Watching Brokeback Mountain (2005, Ang Lee)
Brokeback is probably the most notorious film this year. It was practically unnoticed until Venice and only then started getting loads of awards. On Rotten Tomatoes, it scores 85% (90%), which is a rather rare achievement. It is nominated for eight oscars, including Best Picture, Best Direction, Best Supporting and Leading actors. On the other hand, people who've seen it report it is boring, over-long, pointless and empty.
I couldn't agree, though. Watching Brokeback is one of the rare experiences of a "real" film. Film, which is visual, before everything else. Film which speaks with glances, stares and looks. A film which "don't say much, but you get your point across, " as one of the characters says. I like these sort of films. Watching them is an exercise in patience, but it is also a profound experience in humanity. You get to see many films, stuffed full with pointless lines, incompetent actors and boring plots, but only rarely a film, full of life and real emotion where there's no need to constantly stimulate the viewer, but rather let him/her allow the time for reflection.
Even though an unfulfilled, secretive gay relationship isn't a real novelty in film-making, this film challenges one of the last strong-holds of manhood - the cowboys. In reality, they're none the less prone to being homosexuals than other men. Actually, spending a lot of time alone, only a couple cowboys on one mountain, the need to feeling close to someone is overwhelming. As is sexual desire.
The stunning scenery, the bluest of the blue skies and grass as green as it can be, is one of the advantages the film has. The other are its actors. This is not a film with lots of dialogue; in fact, the most important statements are conveyed by looks rather than words.
Brokeback is also a one-man film. If Heath Ledger was a cocky teenager in 10 Things I hate about you and if he was completely unconvincing in The Four Feathers, then this is not his typical film. I never thought an actor in so many ways middle of the form, talentless and awkward, could perform so enchantingly in a film which relies solely on his acting abilities. This is Ledger's film and (almost) his story. The viewer constantly has the feeling that this is Ledger's real story; the emotions are so palpable, so primal, his facial expressions so realistic, one gets the feeling you've known him all your life. (It is ironic that Ledger met Michelle Williams during filming of this project and later had a child with her.)
Ennis, Ledger's character, is a man who doesn't say much (the actor thus cannot hide his poor acting skills behind a fluent stream of words - this is, contrary to my expectations, where Ledger is at his most convincing), who has problems expressing himself, whose inner life seems nonexistent, but these are all the viewer's prejudices. He is a man, capable of a devoted, exclusive relationship with another man, which stretched for decades. There is no cheating from his side, no perverseness in his feelings. He feels just as deeply as the other men around himself, but apart from them, he cannot reveal his secret (love), he is plagued by fear and insecurity and a constant lack of money. His love for another man ruins all his relationships with women, because he can't function with a woman. He loves Jack, he loves him exclusively, he loves him with all that he is, yet he musn't show it, can't be happy with him, is forced to hide his feelings, his inclinations, even though they're honorable. Ennis is a personification of the tragedy of a gay relationship in a conservative environment.
Jack, on the other hand, is the one who feels more openly, who is willing to let others know of his relationship, who even flirts with other men, has meaningless one-night stands in Mexico, because he can't be with the one whom he loves. He's talkative, more direct, appears to be more in contact with his feelings, is willing to risk everything he has, to be able to be with Ennis, but is constantly rejected by him. Ennis doesn't want their relationship to become public, because he fears (and rightly so) that they'll be scorned, condemned and possibly physically assaulted for their sexual orientation.
The film is one long mourning for that which we must have in order to exist, but cannot. It dispels the image of a gay man, who looks for sex and hardly anything more, who is devoid of feeling and full of lust and who is seemingly unable to have a life-long relationship. And though I haven't seen Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (I know I'm missing a lot) I am quite certain that Brokeback is one of the best films Ang Lee's made. (I did see Sense&Sensibility, though.)
When President Bush was asked whether he's going to see the film, he did not want to answer the question. United States, for all their talk about the freedom of speech/expression remain the most conservative in their approach towards this film; it's R rated which is curious for a film where nudity is brief, carefully controlled and to the point; and the most you see of sex is in the darkness of a tent (or a car or a room), a scene perhaps 10 seconds long. At least to me, the more painful were scenes about marriage "felicity" than the gay sex, which is, if I remember correctly, only in one scene.
As for whether the film will triumph at the Oscars, one cannot tell. It is good to bear in mind that the ones who cast their votes are mainly older conservative men, who despise homosexuality, consider it a sin and against human nature. Certainly, Ledger's performance is worth the statuette, but there are other very solid performances also (most notably Capote and Walk the Line). We'll have to wait and see.
As for the film, I highly recommend it, but treat is as a unique piece. Ease into it's slow pace, enjoy the scenery, watch for the facial expressions and be prepared to understand more about the plot from them than from the actual words.
12 Comments:
My prediction is that the movie will win something, because the Academy won't want to look biased, but it definitely won't triumph, because they in fact are biased.
Exactly. It might win Best Adapted Screenplay, maybe also Best Director, but I don't think it'll win Best Picture. Same as last year, when Aviator was infinitely better than Million Dollar Baby, but who'd want a film about a crazy multi-billionaire, who keeps his urine in milk-bottles, to win? Not the Academy, I bet.
Who said that? OK, I don't care. The film is neither boring, over-long, pointless nor empty to me. It's also moving.
The first scenes in the Rocky mountains are plain beautiful, very nostalgic to me, however I read that those mountains are in fact some Canadians and that those blue skies and green green grasses were enhanced by a computer. But is that bad? Let us discuss this once and for all. "Half" of Lord of the Rings (and "whole" King Kong) was filmed in front of a blue screen. These films are not documentary, they are art, with all scenes planned. I am happy with that, so I won't be angry on anybody, when I am hiking the New Zeland, and it doesn't look like Lord of the Rings.
Both tragedies, of Ennis and Jack, are sad, but I was moved stronger by Ennis', even though ... Jack is too strong, or capable, to sympathize with, when Ennis is so poor, such a mess, that I still think about him. I will paraphrase miss Nadheza and say that Ennis is the personification of a poor, unfortunate soul.
The acting is moving, and here too I preferred Ennis. I hope Ledger gets academy-awarded (though Phoneix is very good), when Jake is clearly not that good of an actor yet. But I remember some of his previous films, and he is getting better.
I profit much from having seen this film.
Miss no Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ... remedy that, remedy that.
Well, I don't mind it if they really enhanced the scenery. After all I don't really wonder (when watching a film) how many noses and lips and other parts were crafted by skilled plastic surgeons instead of mother Nature.
Jack is a different personality; and I don't think that for a moment he loved Ennis less. Jack is more daring, willing to expose his relationship, while Ennis is not. I think Gyllenhaal (acting-wise) improved immmensly over the last few years and this is one of the better of his roles.
There is too little time... I wish my day had 48 hours. And I wish I had Clocky... the people who voted it for Ig-Nobel clearly have NO idea just how difficult it is to get up in the morning.
To post a comment or not to post comment, to comment on that comment or not. I know, this must be a big dilemma, especially if it is your blog. So don't you just hate that feeling of imperative to comment on all comments, post deeper and deeper. Well, I say don't. We all have 24 hours a day, stuff to learn, work to do, and we all need to sleep, some would like to sleep more, while some aren't content with that 24 hours and would like more. Some would like ever more, I know that feeling, for I want ever more, 24 hours a day are a joke to me. Perhaps 32, just for me, please? Oh, and 48 for Nadezhda. I am an atheist, but would be ever grateful and paying tribute for such a majestic gift.
Hate the self-imperative to be better all the time? No, I love it; I consider it the essence of life. Life (for me) is continual improvement.
Though, obviously, I can't do everything I would wish to in one day. But I can try to make the most of it, anyway.
Sometimes I hate it and want to take my mind and time off, so I take the mind off, if I can. - For sometimes I can't, and sometimes I could, but I do some stupid thing instead, like biting my nails. It can get stressful and nasty. But please let me spare you with details. :)
However, isn't so with every great love, now you love it, and then you hate it? Let's hate as little as we can, ok, but we will never only love, because that sine function goes up and it goes down.
Oh wait a minute, where did we come: from Brokeback Mountain to neurosis. Well, it isn't that far away, when you think of it.
I was thinking the other night and I am now more inclined to Phoenix being academy-awarded. There was this nice article in Vikend Magazin, and when I thought about it, his performance really is stronger than of Ledger. It's now just, what, a week to Awards? Let us wait and see. Do you not go to bed and wait for the live show? I know some such people. Or do you read the awards on the net in the morning, or how? - Oh I know, a question with little or no sense.
You bite nails, I eat chocolate or chew bubble gums compulsively. :) If you feel pressurized, you should take time off, if only an hour. Bottling up stress like that isn't healthy at all!
I don't think the opposite of love is hate. I think it is indifference or even fear. I do agree that love is a sine function, but sometimes the down is very brief and the up is long and it goes high. I don't think it's fifty-fifty.
I never watched Oscars live. I watch the video clips on their official page, read newspapers and try to see TV reports. Do you watch the live show? (And it's not a silly question at all.)
I thought a lot about that sine function of mine ... believe me, I differentiated it, integrated it and sought its generating differential equation and much more ... anyway, I know it's not symmetrical about the time axis. You know Jacobi function? It's the solution of the 2d pendulum (- look for the very bottom left ani-pic). It looks interesting and it serves as a nice association. I hope I will use it someday in a particular book review.
I did watch the Oscars live once. I regret that, for I was completely useless on the next day. But a useless day in high school wasn't that rare with me, that's also true. However, I know of a lass (from medicine university here in Ljubljana, now that you mention it) who watches Oscars live every year. She is Oscar nuts.
I am progressing (to the better) with my nails though ... :)
ON LOVE VERSUS HATE
True. You went deeper. It seem to me as in a film, or life for that matter, where I could say, those men are evil and those are good. But what are the first evil for; what are all the drivers that steer their evil deeds? Aren't there more levels of evilness; some more and some less harmful, while some mostly harmless? And similarly, a good deed can be done out of many beliefs and impulses, even out of selfishness, which could be argued whether it is good or evil altogether.
Similarly I feel love to be on the opposite side of gray level to hate. But love can masks many things, and some may not even be positive. I feel hate to be close to the things you mention: fear and tiredness. Fear of what; failing to do good job somewhere? But couldn't that be just hate of that work? For when one loves something, he always finds a way, and he never wearies down.
So I learnt: If I really can't live in some different kind of world, where it would all be more "nice", then I will just have to wok harder here, and love this one more and on overall "hate" it less.
I used to hate our world pretty much. I've worked a lot on myself, and remedied much. There is still a lot to be done. There is more to be done that has been done, if you know what I mean. But just the positive trend is a lovely and encouraging thought, isn't it?
ON BITING NAILS, AND GOING BOINK WITH CHOCOLATE FOR THAT MATTER
I bite my nails ever since. But that's no biggy, you might say, it's just them small nails, right? No. I think it's more seriously, I think a 26 year-old nail bitter has a big problem. We should turn to some psychologist or psychiatrist for exact data, but there is an average age when a normal boy stops biting his nails, and it is much below 20.
People have other kinds of such smallish neuroses like: compulsive over-eating (when one is already full, i.e., - is it the same with compulsive reading?), gambling, cerebellar sexual practice, and on and on. OK, it may seem that I think about much more than I can fully comprehend. Perhaps you are right. But still, I think that all these neuroses share some things in common, they mask similar type of depression. And bigger neuroses like smoking and drinking alcohol or doing other drugs, falls under this same understanding: one just can't control himself, so he's in the control of his impulses; not a master of himself, but a slave! This is very interesting to me, at least from this "hobby kind-of point of view of mine". Wouldn't you agree?
So guess what, I am telling you, you are not alright.
And neither am I. :)
Yet hope remains, while we stay true to ... learning and discovering.
Now don't write another comment for some time. I might answer it!
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