Lounge of Tomorrow - View Single Post - 'Brokeback Mountain'

innerSpaceman · 12-19-2005, 01:10 PM

Well, I could be forced to surrender my gay card for having waited till the second weekend of release, but I finally saw "Brokeback Mountain." I liked it far better than I expected to.

It turns out that a short story is the perfect literary form to adapt to a movie ... because with the addition of perhaps three scenes, and deletion of as many from the source ... it turns out that laying out a story that spanned 30 pages in writing takes just about two hours to unfold on screen. As such, it was just about the most perfect literary adaptation that I’ve seen.

This is a tale where the sense of connection between Ennis and Jack comes from the lovers being apart, not from their original time together on Brokeback Mountain. It’s a dramatic structure that many have complained about, but it’s one that accentuates the sadness and poignancy of the story.

A lot of people also fail to recognize that it’s a period piece - - running from 1963 to 1983 and taking place in Wyoming and Texas. Attitudes about coming out, and confusions about bisexuality all have to be taken in context of the time and place. A time and place which I believe were very consciously chosen to coincide with the last bastions of intense homophobia in this country, thus pointing a subtle finger at the centuries of deadly persecution faced by homosexuals which only came to an end, for the most part, in the 60's and 70's when the story takes place. I think this adds something to the film’s thesis that gay love is just love ... nothing more, nothing less ... not to be excoriated or denied or hated.

In a perverse way, I found it refreshing that the tragic death of a gay character was not because of AIDS, but resulted from the far more time-honored method of lynching and bludgeoning.

I credit the fine script and the able directing for making me feel that the slowness and deliberateness of the storytelling was meant to inspire thoughtfulness, and to fill the silences with meaning and purpose arrived at by the viewer’s contemplation. That the film was also blessed with fine performances and beautiful cinematography argue for a finely crafted film. That I found it touching and dramatically moving makes it, in my opinion, simply a fine film all around.

(Oh, and though Heath Ledger’s performance was amazing, it’s still all about Jake, Jake, Jake for this particular g.b. What a hottie!)

12-19-2005, 01:10 PM	#1
innerSpaceman Kink of Swank Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Inner Space Posts: 13,075	Well, I could be forced to surrender my gay card for having waited till the second weekend of release, but I finally saw "Brokeback Mountain." I liked it far better than I expected to. It turns out that a short story is the perfect literary form to adapt to a movie ... because with the addition of perhaps three scenes, and deletion of as many from the source ... it turns out that laying out a story that spanned 30 pages in writing takes just about two hours to unfold on screen. As such, it was just about the most perfect literary adaptation that I’ve seen. This is a tale where the sense of connection between Ennis and Jack comes from the lovers being apart, not from their original time together on Brokeback Mountain. It’s a dramatic structure that many have complained about, but it’s one that accentuates the sadness and poignancy of the story. A lot of people also fail to recognize that it’s a period piece - - running from 1963 to 1983 and taking place in Wyoming and Texas. Attitudes about coming out, and confusions about bisexuality all have to be taken in context of the time and place. A time and place which I believe were very consciously chosen to coincide with the last bastions of intense homophobia in this country, thus pointing a subtle finger at the centuries of deadly persecution faced by homosexuals which only came to an end, for the most part, in the 60's and 70's when the story takes place. I think this adds something to the film’s thesis that gay love is just love ... nothing more, nothing less ... not to be excoriated or denied or hated. In a perverse way, I found it refreshing that the tragic death of a gay character was not because of AIDS, but resulted from the far more time-honored method of lynching and bludgeoning. I credit the fine script and the able directing for making me feel that the slowness and deliberateness of the storytelling was meant to inspire thoughtfulness, and to fill the silences with meaning and purpose arrived at by the viewer’s contemplation. That the film was also blessed with fine performances and beautiful cinematography argue for a finely crafted film. That I found it touching and dramatically moving makes it, in my opinion, simply a fine film all around. (Oh, and though Heath Ledger’s performance was amazing, it’s still all about Jake, Jake, Jake for this particular g.b. What a hottie!) Last edited by innerSpaceman : 12-19-2005 at 01:24 PM.
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