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What do you think makes this movie so romantic?
ednbarby:
--- Quote from: RingerFanatic on May 01, 2006, 01:55:05 pm ---I think a large part of why this is The Ultimate Romance movie for me is Jack Twist as portrayed by Jake Gyllenhaal. His expressions of love and longing...and at the end, bitter disappointment and sadness is sometimes just too much to bear. It's pure, sweet and completely heartbreaking. Jake really brought to life a character of such innocent and romantic longing that it made me want to love like that (or at least find someone like that to love me!)
And the other half, Ennis Del Mar as portrayed by Heath Ledger, also adds to the romantic heartbreak by showing us a man who is capable of happiness and pure love in private....but not in public. Like the other posters here mentioned, this is about two regular everyday people who (IMHO) realistically fell in love. No effects. No overbearing John Williams soundtrack. No overacting emoting. Just plain fellas falling in love. A love that dares not speak its name. Now that's romantic tragedy at its best.
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Also beautifully-said, RF. To expand on this just a little, it's about Jack's outward yearning and Ennis' inward one. What's so heartbreaking to me is how much Ennis always holds back from Jack. We see him *pining* for him in all those scenes when he's without him. Out on the highway, looking towards the mountains in the distance, in bed with Alma, trying with all his might to pretend she's him, waiting for his arrival and drinking 7 (or is it 8 ;)) beers and chain-smoking because he's so afraid he isn't gonna show/so excited at the anticipation of his actually showing. And then all he can say to Jack's "What about you?" is "Me? Uh, I ... dunno..." Or when Jack says "Truth is, sometimes I miss you so much I can hardly stand it," and he can't even muster a single word, but we *know* his heart has been burning for him since the last time he saw him. You're right, though - it's both of them. Because as we've said many times before, you can't have one without the other. And it's that constant push and pull between them that's so captivating. As one of my acting heroes says, it's about the delicate cord that exists between two people who love each other. Lee hones in on that delicacy - it's his particular talent. And as I've said before, this film separates the men from the boys for me - the men being the ones who can see and appreciate that delicate cord for how very real it is, and the boys being the ones who need their love stories to be utterly contrived and overtly emotional in order for them to make any sense to them.
Brown Eyes:
--- Quote from: ednbarby on May 01, 2006, 03:07:02 pm ---Exactly! Beautifully-stated, Amanda. I hope you don't mind if I use this argument the next time one of my boneheaded ex-friends tries that lame-ass argument on me.
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Awww, thanks Friend. Of course, feel free to use that line of argument anytime. ;)
Along with all the things people have mentioned... The pace and wistfulness of the filming goes a long way to producing a romantic atmosphere. That and the intangible, indescribable chemistry between Jack and Ennis also contributes a great deal. Jake and Heath just flat out have some chemistry going in real life too. Even in their "real life" interviews there's an amazing chemistry (be it platonic and just friendship or not).
ednbarby:
They absolutely have the chemistry, Amanda. And that's something you either have with someone for real or you don't. Laurence Olivier or Carrot Top - you cannot act pheromones.
Aussie Chris:
--- Quote from: ednbarby on May 01, 2006, 03:13:53 pm ---Also beautifully-said, RF. To expand on this just a little, it's about Jack's outward yearning and Ennis' inward one. What's so heartbreaking to me is how much Ennis always holds back from Jack. We see him *pining* for him in all those scenes when he's without him. Out on the highway, looking towards the mountains in the distance, in bed with Alma, trying with all his might to pretend she's him, waiting for his arrival and drinking 7 (or is it 8 ;)) beers and chain-smoking because he's so afraid he isn't gonna show/so excited at the anticipation of his actually showing. And then all he can say to Jack's "What about you?" is "Me? Uh, I ... dunno..." Or when Jack says "Truth is, sometimes I miss you so much I can hardly stand it," and he can't even muster a single word, but we *know* his heart has been burning for him since the last time he saw him. You're right, though - it's both of them. Because as we've said many times before, you can't have one without the other. And it's that constant push and pull between them that's so captivating. As one of my acting heroes says, it's about the delicate cord that exists between two people who love each other. Lee hones in on that delicacy - it's his particular talent. And as I've said before, this film separates the men from the boys for me - the men being the ones who can see and appreciate that delicate cord for how very real it is, and the boys being the ones who need their love stories to be utterly contrived and overtly emotional in order for them to make any sense to them.
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Hey Barb, the "afterglow" scene in the hotel always makes me a little sad for Ennis. Right there and there, lying in Jack's arms, he's so happy and in love. You see him stroke Jacks arm when he confesses that he thought he's never see Jack again after "that punch". And just when Jack talks about redlining it there and asks "how about you", Ennis runs back inside his shell, unable to say anything but reflect on his lot in life. You just want to give him a good shake don't you?
But one thing that I've been thinking lately is Jack was all too willing to accept the situation and the limited amount of time Ennis was willing/able to give him. The book talks about the first "fishing trip" as almost a consolation prize after Ennis rejects the cow-and-calf operation and "shoots Jack's plane out of the sky". I'm not getting into a book/film comparison here, but I sometimes wonder why Jack did this. In my thinking this makes him a co-conspirator, and makes him equally responsible for Ennis' reluctance as Ennis was.
So another reason the film is realistic and romantic, they each make mistakes and fail to do the obvious thing that would make them happy - again, just like real life!
TJ:
Here in the USA, we call a hotel where you can park your "motor car" right outside of the front door a "motel." That's "motor hotel" shortened to one word. The place was called the "Motel Siesta."
In the book, after Jack and Ennis trade places, and Ennis actually gets to work while riding his horse with the sheep, Ennis begins to have a change in his own self-esteem.
Ennis felt that he had accomplished something when the first thing he told Jack when he came down from above to the camp platform was that he had killed a coyote at first light. Ennis' spirit is that of one who is a protector. After he shaves, Ennis strips off in front of the campfire (Jack notices that Ennis wears no underwear nor socks) and warshes everything he can reach while Jack is peeling potatoes. And after supper, Ennis opens up to Jack about his life before Brokeback. And, Jack shares his own experiences, too.
That evening together where Jack and Ennis respected each other's opinions moved Ennis' self-esteem up several notches. That's why he felt like he could paw the white out of the moon when he was riding back up to spend the night with the sheep.
It could have been love at first sight for Jack Twist; but, with Ennis, the friendship which developed over time turned into his being in love with Jack. I think that the "dozy embrace" flashback where a sexless hunger was satisfied took place during their developing friendship before the first night in the tent. I feel that Jack had a need of natural affection from another man as to fill a emptiness for companionship and that Ennis took care of doing that in his sorta mothering Jack by holding him behind. I only use "mothering" here because Ennis apparently never got hugs and kisses or was even held by his own father before his father died.
While my situation with Ed Pursell was not quite like that of Jack and Ennis, I believe that Ed was in love with me from the beginning of our first night together. I moved in with him 10 days after that. I loved Ed as a friend and it felt like being with family in his presence. But, we were together for a while before I realized that I was in love with him and said to myself, "I want to spend the rest of my life with this man."
And, I had that thought one evening when Ed was fixing something to eat and I was standing in the kitchen talking to him. We had talks like I had with my mother in the kitchen at home.
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