Sky K Studios Movie Blog

Brokeback Mountain

A conversation between Minky and me, via e-mail:

Seton: I saw Brokeback Mountain last night, finally. I can see why you are newly into Heath Ledger. He pulled off being unbelievably magnetic in spite of the fact, as CSM commented, he had his eyes closed for half of his performance. I've never seen anything like him on screen, though I feel like I do know him well in men of my acquaintance, which is what made him so riveting to watch.

Minky: That's interesting. And yes, definitely riveting. It's interesting (as I probably already said) to watch the earlier movies after this one--to watch the heart-throb version of Heath Ledger--because you can kind of see it in there somewhere: both the actual acting ability and that particular tone of tortured detachment. It makes those films (I've seen A Knight's Tale and Ten Things I Hate About You) almost comically miscast. And it makes you realize how cookie cutter hollywood's romantic roles are. He just seems vaguely ridiculous chasing after this princess in the knight film. (Made all the more ridiculous, though somewhat more enjoyable, by the fact that her dresses are all inexplicably this contemporary sort of haute couture, and not at all medieval.) (But then the film's soundtrack is all early eighties classic rock, so I guess you can't really hold it accountable for anything.) It's really difficult to believe that he actually wants this woman, and it made me think how little that actually matters in mainstream films. The fact that he's supposed to, expected to, is enough. Which, I guess, only underscores the significance of Brokeback Mountain as a film.

Though I have to say, I'm getting getting a little uncomfortable with all the hype. Did you know that someone paid $100,000 for those two shirts yesterday? I'm convinced that a similar sort of force is lying latent in Ryan Philipe, just waiting for the right director. I've always liked him without quite knowing why, and there was one moment in Cruel Intentions where I saw it struggling to come out: this interesting, potentially rich brand of masculine woundedness.

Michael Pitt comes to mind, too, as some a young male actor who brings a really interesting sort of presence in films. And he's managed to bypass (I think) the hearth throb thing. I've been thinking about him because I've had it in mind that one of the characters in my book looks a little like him. Did you see the Dreamers? I'm a little embarassed to say, but I really loved that movie. I think he's pretty mesmerizing to watch. In Hedwig and the Angry Inch too, which I also loved. And of course in Last Days.

Seton: I saw that item about the $100,000 shirts in the LA Times today. Where does a gay rights activist get a disposable income that allows him to spend that much on shirts? I don't really get it, either. I didn't come away from the film thinking it was about gay men, but about men and masculinity in general--the fact that they are gay of course complicates all that, but really it seemed to me a device for framing a way broader exploration of male identity. Which is to say, I think I was moved by HL not because he embodied so well the sad particulars of his situation as a gay man, but because he just reminded me of so many guys I know who seem to struggle with how to be who they are in a culture that doesn't care who they are but, as you say about the romantic comedies, only that they behave in the way they are supposed to, expected to, behave.

I haven't really seen Ryan Philipe in many movies, but I figure he must be quality if he's married to Reese. He was roguishly attractive in Gosford Park, and forgettable in Crash, which itself was pretty forgettable so it's not his fault, I guess. The only film I've seen with Michael Pitt is Last Days.

Minky: I totally agree about the gay thing. Well put. Which is one of the big problems with that sort of identity politics: that it's reductive, doesn't acknowledge the full scope of human experience, and all the factors involved.

posted by Seton Seeley at 1:53 PM