In December, when I was telling the world what an amazing film I'd just seen & that everyone had to see Brokeback Mountain, one of the people I told was a married male friend & former police officer. Unlike another male officer friend, he did not step back from me while staring & shaking his head 'no' so I thought there was some hope there.
Well, he called me, first thing in the morning as I was just sitting down with a cup of coffee & said, "you'll never guess what I did." Well, almost 7 1/2 months later I was not thinking it was about the film suggestion but it was.
He said, I had to call you! "I watched Brokeback. I was having some trouble in the first hour or so, kinda slow... (uh oh, I thought) but it was one of the best films I have EVER seen!"
"I would give it a solid 'A'. Doesn't pass Pulp Fiction, but it's right up there in the top of my all-time list."
He went on to say (he'd also seen Crash, Munich, Capote...) "I CAN'T believe it didn't get the Oscar! It's unbelievable. And Heath - who won the Oscar - Capote? My God, Heath was so powerful in that movie. He deserved the Oscar absolutely". - discussion ensued -
I hate to say it, but I was astonished
He is a huge film fan but he sounded just like a Brokie!!! He talked about how he thought Jake died (he called them Heath & Jake throughout the conversation) and how much he thought Lureen knew (called her Anne); about Jake's mother & that she knew but he wasn't positive about the father; about how in the last scene w/ his daughter that Heath had finally realized how important love is! And he's only seen it once. Plus, he said he thought I was nuts that I'd seen it more than once (if he ONLY knew) but that he wanted to watch it again cause he may have missed some things!
He also said he wished he's seen it without having seen any of the trailers as he knew something bad was going to happen & kept waiting for that point. He also praised Ang Lee for not "slamming you in the face with anything like they did with Crash." He did admit that he was waiting for some kind of "preaching" scene too & was relieved that it was simply "their story."
I asked if he would recommend it to his straight male friends & he said he certainly would, but not to people that he already knew would be unreceptive (unlike me who just barreled ahead). - More discussion. -
He watched it with his wife & he said that he loved it more than her! He also asked her if she would be more shocked if she saw him kissing a man or another woman. (She said she wasn't sure but didn't think she'd be happy either way.)
I'm not exactly sure why, but I am just so happy right now!