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11-21-2005, 08:02 AM
|  | Epinions Members | | Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: The City In A Garden
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OK -- if I do nothing else this December, I'm going to see Brokeback Mountain. All the buzz I've seen so far is positive, with one exception who was po'd because they used straight actors to play the cowboys. (I'm not counting the wingnut who said they were demeaning Wyoming.)
I've also been looking for a copy of Close Range, which is the collection of Annie Proulx's stories in which it first appeared. I have noticed that the marketing is in full swing -- the story has been reissued in a single volume at ten bucks for the paperback, which I think is kind of tacky.
Anyone heard anything? |
11-21-2005, 09:42 AM
|  | thread-killa | | Join Date: Dec 2000
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Just that it's really, really good.
I'd love to see it, but seeing as going to see Rent on Wednesday will be my first non-children's movie in a theater since Phantom Menace (no, I'm not kidding!!!), I doubt I'll get the chance.  |
11-21-2005, 09:57 AM
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IMDB gives it eight stars, and I'm usually happy with anything over six. I'll definately have to look it up at some point, it looks really interesting.
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11-21-2005, 11:12 AM
|  | Geeky goof | | Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Boston, Mass.
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All the buzz I've heard has been good, too. I think we'll try to see this one in the theater instead of waiting for DVD. |
11-21-2005, 11:44 AM
|  | Hot and Juicy | | Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: off campus
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I'm so out of the scene - I don't even know what you're talking about - I'm guessing its a really good movie. |
11-21-2005, 01:13 PM
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Ang Lee's latest, won the top award at Venice, was highly praised at Montreal, based on a short story by Annie Proulx about two cowboys who fall in love in Wyoming (I think) in the 1960s but simply don't know how to deal with their feelings for each other. Larry McMurtry was one of the screenwriters; stars Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal. The gist of what I've been hearing is that it's an intelligent and sensitive love story that moves beyond the identity politics of "gay" films. Way beyond. It's quite deliberately being marketed as a romance, not a western -- even the poster was inspired by the poster for Titanic.
The one comment I read that had issues was that the actors are not gay, the characters are not "gay," and both Ledger and Gyllenhaal are gorgeous (well, duh!). Since I'm really sort of tired of gay identity politics at this point, that's no problem for me.
I can't remember the last time I looked forward to a movie this much.
Pippa, it's due for release December 9, so you have time. (You can tell how much I want to see this one -- I never remember things like release dates.) |
11-21-2005, 01:18 PM
| | Hot and Juicy | | Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: off campus
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Ok - now I think it's really sad that I haven't heard of it. I hope its getting more press than I've been exposed to - it sounds wonderful! I'm sure I'll have to drive a ways to see it - it probably won't be at the big local theaters - but I'll look for it. It will be nice to see a love story without all the politics and commentary.  |
11-21-2005, 01:20 PM
|  | In Spanish, I'm Marijuana | | Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Lawn-Guy-Land, NY
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Quote: | rmthunter said
The one comment I read that had issues was that the actors are not gay, the characters are not "gay," and both Ledger and Gyllenhaal are gorgeous (well, duh!). | So did the critic think it would be good to return to the days when all the hetero actors refused to play gay roles?
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It's extraordinary to me that the United States can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can't find $25 billion dollars to save 25,000 children who die every day from preventable diseases.~ Bono |
11-21-2005, 01:43 PM
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As I recall, he thought the actors should have been gay and not good-looking.
I've read some comments by Ledger and Gyllenhaal, and both jumped at the roles, even though they are a little scary -- there are a couple of fairly hot sex scenes, as I understand it. They also happen to be friends, it appears, so that, I think, would bring another dimension to the romance that I think lands on the positive side: a real relationship between two real people.
As for the naysayer, I really do not see his point -- at this stage of history, what difference does it make whether the actors are gay or straight? I think it's long past the time where playing a gay character is going to torpedo someone's career, and as far as the political aspect goes, I think you're right, MJ -- it's much more positive to have straight actors willing or even eager to do roles like this, not because of the politics so much as because we're reaching the point where a gay man can be a fully rounded, sympathetic central character in a straightforward, fairly low-key story. Both the actors are quite clear that they wanted to do the movie because the characters are great roles.
I think it's also very positive because it's dumping the stereotypes.
I'm perfectly willing to take it as a love story about two people that I find it a little easier to connect with than I do whoever the reigning screen couple is these days.
(Gad -- how can any movie live up to this?) |
11-21-2005, 04:30 PM
|  | Mom of the Four Men | | Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Canada, sort of
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I'm really eager to see this one. Ang Lee and Larry McMurty- what's not to like?!
Cindy |
11-21-2005, 09:16 PM
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Quote: | rmthunter said
As for the naysayer, I really do not see his point -- at this stage of history, what difference does it make whether the actors are gay or straight? I think it's long past the time where playing a gay character is going to torpedo someone's career, and as far as the political aspect goes, I think you're right, MJ -- it's much more positive to have straight actors willing or even eager to do roles like this, not because of the politics so much as because we're reaching the point where a gay man can be a fully rounded, sympathetic central character in a straightforward, fairly low-key story. Both the actors are quite clear that they wanted to do the movie because the characters are great roles. | Hear, Hear!
The boyfriend and I watched a movie a couple of months ago that was made back in 1982, which had a gay couple in it. The actors felt the need to issue a statement to the public saying that, in order to do the kissing scenes, they had both needed to get very, very drunk.
Which statement the boyfriend told me about after we watched the movie. It really pissed me off, too, because I had actually had a certain degree of respect for them, playing those parts at that point in history. I mean, does Christopher Reeves need to publish a statement that he doesn't actually walk around in spandex in real life? No? Then why should he feel the need to reassure people that he's really, really not gay, and that he was just acting when he was kissing Michael Caine?
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11-22-2005, 12:34 AM
|  | Law Talkin' Guy | | Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Trenton, NJ
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Ahem. Quote:
Cartman: No dude, independent films are those black and white hippie movies. They're always about gay cowboys eating pudding.
Wendy: No they're not. Independent films are produced outside the hollywood system. They're movies without all the glitch and glamour of Hollywood.
Cartman: Well, you show one independent film that isn't about gay cowboys eating pudding.
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11-22-2005, 12:08 PM
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Quote: | eris esoteric said
Then why should he feel the need to reassure people that he's really, really not gay, and that he was just acting when he was kissing Michael Caine? | Because in the era of "stars," actors and their roles are fungible.
I would have been happy to stand in for either of them. |
11-27-2005, 07:32 AM
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If anyone's interested, Towleroad has assembled a lot of the coverage on the film. http://towleroad.typepad.com/towleroad/ |
11-27-2005, 11:55 AM
| | thread-killa | | Join Date: Dec 2000
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LOL. You have to understand... Rent was the first non-children's film I've seen on the big screen in almost SIX YEARS!!! December 9 is NOT enough time.
I love the critics who jump all over non-gay actors in such roles. So does that mean only hetero actors should play hetero roles? Sheesh. Too bad for Rupert Everett, no? |
11-27-2005, 12:39 PM
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Call it the decay of our understanding of art. These are actors: they pretend to be other people for a living.
Chalk it up to the cult of personality.
If it's any consolation, the last movie I saw period was "Memento." Mmm -- four years ago? |
11-27-2005, 05:45 PM
|  | Usagi Yojimbo | | Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: The Birthplace of American Democracy
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I loved "The Wedding Banquet" and "Eat Drink Man Woman."
But not The Hulk.
-JP |
12-11-2005, 08:46 AM
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I just read Annie Proulx' story, which just blew me away. It's free at New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/con...12fr_archive01
It's not very long -- printed out at 17 pages.
I just don't have words to talk about it right now. |
12-11-2005, 11:18 AM
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12-12-2005, 09:48 PM
| | thread-killa | | Join Date: Dec 2000
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I love Boondocks.. |
12-15-2005, 08:34 PM
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Got my ticket for what I think is the first showing in Chicago -- tomorrow morning. | |
When Poe ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.
