Flashback Mountain

[muckefuck]

Many thanks to mollpeartree, who braved the cold we should've been having for months now to make the long trek from her gang-groups-of-individuals-infested neighbourhood on the South Side to join me in Yuppie Central for Brokeback Mountain. I tried to keep my expectations modest, as I always do when seeing highly-touted Oscar-fodder, but this one really lived up to the hype. When it was over, I said to myself, Now that was a well-made film, which is also what went through my head after Gegen die Wand. But whenever I call Brokeback to mind, a delicate ache goes through my chest of the type I haven't felt in a long time, at least not from a film; something about it is adhering.

I studiously avoided most reviews, critiques, commentaries, and the like having to do with the movie due to fear of spoilers, so if there's anything out there you think I should've read about Brokeback Mountain, please post a link or citation. (Nuphy already sent me Proulx' short story, which I haven't gotten around to reading yet.)

Comments

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the US media are very geared toward selling pie-in-the-sky romances and not at all equipped to promote tragic love affairs. That's one reason why I try to ignore as much advance publicity as I can before a movie.

One of the nagging questions in my mind is: Why does Loreena marry Jack? He's pretty, okay, but so is she--and she's wealthier and higher status than him. There's some implication that it was a shotgun wedding, but this is never clear--and, even so, it doesn't explain why she keeps him around. Is it just to annoy her father? I only came upon that idea because of that scene you mention; she clearly smirks with satisfaction when Jack tongue-lashes him.

[shdwpoet.livejournal.com]

Heh. Mmmmm. tongue-lashing.

*smacks himself* Stop it.

Yeah. There were a lot of subtleties to the movie that were nice. For instance, I did like the part where Ennis finally met Jack's mother. She sensed quite a bit about him and, being a mother, most likely knew all about Jack as well. That was the only part of the movie that brought me even close to dropping a tear or two, when she packed her son's shirt up in a paper grocery back and gave it to Ennis with that look on her face, like she knew what it would mean to him.