Arizona Sky

[piano71]

I just saw a new gay-themed movie called "Arizona Sky." It tells a story of a man, Jake, who takes a break from his stressful life in L.A. as a movie producer to return to the small Arizona town where he grew up, and fell in love with his best friend, Kyle. When Jake gets back home, he finds Kyle is struggling to get by, in business fixing trucks with his cousin Heath. (The scene in which Jake and Heath meet is an amusing homage to "Brokeback Mountain," and I'm sure the allusion to the "Brokeback" leads' names is intentional!)

Jake and Kyle still have feelings for one another, but it takes a while for them to understand how their relationship is evolving, and how to open up to each other.

Though it explores similar themes, "Arizona Sky" is not quite the masterpiece that is "Brokeback Mountain." It was made on a shoestring budget and appears to have been shot on video. Flaws in the pacing and scripting prevent "Arizona Sky" from being a great gay romantic drama. At times, I wanted more exploration of how Jake and Kyle's relationship developed as adolescent boys, and how they learned of each other's feelings and how to trust in each other.

But the filmmakers were aware of the "Brokeback" connection and had some fun with it. In addition to the "Jake and Heath" references, a character, upon discovering Kyle is gay, wonders aloud: "Is everyone a 'Brokenback' cowboy now?"

The movie is a sensitive exploration of love between two men, separated by geography, city vs. country cultures, class differences, and awkwardness as both try to figure out if the other are ready to pick up the relationship that left off 15 years ago.

[injest]

sounds interesting! Thanks for the post!

[injest]

hmmm

[SFEnnisSF]

I really should get a Netflix account....

[SFEnnisSF]

Ok, I got the Netflix account.  And I watched this tonight.

I was in tears.  It was very touching and moving.  A great script and storyline.  Like said above, it could have been a masterpiece, the pacing and editing could have been better.  But if you look beyond that, this is almost everything we wanted Brokeback Mountain to be!  (Not that we want Brokeback to be any different that is... ) 

Yeah, the character names of Jake and Heath must be some homage to something... 

Highly Recommended!

[Monika]

I just watched this movie too. The story was cute and the well-intentioned, but the script felt generic and strained and the actors....well, let's just say that it clear that this is a low-budget movie.
But it was fun to notice the resemblances to Brokeback. Some of them, like the names Jake and Heath appearing and the line "Brokeback cowboys", have already been mentioned. There's also a scene in the beginning where the two young men are out camping in the wilderness. They sit by the fire, drinking. Both feel very awkward because there is a sexual tention between them. One of them goes steps onto the bed of truck (where they both will be sleeping) and undresses.  Later, he lies there waiting for the other young man who is sitting by the fire, looking scared and hesitant about joining his friend. Sound familiar?
It´s like watching a student film version of SNIT.
Like I said, cute movie, but other than for the Brokeback references, it didn´t work for me.