Initial inspiration for the year...

I was just discussing how prolific Neil Gaiman is, how rich with ideas. Just looked at his blog for today in which he begins: "Had a holiday, much of which I spent writing".

The man is an inspiration to me.

Brokeback Mountain...

I went to see Brokeback Mountain yesterday with lmondegreen. Gay cowboys. lmondegreen made me laugh when she said, "This is the same theatre where we saw that other gay cowboy movie, An Unfinished Life.

When I had heard that they were making a movie of Brokeback Mountain, the Annie Proulx story, I though they felt they could make it because it's so sad - the old dictum that you can write about gay characters as long as they don't get a happy ending. I also thought they would cop out, that it would be like Alexander, where he never even kissed his lover Hephaistion but exchanged tender looks and gentle hugs.

But hey - this time they did it right. They did it right. Plenty of naked cowboy passion and they didn't try to tame it and that's good.

What really astounds me is the good reviews, the way the movie is being treated as a respectable mainstream movie, taken seriously by critics and public alike, playing in major theatre chains. Hints of Oscar nominations. And it's an American movie. What happened? Has there been a slip in public perceptions? Why wasn't it marginalized like all the other gay-themed movies I've ever seen.

This all being said, did I really like the movie? Yes, but... with reservations. There were many things I didn't like about it, some of them shared by the book. One thing: beautiful mountain vistas. I've nothing against mountains, but every movie I've seen about Wyoming shows long panoramas of rugged mountain scenery. Trees. Rocks. More trees. More rocks. I have nothing against rocks and trees, but in storeytelling terms, this bores me.

Secondly, it has only one tone, thoughtful melancholy - though how much this is subjective, I'm not sure. Not much humour in it. Okay, that's Proulx's style, though they didn't mind deviating from her story in other ways. The movie is unequivocably sad and I've heard other fans say that it reawakened sad issues in their own lives. It certainly did for me. Identified just a little too much with Jack, wanting someone I couldn't have. I tried not to let it get to me.

Not much structure, though it's hardly the movie's fault I have a hang-up about structure. I didn't think the pacing changed much through the whole movie, and the odd scene where, say, Ennis lost his temper and attacked his ex-wife because whe was baiting him about Jack - that didn't quite succeed in raising the mood or the pacing.

As in the book, I liked Jack better than Ennis, because he had more courage. I thought it was interesting that the movie didn't give him mob connections, and there was the implication his death was a gay-bashing. It helps that Jake Gyllenhaal is damn cute, especially his smile. I wondered why I hadn't seen this man before and checked him out - it's because he's so young. All those teenage roles. I slip into Dirty Old Broad mode, unrepentant.

I wish I liked Heath Ledger more. He reminds me of my favourite cousin. You'd think that would make me like him, but... no.

I thought most of the ways they changed from the original story were unnecessary - adding Ennis' daughters, giving Jack a wife and in-laws. My two favourite bits were the same two scenes that were my favourites in the book: Ennis finding his long-lost shirt in Jack's closet, and Ennis' wife's note in the fishing tackle box.

No, wait, who am I trying to kid? My really favourite bit was when Jack and Ennis were kissing on the stairs when Jack came to visit him after four years. That was really hot.

I hope this movie spawns a whole genre of cowboy-love movies.

New Year's Day 2006... in Middle-Earth

At ten this morning I took my freshly-bake platter of oatmeal cookies to maaseru's place and we settled down to watch The Lord of the Rings, extended edition, all three movies, beginning to end. We were joined by Richard, Yolande, maaboroshi, lmondegreen and, for a while, josanpq.

Wow. What a delightful immersion.

We all cried (or at least sniffed) at our favourite bits (still). We all (I think)fell asleep at some bits. There was an enforced intermission when, halfway through The Fellowship of the Ring, we all started freezing and it turned out that maaseru's patio door had been opened and had quickly frozen into the open position, so we couldn't close it. And it was only about a zillion degrees below zero outside. In the end it took boiling water, a hammer and a chisel, and a towel, to get the door to shut. Not to mention considerable time and muscle-power.

I'd been playing the Lord of the Rings trivia game last night. It was fun to see the questions we'd got in the game being answered on screen - taking special note of the questions we'd already flubbed. I forgot the name of Aragorn's son and compulsively had to look it up. Actually I got lmondegreen to look it up for me because she had her glasses on and I didn't. It's Eldarion. Maybe I'll remember that next time.

Aragorn is still the best of the best, but I love them all. Sure, the movie still has minor annoyances, but I still love it.