I was glad to be able to see it in a small theatre with a non-tittering audience. The same was not true of my experience at a multiplex matinee during A History of Violence. sigh. Well, as has been said many times before, “Hell is other people.”
Obviously, I look forward to owning my own copy on DVD.
The following are some gay love stories with happy endings (spoiler boxed in case someone would prefer to be surprised by the endings):
Big Eden
Latter Days
Beautiful Thing
While none of these are big-budget, mainstream movies, there are definitely movies out there that tell gay love stories that end with the two lovers together. They’re all available on DVD.
There are also gay comedies which don’t necessarily involve a major love story – Mambo Italiano, for example.
I was thinking about going snarky and starting an IMHO thread entitled “Hunters: Ever climbed a fence with a gun in your hand and the safety off?” but thought that too much. Instead, please allow me to direct you to the remainder of my post. You are correct, however, in noting that “always” is a bit much. The only hunting injuries that merit media interest in my area are those that necessitate medical or law enforcement attention.
James Schamus, one of the producers of Brokeback Mountain:
Not to mention he’s only got five dollars in a coffee can to his name. Jack has the luxury (sort of) of options, while Ennis is really stuck with his circumstances.
This is also a good point. Jack married money, had a little cabin by the lake, and delusions of grandeur. His father owned a ranch, for god’s sake. Ennis was an orphan who no one loved or talked to, and he had one crap job after another and lived in a trailer. The fact that he was able to make a connection like the one he made with Jack at all was pretty amazing. People like that often go through life completely cut off and they don’t know why; they don’t go to therapists, they don’t have any friends to talk to. They work, they drink beer and watch TV, and they grunt at people who try to reach out to them. That’s what makes his relationship with Jack so tragic; had he never known what was possible, he wouldn’t have been able to miss it.
I just hope that soon after the movie ended Ennis went to his daughter’s wedding and there met the guy who did the flowers for the affair, a confirmed bachelor named Kevin who in spite of a slight lisp and a slight sashay in his walk also adored a good tractor pull and occasional ventured wilderness camping. They started accidentally running into each other on purpose across town and today they’re in their early 60s, own a day lily farm and raise champion Blueticks and Herefords, and recently celebrated their 20th year together with a civil ceremony in Framingham, MA and a week camping in Yellowstone. Alma Jr. is president of her town’s chapter of PFLAG, while Jenny was at first reluctant to accept her dad’s new “roommate” but after her own oldest son Buddy developed a stronger than usual interest in hair care products and macrame in his tween years has begun to come around a bit. Ennis and Kevin still have Christmas dinner with Alma Sr. and her current husband, and Ennis can look at Brokeback Mountain with a soft spot in his heart but at the same time a smile.
Ennis: Sampiro, I swear…
Happy endings versus gaybashing:
You can’t win for losing. If the movie has a happy ending, it gets cranked for being naive. If it’s tragic, it gets it for being retrograde.
Foks, hetero love stories come in both flavors too. There are plenty of “all for the fun of it” gay-themed movies: Priscilla, Wong Foo, etc.
And you can’t lump BBM in with the Hollywood tradition, as laid out in The Celluloid Closet, of always making sure the queer is smeared. In those darker days, the tragic end was always portrayed as being brought on one’s queer self. In BBM, it’s a tragic consequence of an intolerant society. It’s not a drag musical with a laugh track, but it’s a mature and responsible movie.
That’s beautiful.
Unfortunately the farm is in Kevin’s name, and after Kevin dies, even though he leaves Ennis the farm in his will, his homophobic relatives come along and kick Ennis off the farm. Then, to add insult to injury (on top of grief), they sue him for back rent from the entire time he lived on the farm.
Fuck, dude. The movie made me sad, but I could deal with it. That shit is heartbreaking.
Yeah, I know. I cried and cried when I read that.
Suffering Christ. What the hell can you say about that?
Finally got around to seeing Brokeback Mountain this weekend. Can’t really say much that hasn’t been said already. Not a film that disappoints.
I’m a little torn about whether or not I ought to have waited for the DVD release, though. On the one hand, the cinematography was breathtaking, and I’m glad I got to see it on a proper screen. On the other hand, I’m always vaguely mortified when I’m made to weep in public, even in the dark.
One day I’ll find a woman to go to movies with that gets messier than I do at tearjerkers and feel less self-conscious about it. Nothing like being chided by a dry-eyed woman, dammit.
You’re right, I can’t believe it.
Fuck the relatives with a pineapple.
Shoulda gone with me. I was crying the whole last half hour.
In the story Jack’s father in law pre-deceases him.
I saw it yesterday. I read through the entire thread and in typical Doper fashion, many of my thoughts have been expressed and my questions answered. Though the thread has been dormant for a week or so, I still want to put my thoughts out there.
BBM was not the greatest movie I have ever seen, but it was very well made. While I respected the fact that the pacing needed to take its time, there were stretches in the film where I found myself looking at my watch.
I think CJJ’s thought that it felt like a short story was being stretched into a feature length film was on point. After the film was over, you could see the forest for the trees in every slow moment (so it made it worthwhile), but during the film, sometimes the “trees” where boring.
A few thoughts:
I admit to being uncomfortable during the physically expressive scenes (both sex and kissing). My wife noted that I would look at my feet or away when they first happened. I think it is just the shock of seeing something that we don’t see that often in the MSM. It wasn’t a “THAT’S GROSS!” reaction, just something I wasn’t comfortable seeing. But I will say, I think it was just the initial shock. As the film went on, my reaction did not continue. All that said, they absolutely should not have omitted it from the film. People, even those like me who support gay rights, should just learn to deal with their issues.
What is Stonewall? People keep mentioning it like a turning point in gay culture.
After seeing this movie with my wife, we met a couple for dinner who had seen the film the previous week. Everyone enjoyed and appreciated the film and we had a nice discussion. No one had any snarkiness or judgement about the subject matter. Then I remembered the time we all four rode together to vote in the GOP primaries before going to dinner. Maybe there is hope in the younger generation…
Did Michelle Williams do enough to warrant an Oscar nomination? She was very good and conveyed great emotion in her facial expressions, but was she on screen enough to get a nod?
I had no problem with the sad ending. Gay love stories today may have a happy ending (despite the fact that the day I saw the film, there was a story in the paper of a man attacking a gay bar), but I imagine most gay romances ending badly in the days before Will and Grace. Especially in rural America. And if you think about it, progress always came to the “frontier” much later than in mainstream society (this was especially true before the internet and satellite TV). The 60’s seemed like the 30’s in Wyoming and West Texas. Even when it got to the 80’s, it felt like the 60’s in rural America. The only hints that it was the 80’s in Texas was Anne Hathaway (who looks just like my wife!) was going all Urban Cowboy.
A nice touch was Ennis’s fight with Jack at the end of their first outing on Brokeback. It was like it was time for Ennis to return to “being a man” and had to go through a physical manifestation of breaking off the relationship.
Though I felt the original affair came out of nowhere (at least for Ennis), my wife suggested that it had to be that way. She said a guy like Ennis would have been able to resist had it not just happened out of the blue; that he would deny his feelings if he had time to build up a wall.
I agree with the posters who said Jack was more comfortable with his homosexuality than Ennis. The story really was about Ennis’s struggle. (Jack was definitely a supporting character). The whole time, Jack is trying to embrace the lifestyle while Ennis tries to think of it as a luxury. Compartmentalized. You see that in the moment where they are sitting by the river, having carried on a love affair for 20 years, Ennis brags to Jack like he would to a real fishing buddy that he has been putting it to this waitress. I let out a small, inappropriate chuckle at that line. It was just so absurd at that point for Ennis to keep up the charade and reinforce his masculinity.
I’m not sure if Sam Lowry is still going to read this thread, but I wondered what the reaction was in College Station when A&M was mentioned? It is always funny being in a small town and have the movie mention it out of the blue.
As for Jack’s death, I suspected he was a victim of random mob violence when his affair with the local man was discovered. My wife assumed it was his wife who had it done. Clearly, the wife knew. Her regurgitation of his death was spoken like she was reading aloud the obit of a complete stranger (“He was 39 years old.”) I could see a Lady MacBeth vibe coming from that scene. In the end, it doesn’t matter who did it. Or if there was even foul play involved at all. The simple fact that Ennis believed it involved foul play was enough to make him feel his fears were realized.
While I agree with some that the daughter scene at the end was intended to make us see that Ennis was turning a corner toward accepting his feelings, I felt it was a little too much of an effort to give us SOME happy ending. Personally I don’t think Ennis will go onto a life of happiness. I think it will be a solitary life where he works hard and keeps to himself.
A good movie. A well made film. But not the greatest thing in the world. I give credit to the filmmakers for doing so much (and successing financially) with such difficult subject matter. I will not be disappointed if it wins BP, but I think it was the best in a weak year.
A solid B+.
William Hurt was nominated for A History of Violence, and he had a single scene that was only about 10 minutes. And whatsherface (one of the Kates/Cates, I always screw up their names) was nominated for a ten-minute bit as Queen Elizabeth in some damn film.
Sorry – meant to hit “preview” –
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, middleman – I continue to find people’s reactions to the film interesting.
That was Judi Dench for Shakespeare in Love. She won. Cate Blanchett also played QEI in Elizabeth and was nominated for Best Actress but didn’t win.