In 1990’s, A Home at the End
of the World, Michael
Cunningham, the Pulitzer Prize-
winning author of The Hours,
brings to life the trials, triumphs,
loves and losses over a dozen
years in the lives of two best
friends, Bobby and Jonathan.
The book opens in suburban
Cleveland in the 60s and after
chronicling the two boys’ early
childhood, the lonely Jonathan
meets the introverted and
inarticulate Bobby. Their
friendship soon crosses over
into something more as the
pair blur the line between
friends and lovers.
After going their separate ways,
the two reunite in 1980s New
York City when a now
heterosexual Bobby moves in
with gay Jonathan and soon
falls in love with Jonathan's
eccentric roommate, Clare.
Bobby and Clare's relationship
develops, spoiling Jonathan's
plans to have a baby with her.
Feeling like he has become a
third wheel, Jonathan is ready
to return home when Clare
declares her unexpected
pregnancy.
The trio forms a sort of family,
moving to upstate New York.
This happiness is short lived,
however, when Clare takes her
daughter and leaves. Now
alone the two childhood friends
face their past relationship and
attempt to navigate their lives
together.
This book was made into a
movie starring Colin Farrell a
few years back. I went all the
way down to lower Manhattan,
for the sole reason of seeing
this film, and made my way to
the only theater it was playing
at, in the pouring rain (in pants
that turned almost see-through
btw. I admit that it was worth it,
Farrell was outstanding as was
the supporting cast, but do
yourself a favor and read the
book. Sure you can go down to
your local Blockbuster or watch
it instantly from Netflix, but even
if you do that, read it too. Along
with getting some much needed
leisure, you won’t have to deal
with scenes the FCC deemed
inappropriate being cut out.
(One in particular that involved
a steamy love scene that Farrell
did full frontal nudity-NOT FAIR)
Even worse, if you catch it on
TV, it’s been chopped apart to
fit commercials. So find a comfy
chair, get some hot chocolate
(or coffee), and curl up with a
novel that’ll all but read itself.
CANDY
I’m not talking about the sweet, delicious, run around screaming in people’s faces from sugar kind; I am actually referring to the little seen 2006 (at least in America) movie starring Abbie Cornish and Heath Ledger.
The film (based on the Neil Armstrong novel of the same name) centers around a young couple, Dan and Candy, who dream of a perfect, utopian life. They are young and they are in love, with both each other and heroin and the longer the love affairs go on, the more devastating they become. The story is broken up into three parts- Heaven, Earth, and Hell- in which viewers experience the downward spiral of addiction and watch as the two beautiful people slowly turn darker; doing anything and giving up everything for that one more hit. If you have ever seen The Basketball Dairies (1995, starring Leonardo DiCaprio,) the depiction is even more real. When I was a tween (though that phrase had yet to exist) most of my friends were in love with Leo and therefore I was exposed to many viewings of that movie and let me tell you watching that was a better Anti-drug message than anything, anyone could ever tell me. Candy is more intense, more real, and I think it should be shown to ever middle school and high school child. That will never happen unfortunately, but I’m not getting into PTA type practices at this time.
Back to Candy. The reason the movie is so good, writing aside, is the talented cast, which along with Ledger and Cornish, also stars Geoffrey Rush (this year’s Best Supporting Actor for THE KING’S SPEECH) as Casper, a college professor who acts as a surrogate father to Dan as well as mixes his own heroine from the chemistry labs. It is fun, if also heartbreaking, to watch Rush try and balance between being caring while still maintaining the “cool uncle” status. The truth, we know, is that an addict can never really control their own life let alone help others but somehow you want to believe Casper will save all three characters.
As for the role of Dan, Ledger does some of his finest work as the poet who really never meant to do any harm to Candy. The character also acts as the narrator so he gets to explain himself, “I wasn't trying to wreck Candy's life. I was trying to make mine better,” as well as show how easily it is for someone to slip into a life of excess, “We'd found the secret glue that held all things together. In a perfect place, where the noise did not intrude, our world was so very complete.” This performance got overlooked because the movie had the unfortunate timing to be released almost immediately after Brokeback Mountain, for which Ledger received his first Oscar Nomination. It didn’t get the press, or the wide release, of its predecessor because it is easier to see the art movie about the ranch hand with complicated feelings than the one that might make you sympathize with a junkie. However, if you thought Ennis Del Mar lived a tragic love story; you need to see how he brings to life Dan.
Then there is Candy herself, Cronish. She more than holds her own on the screen with the two Oscar winners. Her performance is so real, as she plays strong and fragile at the same time she (along with Ledger) makes you root for the junkie, feel for the junkie, and think to yourself, “maybe that could be me.”
If you like fluff movies, this is not a film for you but if you want to think and watch a truly good film, go rent Candy.
The film (based on the Neil Armstrong novel of the same name) centers around a young couple, Dan and Candy, who dream of a perfect, utopian life. They are young and they are in love, with both each other and heroin and the longer the love affairs go on, the more devastating they become. The story is broken up into three parts- Heaven, Earth, and Hell- in which viewers experience the downward spiral of addiction and watch as the two beautiful people slowly turn darker; doing anything and giving up everything for that one more hit. If you have ever seen The Basketball Dairies (1995, starring Leonardo DiCaprio,) the depiction is even more real. When I was a tween (though that phrase had yet to exist) most of my friends were in love with Leo and therefore I was exposed to many viewings of that movie and let me tell you watching that was a better Anti-drug message than anything, anyone could ever tell me. Candy is more intense, more real, and I think it should be shown to ever middle school and high school child. That will never happen unfortunately, but I’m not getting into PTA type practices at this time.
Back to Candy. The reason the movie is so good, writing aside, is the talented cast, which along with Ledger and Cornish, also stars Geoffrey Rush (this year’s Best Supporting Actor for THE KING’S SPEECH) as Casper, a college professor who acts as a surrogate father to Dan as well as mixes his own heroine from the chemistry labs. It is fun, if also heartbreaking, to watch Rush try and balance between being caring while still maintaining the “cool uncle” status. The truth, we know, is that an addict can never really control their own life let alone help others but somehow you want to believe Casper will save all three characters.
As for the role of Dan, Ledger does some of his finest work as the poet who really never meant to do any harm to Candy. The character also acts as the narrator so he gets to explain himself, “I wasn't trying to wreck Candy's life. I was trying to make mine better,” as well as show how easily it is for someone to slip into a life of excess, “We'd found the secret glue that held all things together. In a perfect place, where the noise did not intrude, our world was so very complete.” This performance got overlooked because the movie had the unfortunate timing to be released almost immediately after Brokeback Mountain, for which Ledger received his first Oscar Nomination. It didn’t get the press, or the wide release, of its predecessor because it is easier to see the art movie about the ranch hand with complicated feelings than the one that might make you sympathize with a junkie. However, if you thought Ennis Del Mar lived a tragic love story; you need to see how he brings to life Dan.
Then there is Candy herself, Cronish. She more than holds her own on the screen with the two Oscar winners. Her performance is so real, as she plays strong and fragile at the same time she (along with Ledger) makes you root for the junkie, feel for the junkie, and think to yourself, “maybe that could be me.”
If you like fluff movies, this is not a film for you but if you want to think and watch a truly good film, go rent Candy.
HOW DARE THEY REMAKE ARTHUR!!
That was my reaction when rumors started to circulate that the drunken millionaire with a heart of gold may return to theatres. In my opinion, not that it should be a surprise because you know I love me some Bits, Dudly Moore is simply irreplaceable. I was livid! BEDAZZLED was bad enough; replacing Moore and Peter Cook, but ARTHUR (and its sequal) rank high on my favorite movies list. Whoever it was they tried to make Arthur, I refused to let myself get caught between the moon and NYC with him.
Serendipitiously, ARTHUR just happened to be filming around the city right after I saw its star, Rustle Brand in GET HIM TO THE GREEK and, though not Moore, he did almost get me to pee myself laughing so I thought, "whatever, it will suck but if it is free I guess I will go."
Having read reviews in which people complained how different the remake was from the original, I began to get excited and when I saw it, I was pleasantly surprised with how good it was. The key is to look at it the way I believe the filmmakers intended it, as a reimaging not a remake. Liza was amazing as Linda and nobody could top her which is why the lead character, who I like to think of as a completely different millionaire with the same name by chance, falls for a completely different girl named Naomi (Greta Gerwig.) The leads, both brilliant, are joined by Helen Miran as Hobson, a female nanny not male butler, and Jennifer Gardner as Susan Johnson, Arthur's mentally unstable (in a way that is only funny in film not life) exgirlfriend/ fiance (the original Susan role was dry and boring, but never psychotic.)
So if you are looking for the same ARTHUR with new actors, don't go see this film, you will be disappointed and angry. However, if you are in the mood for something new and funny, go for it. Either way, see the original too.
Serendipitiously, ARTHUR just happened to be filming around the city right after I saw its star, Rustle Brand in GET HIM TO THE GREEK and, though not Moore, he did almost get me to pee myself laughing so I thought, "whatever, it will suck but if it is free I guess I will go."
Having read reviews in which people complained how different the remake was from the original, I began to get excited and when I saw it, I was pleasantly surprised with how good it was. The key is to look at it the way I believe the filmmakers intended it, as a reimaging not a remake. Liza was amazing as Linda and nobody could top her which is why the lead character, who I like to think of as a completely different millionaire with the same name by chance, falls for a completely different girl named Naomi (Greta Gerwig.) The leads, both brilliant, are joined by Helen Miran as Hobson, a female nanny not male butler, and Jennifer Gardner as Susan Johnson, Arthur's mentally unstable (in a way that is only funny in film not life) exgirlfriend/ fiance (the original Susan role was dry and boring, but never psychotic.)
So if you are looking for the same ARTHUR with new actors, don't go see this film, you will be disappointed and angry. However, if you are in the mood for something new and funny, go for it. Either way, see the original too.
TEN THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU
I have a confession to make; I despise ‘80s teen flicks. I mean the soundtracks are great-ish but the movies do nothing for me. For me if Molly Ringwood is in a movie, it’s off faster than Jude Law’s pants at a Victoria Secret fashion show. I don’t get them and I don’t think I am supposed to; they are campy and trashy and allude to a world I will never know anything about, being a teenager at a time when I was still in diapers. It always seemed to me that the teen genre got better as I got older. An advancement in the field if you will; a sort of work in progress that was ever evolving and that, lucky for me, neared perfection right around the time I hit puberty.
This theory looses validity, however, when you look at the movies geared toward teens today. I am, just for a moment discounting anything involving vampires, werewolves, or wizards- not that their lives and afterlives aren’t important but I really doubt anyone ever thought to themselves, if only I found the right supernatural man, and I know he’s out there somewhere, everything else will fall into place. On second thought, many probably have but I don’t have time to get into that kind of crazy today. I’m talking about things like High School Musical, Camp Rock, or anything that involves Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus, and the dreaded Justin Bieber. High school is not about everyone signing together and embracing the differences because deep down inside we all just want to dance and watching such crap makes me want to scream, “Where are the mean girls? Some dude better start talking about stealing a girl’s virtue soon before I vomit.”
The truth is no decade’s movies were better, they are just what I knew which is why, if you were born in the ‘70s you’ve lived a John Waters life and for people like me, you know what it was like for the students in Ten Things I Hate About You (not the TV show.) I wore those clothes, I listened to those songs, and most importantly, I grew up with those actors. I have dealt with academic staff members who are just as incompetent as Ms. Perky (sitting in her guidance office ignoring students while she works on her sex novel) or as uncaring and self involved as Mr. Morgan. I fully believed (who am I kidding, still believe) that two of the teachers at my high school were hooking up in the TV closet and my best friend once injured herself in PE because the teacher read a magazine while we taught ourselves Tai bo from a video. While it is true that a cute foreign boy never hijacked the PA system and serenaded me in front of the student body (clearly this was because I went to all girls catholic) I did see a fist fight that not only matches Larisa Oleynik’s but might even beat it.
So while I can’t understand the sex appeal of Charlie Sheen or Judd Nelson and just plain can’t understand Bieber, it doesn’t matter, you can keep your washed up or future burn outs because I will always have Patrick Verona, and he will always be too good to be true.
This theory looses validity, however, when you look at the movies geared toward teens today. I am, just for a moment discounting anything involving vampires, werewolves, or wizards- not that their lives and afterlives aren’t important but I really doubt anyone ever thought to themselves, if only I found the right supernatural man, and I know he’s out there somewhere, everything else will fall into place. On second thought, many probably have but I don’t have time to get into that kind of crazy today. I’m talking about things like High School Musical, Camp Rock, or anything that involves Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus, and the dreaded Justin Bieber. High school is not about everyone signing together and embracing the differences because deep down inside we all just want to dance and watching such crap makes me want to scream, “Where are the mean girls? Some dude better start talking about stealing a girl’s virtue soon before I vomit.”
The truth is no decade’s movies were better, they are just what I knew which is why, if you were born in the ‘70s you’ve lived a John Waters life and for people like me, you know what it was like for the students in Ten Things I Hate About You (not the TV show.) I wore those clothes, I listened to those songs, and most importantly, I grew up with those actors. I have dealt with academic staff members who are just as incompetent as Ms. Perky (sitting in her guidance office ignoring students while she works on her sex novel) or as uncaring and self involved as Mr. Morgan. I fully believed (who am I kidding, still believe) that two of the teachers at my high school were hooking up in the TV closet and my best friend once injured herself in PE because the teacher read a magazine while we taught ourselves Tai bo from a video. While it is true that a cute foreign boy never hijacked the PA system and serenaded me in front of the student body (clearly this was because I went to all girls catholic) I did see a fist fight that not only matches Larisa Oleynik’s but might even beat it.
So while I can’t understand the sex appeal of Charlie Sheen or Judd Nelson and just plain can’t understand Bieber, it doesn’t matter, you can keep your washed up or future burn outs because I will always have Patrick Verona, and he will always be too good to be true.
The Short Film taking on the Cursed Raceway
Legend of the “Talladega Raceway Curse.”
The curse has been blamed as the cause of a series of unusual and unpleasant incidents that occurred at the 2.66-mile superspeedway over the years. While things did happen at other tracks, they were never as mystifying or eerie as they were at Talladega.
The story goes that the curse began centuries ago, when Andrew Jackson drove the Indians out of the valley in which the speedway is located today. As the Indians made their trek away from their homeland, a medicine man stood atop a hill, turned toward the valley and put an eternal hex on it.
OK, it makes for a good story, anyway.
But then unsavory things began to happen at the speedway. Driver Bobby Isaac was racing Bud Moore’s Ford when he claimed he heard a voice telling him to get out of the car, which he did. Driver Larry Smith clipped the wall in the third turn in what everyone assumed was a minor mishap. Smith was killed. He had removed the padding from his helmet to protect his pompadour.
Several cars were mysteriously sabotaged while under lock and key on the eve of a race. A driver’s mother was struck and killed by a pickup truck in the paddock area while her son was racing. Two drivers, nearly a straightaway apart and the only ones on the track during practice, mysteriously managed to crash. An ARCA driver barely outran a tornado that roared along the back straightaway during qualifying.
During a race, Jimmy Horton and Stanley Smith were involved in a crash that sent Horton’s car soaring over the wall. It ended up a shattered hulk outside the speedway. Remarkably, he was unhurt but Smith sustained serious injuries.
In 1993, Davey Allison lost his life in a freakish accident that occurred while he was trying to land his helicopter in the infield. His passenger, Red Farmer, suffered major injuries.
I am not a racing fan, and I have never even seen TALLEDEGA NIGHTS: THE LEGEND OF RICKY BOBBY starring Will Farrell, so I didn’t know this. In fact I have never seen a race, not even a part of a race. I am so oblivious when it comes to the sport I wouldn’t even know what a part would be called; inning? Round maybe? Whatever it is I can honestly say I have no interest in ever seeing one. For this reason, it seems kind of strange that I would be talking about a movie based around this premise but I am anyway.
The short film grabbed my attention because it combined several things that I enjoy. It was directed by the eccentric but brilliant Terry Gilliam (Brazil, Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus) and stars actor Justin Kirk, probably best known to audiences as Andy on WEEDS but who grabbed my attention when he starred in the indie play turned film LOVE, VALOUR, COMPASSION and made me a forever fan with his underrated portrail of Prior in HBO’s ANGELS IN AMERICA. The 18 minute story, turned out to be a comedy done in a mockumentary style (great for horror averse people like me) and, best of all, you don’t need to like NASCAR or even know anything about it to enjoy.
To see it for yourself go to
http://www.LegendofHallowdega.com/
where it is free to view, another plus!
The curse has been blamed as the cause of a series of unusual and unpleasant incidents that occurred at the 2.66-mile superspeedway over the years. While things did happen at other tracks, they were never as mystifying or eerie as they were at Talladega.
The story goes that the curse began centuries ago, when Andrew Jackson drove the Indians out of the valley in which the speedway is located today. As the Indians made their trek away from their homeland, a medicine man stood atop a hill, turned toward the valley and put an eternal hex on it.
OK, it makes for a good story, anyway.
But then unsavory things began to happen at the speedway. Driver Bobby Isaac was racing Bud Moore’s Ford when he claimed he heard a voice telling him to get out of the car, which he did. Driver Larry Smith clipped the wall in the third turn in what everyone assumed was a minor mishap. Smith was killed. He had removed the padding from his helmet to protect his pompadour.
Several cars were mysteriously sabotaged while under lock and key on the eve of a race. A driver’s mother was struck and killed by a pickup truck in the paddock area while her son was racing. Two drivers, nearly a straightaway apart and the only ones on the track during practice, mysteriously managed to crash. An ARCA driver barely outran a tornado that roared along the back straightaway during qualifying.
During a race, Jimmy Horton and Stanley Smith were involved in a crash that sent Horton’s car soaring over the wall. It ended up a shattered hulk outside the speedway. Remarkably, he was unhurt but Smith sustained serious injuries.
In 1993, Davey Allison lost his life in a freakish accident that occurred while he was trying to land his helicopter in the infield. His passenger, Red Farmer, suffered major injuries.
I am not a racing fan, and I have never even seen TALLEDEGA NIGHTS: THE LEGEND OF RICKY BOBBY starring Will Farrell, so I didn’t know this. In fact I have never seen a race, not even a part of a race. I am so oblivious when it comes to the sport I wouldn’t even know what a part would be called; inning? Round maybe? Whatever it is I can honestly say I have no interest in ever seeing one. For this reason, it seems kind of strange that I would be talking about a movie based around this premise but I am anyway.
The short film grabbed my attention because it combined several things that I enjoy. It was directed by the eccentric but brilliant Terry Gilliam (Brazil, Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus) and stars actor Justin Kirk, probably best known to audiences as Andy on WEEDS but who grabbed my attention when he starred in the indie play turned film LOVE, VALOUR, COMPASSION and made me a forever fan with his underrated portrail of Prior in HBO’s ANGELS IN AMERICA. The 18 minute story, turned out to be a comedy done in a mockumentary style (great for horror averse people like me) and, best of all, you don’t need to like NASCAR or even know anything about it to enjoy.
To see it for yourself go to
http://www.LegendofHallowdega.com/
where it is free to view, another plus!
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
Recently, probably prompted by watching IMAGINARIUM, I began thinking about Heath Ledger's turn as ENNIS DEL MAR in Brokeback Mountain. Because of this, and the fact that I really haven't had the time to blog lately, I thought I would share an essay I wrote about the short story during a literature class in college. The paper got an A, along with some great feedback from the professor and is even published on the The Association of Young Journalists and Writers Website (Ok I am tooting my own horn but I think pride in a job well done is fine.) Hope you enjoy
Anxiety the state of apprehension, physic tension or mental uneasiness caused by fear, as of danger. (The Merriam-Webster Dictionary) Many characters of the “contemporary” period are consumed by anxiety, which often results in a psychological division for the individual. One such character whose life is plagued by this type of ambivalence is Ennis del Mar in Brokeback Mountain. When Ennis met Jack Twist in the summer of 1963, there was a clear connection between the two men that defied any boundaries that society set forth. Even before their first sexual encounter, Ennis had come up behind Jack and held him against his chest, humming quietly and swaying in front of the fire, and after there first awkward, yet intensely passionate night together, it was evident that the men would never be able to quit each other. They never talked about the sex, let it happen, at first only in the tent at night, then in the full daylight with the hot sun striking down, and at evening in the fire glow, quick, rough, laughing and snorting, no lack of noises, but saying not a goddamn word except Ennis said, “I’m not no queer,” and jack jumped in with “Me neither. A one shot thing. Nobody’s business but ours.” Indeed it isn’t anybody’s business but theirs and, alone with only each other and the animals, they were free to love without fear, but in the real world-the world they return to the end of the summer- people tend to pay attention to other people’s business and that’s what concerns Ennis. Ennis’ fear of “being queer”, or having his sexuality being found out about, goes back to his childhood when there was a couple of men, Earl and Rich, who lived together not far from Ennis until tragedy struck. One day Earl was found dead in an irrigation ditch; whoever had done it had taken a tire iron to him, tied him up, and dragged him around by his genitalia until his penis was pulled off. Not only had Ennis heard about this hideous act, but his father had also taken him and his brother to see it and laughed about it, might’ve even done it according to Ennis. Which is why, when Jack brings up the idea of getting a ranch together Ennis declines, saying that all they can do is sneak off together a few times a year because anything more would lead to their deaths. Not that his fears are at all irrational. When Jack went back to Joe Aguirre for a job the following summer, there was clearly homophobia at the root of why he won’t hire him again, saying that Jack and Ennis weren’t paid to leave the sheep with the dogs “while you stemmed the rose.” Furthermore, by the end of the story Jack suffers the same fate as Earl, proving Ennis’ fears were indeed accurate. Being that Ennis finds maintaining a gay relationship with Jack so hard and believes that they are damned if they do, damned if they don’t, one would think that Ennis should forget about Jack and live out his life with his wife, Alma, and their two daughters, Alma Jr. and Francine. He had seemed perfectly content, even if he was not completely successful, with his life for the first four years after his summer on Brokeback Mountain, but once he heard from Jack all of the feelings that he had came rushing back. Still he contented that he was straight. “You know, I was sitting up here all that time trying to figure out of I was-? I know I ain’t . I mean here we both got wives and kids, right? I like doing it with woman, … but ain’t nothing like this. I never had no thoughts a doin it with another guy except I sure wrang it out a hundred times thinking about you,” And adding, “That summer when we split up after we got paid out I had gut cramps so bad I pulled over and tried to puke, thought I ate something bad at that place in Dubois. Took me about a year a figure out it was that I shouldn’t let you out a my sights. Too late then by a long while.” It’s not that he doesn’t love his family, he does love his daughters and he wants to be happy with Alma but there just isn’t anything that comes close to what he feels for Jack, he even wonders if this happens to other people and how do they overcome it. Since he was unable to overcome true emotions, Ennis’ marriage falls apart. Alma had seen the kiss between Jack and her husband, and he never would do anything with her and the girls, but he would always find the time to go fishing with Jack, so she divorced Ennis and remarried. Ennis understood and didn’t have any hard feelings toward her until she accused him of having something more than friendship with “Jack Nasty.” Faced with the accusation of having a homosexual affair, true though it was, Ennis grabs Alma by the arm and begins hurting her and yelling at her. This is the woman that he had, at one time, planned to share his life with and he can’t even manage to tell her of the love that he has for, and with Jack. No matter how much inner anguish Ennis has, he still manages to go up to the mountains with Jack for years, though he does seem to try to avoid it sometimes. On what turns out to be their last week together, in May 1983, the two men have an argument because Ennis says he won’t be able to get together for a week in August as they had planned and blames it on work. This might be indeed the case but Jack reasons “you used to come away easy. It’s like seein the pope now,” and though Ennis isn’t young and can’t just keep quitting jobs when he can’t get off to see Jack the way he had in the past, that coupled with Ennis inner conflict makes me think that he might’ve been trying to stay away from Jack in order to try and salvage a “normal” existence and trick his mind into believing he’s “not queer”. However if that is indeed the case, Ennis can’t mask his feelings, even during the argument; soon the conversation turns to Ennis wanting to know weather or not Jack goes to Mexico to have sex with hustlers. When Jack says yes Ennis ranges on, with a mixture of jealousy and fear, “I got a say this to you one time, Jack…all them things I don’t know could get you killed if I should come to know them.” When Jack fires back that they could’ve had a wonderful life together but Ennis kept that from happening, “then you ask me about Mexico and tell me you’ll kill me for needing it and not hardly never getting it.” And finishes up by saying that he wishes that he could get over him, Ennis falls down to his knees heartbroken. The love he feels for Jack lives on beyond Jack’s death, he even goes to Jack’s parents house and offers to take the ashes up to Brokeback Mountain. However I feel it is only after that meeting, and subsequently finding Jacks shirt hung over his own shirt, that Ennis finally begins to feel comfortable with their relationship. He buys a postcard with a picture of Brokeback Mountain and hangs it over the shirts in his trailer. Though he still doesn’t talk about what existed between them, he has openly acknowledged it with this display. At this time, Jack begins to appear in Ennis’ dreams because Ennis has finally allowed himself to think freely about Jack.
Anxiety the state of apprehension, physic tension or mental uneasiness caused by fear, as of danger. (The Merriam-Webster Dictionary) Many characters of the “contemporary” period are consumed by anxiety, which often results in a psychological division for the individual. One such character whose life is plagued by this type of ambivalence is Ennis del Mar in Brokeback Mountain. When Ennis met Jack Twist in the summer of 1963, there was a clear connection between the two men that defied any boundaries that society set forth. Even before their first sexual encounter, Ennis had come up behind Jack and held him against his chest, humming quietly and swaying in front of the fire, and after there first awkward, yet intensely passionate night together, it was evident that the men would never be able to quit each other. They never talked about the sex, let it happen, at first only in the tent at night, then in the full daylight with the hot sun striking down, and at evening in the fire glow, quick, rough, laughing and snorting, no lack of noises, but saying not a goddamn word except Ennis said, “I’m not no queer,” and jack jumped in with “Me neither. A one shot thing. Nobody’s business but ours.” Indeed it isn’t anybody’s business but theirs and, alone with only each other and the animals, they were free to love without fear, but in the real world-the world they return to the end of the summer- people tend to pay attention to other people’s business and that’s what concerns Ennis. Ennis’ fear of “being queer”, or having his sexuality being found out about, goes back to his childhood when there was a couple of men, Earl and Rich, who lived together not far from Ennis until tragedy struck. One day Earl was found dead in an irrigation ditch; whoever had done it had taken a tire iron to him, tied him up, and dragged him around by his genitalia until his penis was pulled off. Not only had Ennis heard about this hideous act, but his father had also taken him and his brother to see it and laughed about it, might’ve even done it according to Ennis. Which is why, when Jack brings up the idea of getting a ranch together Ennis declines, saying that all they can do is sneak off together a few times a year because anything more would lead to their deaths. Not that his fears are at all irrational. When Jack went back to Joe Aguirre for a job the following summer, there was clearly homophobia at the root of why he won’t hire him again, saying that Jack and Ennis weren’t paid to leave the sheep with the dogs “while you stemmed the rose.” Furthermore, by the end of the story Jack suffers the same fate as Earl, proving Ennis’ fears were indeed accurate. Being that Ennis finds maintaining a gay relationship with Jack so hard and believes that they are damned if they do, damned if they don’t, one would think that Ennis should forget about Jack and live out his life with his wife, Alma, and their two daughters, Alma Jr. and Francine. He had seemed perfectly content, even if he was not completely successful, with his life for the first four years after his summer on Brokeback Mountain, but once he heard from Jack all of the feelings that he had came rushing back. Still he contented that he was straight. “You know, I was sitting up here all that time trying to figure out of I was-? I know I ain’t . I mean here we both got wives and kids, right? I like doing it with woman, … but ain’t nothing like this. I never had no thoughts a doin it with another guy except I sure wrang it out a hundred times thinking about you,” And adding, “That summer when we split up after we got paid out I had gut cramps so bad I pulled over and tried to puke, thought I ate something bad at that place in Dubois. Took me about a year a figure out it was that I shouldn’t let you out a my sights. Too late then by a long while.” It’s not that he doesn’t love his family, he does love his daughters and he wants to be happy with Alma but there just isn’t anything that comes close to what he feels for Jack, he even wonders if this happens to other people and how do they overcome it. Since he was unable to overcome true emotions, Ennis’ marriage falls apart. Alma had seen the kiss between Jack and her husband, and he never would do anything with her and the girls, but he would always find the time to go fishing with Jack, so she divorced Ennis and remarried. Ennis understood and didn’t have any hard feelings toward her until she accused him of having something more than friendship with “Jack Nasty.” Faced with the accusation of having a homosexual affair, true though it was, Ennis grabs Alma by the arm and begins hurting her and yelling at her. This is the woman that he had, at one time, planned to share his life with and he can’t even manage to tell her of the love that he has for, and with Jack. No matter how much inner anguish Ennis has, he still manages to go up to the mountains with Jack for years, though he does seem to try to avoid it sometimes. On what turns out to be their last week together, in May 1983, the two men have an argument because Ennis says he won’t be able to get together for a week in August as they had planned and blames it on work. This might be indeed the case but Jack reasons “you used to come away easy. It’s like seein the pope now,” and though Ennis isn’t young and can’t just keep quitting jobs when he can’t get off to see Jack the way he had in the past, that coupled with Ennis inner conflict makes me think that he might’ve been trying to stay away from Jack in order to try and salvage a “normal” existence and trick his mind into believing he’s “not queer”. However if that is indeed the case, Ennis can’t mask his feelings, even during the argument; soon the conversation turns to Ennis wanting to know weather or not Jack goes to Mexico to have sex with hustlers. When Jack says yes Ennis ranges on, with a mixture of jealousy and fear, “I got a say this to you one time, Jack…all them things I don’t know could get you killed if I should come to know them.” When Jack fires back that they could’ve had a wonderful life together but Ennis kept that from happening, “then you ask me about Mexico and tell me you’ll kill me for needing it and not hardly never getting it.” And finishes up by saying that he wishes that he could get over him, Ennis falls down to his knees heartbroken. The love he feels for Jack lives on beyond Jack’s death, he even goes to Jack’s parents house and offers to take the ashes up to Brokeback Mountain. However I feel it is only after that meeting, and subsequently finding Jacks shirt hung over his own shirt, that Ennis finally begins to feel comfortable with their relationship. He buys a postcard with a picture of Brokeback Mountain and hangs it over the shirts in his trailer. Though he still doesn’t talk about what existed between them, he has openly acknowledged it with this display. At this time, Jack begins to appear in Ennis’ dreams because Ennis has finally allowed himself to think freely about Jack.
MOVIE REVIEW: THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR. PARNASSUS
There are certain movies that have a reputation the proceeds them. Usually it something that generates Oscar talk before it’s completed or the latest in a string of blockbusters like the most recent PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, or the long awaited sequel to something like WALL STREET. IMAGINARIUM was one of these long awaited and much talked about pieces because it had the unfortunate fate of being the late Heath Ledgers final film.
When Ledger past in early 2008, the film was mid shoot and it was mentioned almost as a passing fact; “Ledger, who had been working on Terry Gilliam’s latest film, THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR. PARNASSUS, was found late this afternoon.” As time went on and sleeping pills were found as part of the lethal (though nothing over intended dosage) combination in Ledger’s system, the film took on the role of scapegoat to some in the media; “Ledger said that the intensity and darkness of his latest role was affecting his sleep.” As summer came, and Ledger’s Oscar winning turn as the Joker in BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT hit theatres it became clear that that role was in fact the one that affected him so adversely. Around the same time, IMAGINARIUM began to make headlines because, in spite of the fact that one of his stars had died without completing his narrative arch, Gilliam had decided to continue the film without reshooting any of Ledger’s existing scenes.
Without any explanation of how this would work out, it also became known that Ledger’s role, Tony, would be completed by not one actor but three headline grabbing A-listers: Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell. From a movie goers’ point of view, I think this is what really got interest in the film to peak because even though Gilliam’s phantasmagorical mind and reputation of- I’ll go with unique- narratives in his films made him the only person possible of pulling something like this off, it failed to reason how three men of vastly different ages and looks to pass for the same man portrayed by Ledger, who himself, resembled none of them.
The film was released in theaters in late 2009 but poor timing mixed with my unease with crying uncontrollably in public made me wait for the DVD release and this week, I finally watched it and I was not disappointed. The main points of the film, wanting eternal life and making deals with the Devil have appeared in many stories throughout time but the story of Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) manages to be fresh and exciting as we find out that the price he’s paid for it is his only daughter, Valentina (Lily Cole), who will be taken away by the Devil (Tom Waits) on her 16th birthday. Taking place on the last remaining days before this will occur; Parnassus and his mythical acting troupe must race against time to stop this from happening. The Devil has given Parnassus one last chance to reverse Valentina’s fate; he must get 5 souls to go through the Imaginarium (A magic mirror on the stage that allows patron’s to enter their own imaginations) before he can collect 5 soul of his own. Unfortunately for Parnassus, people are no longer interested in attending his traveling shows but, thanks to the serendipitous meeting with Tony, the mysterious stranger, all hope is not lost as bit by bit, Tony gathers up patrons for the shows and people start entering into the Imaginarium.
The film, not surprisingly for Gilliam, is a wonderland for the eyes as scene after scene becomes increasingly more stunning but the truly beautiful thing is how smoothly it plays. The setting of the film is London and the world of imagination and at the time of Ledger’s death all of his London scenes had been shot so what you see is Heath Ledger’s Tony taking an audience member through the mirror and reappearing on the other side in identical hair and costume but portrayed by Depp, Law, and Farrell as the way Tony is seen in the patron’s imagination. The first time viewers encounter this transformation, Tony is wearing a mask and he goes through about half of the fantasy following around a woman who then removes his mask and we see him stare in awe as his reflection is that of Johnny Depp and not Ledger. This moment for me was a bit of a shock as I truly believed that I was watching Ledger through the entire sequence, and was trying to figure out in my mind if maybe he had managed to shoot it before his death even though it was reported that he had only done the London side of things. The transition from Ledger to Law and later, Ledger to Farrell are just as seamless thought not as shocking once you get the concept.
Though it would seem to be the contrary, this movie is actually really easy to follow and the acting of everyone involved is top notch. I would recommend it to anyone who asked and am personally really glad that the film- billed as a Film by Heath Ledger and Friends rather than the contractual a Terry Gilliam Film- didn’t end up in a trash can.
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