Apparently my pop-culture radar is soo behind these days -- what with Mark Feehily coming out and me knowing about it only days later, for one thing (and don't get me started with Dave Moffat, who apparently is also gay). And then this Brokeback Mountain poster(?) for another, which I got off the net only a couple of days ago. Hehe. Apparently, this was already circulating for weeks, along with another teaser trailer. Urgh. Anyway. Hot! Can't wait for its opening in December/January, though I somehow doubt it will be shown here... at least any time soon.
For the uninformed, Brokeback Mountain is an adaptation of Annie Proulx's (The Shipping News) short story about two cowboys -- played by Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger -- who, well, basically fell in love. Here's part of the official summary provided by the film's distributor, Focus Features:
An epic love story set against the sweeping vistas of Wyoming and Texas, Brokeback Mountain tells the story of two young men -- a ranch-hand and a rodeo cowboy -- who meet in the summer of 1963, and unexpectedly forge a lifelong connection, one whose complications, joys and tragedies provide a testament to the endurance and power of love.
I love the tagline: love is a force of nature. For one thing, it implies that love is an inevitability that comes naturally to (for? I forget my prepositions) all of us. That sooner or later one has to deal with it. For another, it reminds us that love knows no boundaries. That it has no construct. And that it is strong enough to overcome obstacles.
What better way to portay such a theme than two men in love?
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Update (2005.09.03): Apparently, Amazon.com has an excerpt of the short story, taken from the audio book version of Proulx's anthology Close Range: Wyoming Stories. Click here to read it.
