Wednesday, 14 January 2009 11:58 am
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deckardcanineOn Sunday, I watched Milk and enjoyed it. It later occurred to me that my enjoyment may signal a personal change from three years ago, when I blurred my vision at the gay sex scene -- and one of the gay snogging scenes -- in Brokeback Mountain. Have I gotten more tolerant on an emotional level?
Maybe, maybe not. One difference is that BM was a romance, not a biography. The relationships here are part of the overall story of Harvey Milk, but at the center is politics regarding similar relationships locally and nationwide.
It may also be that the couples in Milk are, well, more attractive. That may sound strange considering that Harvey is in his 40s the whole time, but he and his mates are more convincing as gays than Gyllenhaal and Ledger. Is it because they're less masculine, or do they simply have better chemistry? Or am I biased against pseudo-cowboys? All I know for sure is that the sex is much less awkward from the start, for the obvious reason that they're not kidding themselves about their orientations.
It helps that they never cheat on anybody, either. The aspect I most dislike about Harvey's lifestyle is the order in which things happen: he identifies a gay passerby, talks him into a bed, says "I love you," and then asks the guy's name. Of course, I imagine that this has been all too common for gays, even in relatively open times.
Finally, Milk is just more my kind of movie. I don't have as much patience for a slow and uncomplicated love story as I have for a portrait of a charismatic public figure who beat the odds with a determined struggle and touched more than a few lives. It's quite well-made, with seamless integration of old footage. Emile Hirsch is a downright metamorphin, given how he looked and acted in Into the Wild.
Maybe, maybe not. One difference is that BM was a romance, not a biography. The relationships here are part of the overall story of Harvey Milk, but at the center is politics regarding similar relationships locally and nationwide.
It may also be that the couples in Milk are, well, more attractive. That may sound strange considering that Harvey is in his 40s the whole time, but he and his mates are more convincing as gays than Gyllenhaal and Ledger. Is it because they're less masculine, or do they simply have better chemistry? Or am I biased against pseudo-cowboys? All I know for sure is that the sex is much less awkward from the start, for the obvious reason that they're not kidding themselves about their orientations.
It helps that they never cheat on anybody, either. The aspect I most dislike about Harvey's lifestyle is the order in which things happen: he identifies a gay passerby, talks him into a bed, says "I love you," and then asks the guy's name. Of course, I imagine that this has been all too common for gays, even in relatively open times.
Finally, Milk is just more my kind of movie. I don't have as much patience for a slow and uncomplicated love story as I have for a portrait of a charismatic public figure who beat the odds with a determined struggle and touched more than a few lives. It's quite well-made, with seamless integration of old footage. Emile Hirsch is a downright metamorphin, given how he looked and acted in Into the Wild.