Come Back, Come Back to Cold Brokeback Mountain

[dotinthesky]

Kevin and I just came back from seeing Brokeback Mountain. Wow... Wyoming looks so beautiful! The long scenes, with camera shots of the mountains, valleys and sky, are incredibly breathtaking. Added to the romance of the two sheep herders, it made for a very good movie. Michelle Williams stood out for me as the best performance: every scene with her was a lesson on controlled pain, suspicion, bitterness, anger, love, passion. It was so underplayed, yet really powerful. I was a little irritated that I couldn't understand much of the dialogue, because of the thick accents and because they seemed to speak without opening their mouths. But, in essence, there really was so little of the dialogue that was important. They could have made it a silent movie and the story's core would have remained the same.

Beforehand, we bought our tickets and sat in a nearby Cafe Nero. Our seats were by the window so we could drink our lattes and watch people on the street. I told Kevin we were on a date and he laughed. A few male couples walked in the cinema's direction and I wondered if they were friends or something more. Surprisingly, the majority of the people in the cinema were elderly couples. The old gentleman sitting beside me was breathing very loudly and I was worried he'd go into overdrive when the boys started kissing. Luckily, he was happily married to his wife (but could he, or any of the other men in the audience, have been able to fight off the lust during the scenes inside the tent?)

I'm not ready to go back to work tomorrow, and I no longer feel like reading Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. It's too bleak and depressing. There's not a single ounce of love in those pages, and I'm really not in the mood for contemplating the nihilistic ways of the world. I'd rather be on a mountain somewhere, tucked inside a tent and... reading a good romantic novel.

Comments

[roguejournal.livejournal.com]

Crime and Punishment!!!

you are brave, ollie!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

It was lying around and I thought I might like it... and I do like it! But it's just too depressing...

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

It's endearing in a way, but hellahard understanding! You are very lucky to be able to visit places like Wyoming when you can. I love landscapes like that.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

One of the main pulls for Kevin and I to return to North America are the possibilities of visiting places like that in America and Canada. There's nothing like a Summer of camping and hiking through beautiful mountains.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

We'll go camping somewhere, with the fellow and your dogs; I'll bring Kevin and my sweet Tete (if my brother lets me whisk her away to live with me in Canada.) Will be tons of fun. ;-)

[zahgurim.livejournal.com]

Wyoming is gorgeous. If not a little... well, hickish. But in many ways that is a large part of its charm.

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

waahahaha like all those scenes with them dancing in cowboy hats and feathered hair? I swear, it might still be like that!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't be surprised. The region where my mom lives is still under the impression we are in the 80s.

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

yikes! the South here is still mostly big hair and scary makeup. really disturbing.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I dig hickish. In fact, I've been with a farm boy for 7 years now (but don't tell him I called him a hick!) :-P

[tonight-we-fly.livejournal.com]

With a small irony, that was my first film of 2006 yesterday!

I was really concerned about the pace of the film early on, as it felt like you were three quarters of the way through the film about half an hour in (knowing that the film was going to last for more than two hours); but it really levelled out nicely as the film progressed.

I almost felt like laughing at my earlier interpretation when the last half hour felt so rushed, and a few essential moments were confined to being revealed in brief conversational catch-up. Rather like memories of being a student, having only written half of an essay but realising that you'd already used up 90% of the word-count.

The new Michael Winterbottom film A Cock And Bull Story will be released this month. I'd strongly recommend you to make that your second film of 2006. He can do nothing wrong...

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I felt that the pace of the film was very old-style hollywood (perhaps on purpose? to recreate that old-style sense of romance?) Some of the scenes reminded me of James Dean in "Giant", or "East of Eden". They were possibly used as sources of inspiration for this movie.

I'll check out A Cock and Bull Story. What's it about?

[tonight-we-fly.livejournal.com]

What's it about?

Michael Winterbottom has made the supposedly unfilmable book Tristram Shandy into a film.

It's also got one of the most appealling casts I've ever seen in a British film fora long time. Steve Coogan, Keeley Hawes, Shirley Henderson, Ian Hart, Stephen Fry, Kelly MacDonald, Dylan Moran, Gillian Anderson... It looks like he's only missing Peter Mullan and Laura Fraser!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I think Gillian Anderson is good. She was excellent in Bleak House. Don't know those other Brit actors... is Steve Coogan the one that got Courtney Love pregnant?

[naturalbornkaos.livejournal.com]

reading a good romantic novel.

Like "Filth Kiss"? :D

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

If I read that, I wouldn't be able to go to sleep!

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

ohmagod crack me the fuck up! their accents were thick, but I can do 'em with my ears plugged. Heath Ledger's was outta sight, he does a great American accent.

and O the scenes inside the tent! yum! I was a little annoyed there weren't more, but then I remembered we've come a long way to have even those we did. Really, I just want to see more sex scenes between men that are sexy but not raunchy. I shouldn't have to resort to porn to get my guy on guy action what with all the het sex scenes available in movies already. because, even there, it's hard to find porn that isn't just poundpoundpound. straight porn is boring enough for that.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I agree. I really wanted more of their kisses, the times they were together, but perhaps it's better that the film was exactly how it was (for the benefit of reaching a larger audience.) It's just nice to go see a well-filmed, gay romantic film, you know? It has affected me a lot more than I expected; I couldn't sleep well at night with all these thoughts and emotions the film triguered in me.

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

exactly. I nearly moped around all night I was so sad, but pulled myself together by the time I got home. If I'd been able to just walk out of the theatre and onto the street I probably would have cried the whole way home, but three old people took like 5 minutes to leave the theatre and it's really small, so I was stuck behind them. *sigh*

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

but three old people took like 5 minutes to leave the theatre and it's really small, so I was stuck behind them

Lol. For some reason, I could really imagine that scene. :)

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

seriously. I was going insane. please don't ever let me get old like that!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

No, you are going to be one of those old ladies that grabs the arm of the first cute boy to help her out of the cinema.

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

woohoo!

[kenoster.livejournal.com]

That movie was shot by the best director of photography there is, Rodrigo Prieto.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I've only seen his work in Amores Perros (before this one.) I'll try to check out the other movies he worked in (i've been looking for an excuse to watch that overblown disaster called Alexander) ;-)

[kenoster.livejournal.com]

Watch Frida. Then imagine how much better that movie would have been if it had been acted in Spanish.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Seriously, huh? It's crap what directors will have to do in order to compromise with the studios.

[damiella.livejournal.com]

I just saw that movie earlier in the week and really liked it, too! I was surprised, because I don't usually go for cowboy movies and expected to be bored, but I found it mesmerizing!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I don't think it was a cowboy movie... perhaps a country movie? I loved the short story and I was quite happy to see that the movie matched it very well. The acting was great, the art direction was brilliant... I'm surprised I didn't cry, actually (though I did have trouble sleeping with so many thoughts on it.)