his trailer--to the extent you can trust that--seems to suggest he did the same and even more so: just told it as an honest, tragic love story.

Some day there will be lots of gay films. When we figure out they don't have to be about AIDS or callboys or coming out or any of that. Just the same damn problems as everybody else has.

I can't wait.

Brokeback Mountain Brokeback Mountain Brokeback Mountain

Tue, 11 Oct 2005 06:00:31 GMT

Just thought if I said it enough, Brokeback Mountain might arrive here sooner.

Meanwhile, you'll have to settle for the opening paragraph:

Ennis Del Mar wakes before five, wind rocking the trailer, hissing in around the aluminum door and window frames. The shirts hanging on a nail shudder slightly in the draft. He gets up, scratching the grey wedge of belly and pubic hair, shuffles to the gas burner, pours leftover coffee in a chipped enamel pan; the flame swathes it in blue. He turns on the tap and urinates in the sink, pulls on his shirt and jeans, his worn boots, stamping the heels against the floor to get them full on. The wind booms down the curved length of the trailer and under its roaring passage he can hear the scratching of fine gravel and sand. It could be bad on the highway with the horse trailer. He has to be packed and away from the place that morning. Again the ranch is on the market and they've shipped out the last of the horses, paid everybody off the day before, the owner saying, "Give em to the real estate shark, I'm out a here," dropping the keys in Ennis's hand. He might have to stay with his married daughter until he picks up another job, yet he is suffused with a sense of pleasure because Jack Twist was in his dream.

You can read more, and find a link to the text of the entire story at my Brokeback Mountain page.