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sartoris99
Reviews
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Brokeback is Groundbreaking
I am ruthlessly critical of movies about gay men that fail to render us in complete creative ways. This is especially true about movies written by heterosexuals starring heterosexual actors. So take it seriously when I say that I believe Brokeback Mountain is, surprisingly the most complex, nuanced, and intelligent representation of gay masculinity yet delivered by the film industry. Heath Ledger got the Golden Gloe nomination, but my favorite is Jake Gyllenhall who deserves an Oscar for his intensely sensitive, genuine portrayal of the hopeful Jack Twist. Gyllenhall communicates Twist's sexy, seductive optimism without reducing him to a lustful nit-wit. The film is excellent at showing us things rather than beating us over the head with sensitive dialog. Gyllenhall's motto should be the famous lines uttered by Norma Desomond in Sunset Boulevard: "We didn't need voices we had face." Norma was bemoaning the rise of the talkies, but Gyllenhall should be celebrated for his ability to show the face of exhilarating love and absolute, existential disappointment in quick succession.
The characters are conflicted about the pressures of the world they live in, but confident in their love for one another. The tension this produces is simultaneously inspiring and heartbreaking. The film is smartly literary, but as a Ph.D. in English I only started mulling the allusions and metaphors after I left the theater, so I conclude that it is rich with meaning, without beating you over the head with its own cleverness.
Collateral (2004)
Without a doubt one of the Worst Movies Ever Made
The film is based on the implausible premise that a contract killer would take a cab for the purpose of completing his assignments.
As if wildly contrived and convenient plot details didn't make it bad enough, the movie is poorly conceived and poorly executed. For example, in a large crowd scene set in a crowded trendy club, the blood flows and the bodies fly in a terrifying shoot out. Extras in t he background, however, play it cool as supposedly terrifying patrons who keep a tight hold on their glasses to avoid spilling there martinis. Tom Cruise looks sexy with the slick silver hair, but that's all the movie has to offer.
What's more troubling than the implausible premise and absurdly convenient coincidences is the film's less than subtle racism.
Whenever the black character played by Jamie Fox points his gun as a white face the victim's fear is played for laughs. You're not supposed to care as the many Asian patrons in a crowded nightclub are caught in the crossfire. It seems calculated to promote laughing at violence as long as the victims are different from you.
A Home at the End of the World (2004)
Who needs homophobes?
Yick, another gay movie that revolves around a straight woman.
The "fag hag" motif limits gay characters and minimizes women.
We're encouraged to be mad at Jonathan for not falling in love with Clare. By the same token, we're supposed to resent him for getting tired of Bobby's headgames. In this movie, the straight folks come out on top. The tagline sells this movie as a claim that "Family can be whatever you want it to be." Ultimately the film suggests that you have to define yourself around reproduction to find family, and that a gay guy can only find fulfillment by attaching himself to a heterosexual couple in the servile capacity of a waiter.
Yikes-- with gay oriented movies like this, who needs homophobes? Gay audiences ask yourselves this: Why do they make sure that the straight male character is so much more attractive than the gay character? There is a message in that, perhaps subconscious, about how much respect this film has for gay men.