Okay, I saw this movie yesterday and it's still with me like a ghost.

I put the spoiler warning up because I wanted to talk about the film with folks that have seen it. I'm wondering if it affected others like it affected me.

I hadn't read anything about the movie before going to see it. I was pretty much like "hey, gay cowboys; HOT!" I was utterly unprepared to leave the theater emotionally devastated. I think I cried nonstop for the entire last half-hour. There were times throughout the movie that I got teary-eyed, but starting with Jack and Ennis' last scene together at the lake, the dam just broke. When they flashed back to them young, together back on Brokeback, I knew that this was the last time they were going to see each other. Tears were pouring down my face. When they showed how Jack really died, I had to put my jacket over my face I was sobbing so hard. And when Ennis found his shirt in Jack's childhood bedroom, forget it. The Mistress was done.

I sat through the entire credits, went home, drank some wine and listened to "Scream Like a Baby" by David Bowie about six times in a row (thanx, anx ).

How many hearts have been broken, how many lives ruined, in exactly this way because of homophobia? This movie is going to stay with me for a long time...

Hi sweety!

It's funny. I went to see the movie and thought it was great. It wasn't earth shattering for me since I've seen various gay-themed movies where being gay isn't an issue. BUT, I started thinking more and more about the movie hours and days later. It kind of creeped up on me. I went to see it one more time and lost it in some parts. Even though the end is cryptic ("I swear....") I GOT IT. Very painful.


M.

it was a strong movie, to be sure. it didn't really devastate me like i've heard it has a lot of people, but it was really VALIDATING to see a love story about two men that wasn't mired in pecs-sploitation and circuit club dance music. it was a realistic story about realistic people who just happened to be two men who were in love with each other.

FINALLY.

i hope this movie blows the hinges off other stories waiting to be told out there, and i hope it forces films dealing with gay subject matter to rise to a new level of maturity. it's been a long time coming.

and 'scream like a baby'...what a nightcap, mistress....

Anxiety said:

Although it's kind of the same theme, I hope they FINALLY greenlight THE DREYFUSS AFFAIR. It's a story about two Major League Baseball players that fall in love.


M

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

I loved the end. I loved how the characters stayed so true instead of having a Hollywood ending. Ennis didn't undergo some kind of magical transformation and suddenly become Mr. Flowing Emotions. He had definitely gone through inner transformations, but he was still essentially who he was - stunted by the death of his parents at an early age and unable to express himself. He couldn't even finish the sentence, still couldn't form the words, even to himself.

FunkMistress said:

There's a whole discussion about Ennis' visit to Jack's parents house. People are saying that when Jack's mother gives him the back to put the shirt in, she puts some of Jack's asshes in there with it. That's why she's looking at him funny. That's why Ennis says thanks to her before he leaves. I don't know about all that but I do know that Jack's mother really knew how much love Jack and Ennis had for one another.

M

Anxiety said:

Hear, hear.

I think there are a couple of reasons why it hit me so hard, personally. For one thing, I usually only watch comedies. I get out to the movies so infrequently, and life can be quite enough drama all on its own. I want to be laugh and be entertained, dammit! So watching a hard-hitting dramatic love story is not something I do often; thus I think this one was more singularly powerful for me.

Also, I don't cry much in real life. Even when I want to, sometimes I just can't. Like I said above, it was like a dam broke and so much came out. It was cathartic. Awesome.

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

Oh, I never thought about the possibility of his ashes being in there. Interesting. I definitely think that both of Jack's parents knew at least to some extent the depth of Jack and Ennis's relationship. The father was bitter about it. The mother obviously felt differently. She had so much compassion in her eyes for Ennis; it was clear that she knew in some part what he must have been going through.

i'm the same as you, mistress--i watch more lighthearted stuff than tearjerker movies. that, and i rarely cry as well. i haven't seen brokeback mountain (in fact i clicked on here to read the spoilers to save the $8 or however much theaters charge to get in nowadays), but i've heard nothing but praise for the movie. it does sound rather poignant...and i'm with those of ya'll who hope that more movies of this sort get released to kill off the usual gay stereotypes.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Oh, you should see it, love. Ang Lee (who also directed Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) is incredible. And the actors - well, I know it's acting but I still can't believe they didn't fall madly in love making this movie. Can you really fake passion like that? Even if, as an actor, you're calling up passion that you've felt at other times in your life and using it for the scene, aren't you then attaching that same level of passion to the person you're now "experiencing" it with? (did that make any sense at all?)

FunkMistress said:

You should check out Ang Lee's THE WEDDING BANQUET. It's about a Chinese guy and an American guy that are lovers. The Chinese guy's parents are coming in from China so they have to rearrange their lives. It's pretty funny and touching.

M

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

Thanks; I'll try to check it out when I finally pay Blockbuster for the DVDs that got destroyed under my couch...

FunkMistress said:

your couch eats dvds?

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

I think so...When I was moving, I moved the couch and there were two DVDs under there scratched and cracked to bits. It was really weird...

isn't it incredible? it tore my ass up, and had me crying hard.

i have to agree that i saw the compassion and understanding in the mother's eyes, and wondered wether her invitation, nay demand, for ennis to come back and see her was to either give him some of jack's ashes or to commiserate his death with him.

and am i wrong about the shirt? i thought it was both of their shirts that they fought in, the denim one being jacks, and the plaid being ennis's which was inside the jack shirt.

god, what an incredible movie. best thing i have seen this year, and not because it was a gay film.

cborgman said:

You are correct sir. It is the jacket that Ennis fought and bled in. Remember, when they left Ennis said "I forgot my shirt." Jack had taken it.


M

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

no, no. i mean the actual shirt was the one ennis was wearing, and what you think is a jacket i could have sworn was a denim shirt that jack was wearing. partof the reason i would swear to it, was there was blood on the outside of both articles of clothing.

which, when he found it, the two shirts were inside one another, literally ennis's shirt inside jack's.

but i could be wrong and hyper-focusing on details.

cborgman said:

it is. it's the shirt Ennis thought he left. Jack took to have something to remember him by. very touching

cborgman said:

Yep, it was both of theirs. The plaid one was Ennis's, with his blood on it. The blue one was Jack's jacket. Jack had taken Ennis's shirt without his knowledge and carefully placed it inside his own jacket, hiding it in the closet of his childhood bedroom. *sob!*

Nice touch: at the end, when Ennis opens his closet you see that he reversed it. He placed Jack's jacket inside of his own shirt. Almost as if to say, "you always held and embraced me and I couldn't do it for you. Now I will."

ehuffnsd said:

oh, okay, i see.

FunkMistress said:

noticed that too.

god, what a brilliant movie.

okay, another thing i would like to discuss... i have not read the short story yet, which miguel sweetly sent me, and he says it is more specific thatn the movie....

which do you think is the reality?
jack's wife saying that it was a car accident or the flash in ennis's head of jack being attacked with the crowbar? is it merely ennis being paranoid, or is it that the wife's father found out and had some boys get jack whom he hated to begin with?

Anxiety said:

...and that they won't have to contain shots of two different women's tits in order to get greenlit (not that I minded, you understand)

FunkMistress said:

cborgman said:

This is an interesting question. I thought that Jack being beaten to death was the reality. Especially because of the way the wife told each detail of the story so stoically, as if it had been rehearsed.

But it's possible that this was just in Ennis's head because of that early memory that his father ingrained in him.

I don't think we're supposed to know. I think it was intentionally vague and open to interpretation and discussion.

cborgman said:

...or it could even have been Jack's own father who set it up. I think he clearly knew what was going on and he clearly didn't like it. Dude definitely had a creepy and dangerous vibe about him. I didn't like the way he said "...and like most of Jack's ideas, they became the past."

FunkMistress said:

it opens up a lot of possibilities when it is vague. i am really curious to hear what the short story says, since it is more specific.

miguel?

cborgman said:

Nononononooooo!!!! Orgnote! I want to read the story!

FunkMistress said:

oooh... hadn't thought of that... good point.

I have the short story in 3 parts on email. Who wants it? Let me know if you want me to email it to you or I can cut and paste it on org.note.


M