Brokeback Mountain

I had a free afternoon, so I went out and caught a matinee at the Seven Gables down in the U-District. I'm glad I did. I don't want to spoil anything because bitterspice might want to see it at some stage, and she's one of the two people who read this blog for something other than washer/dryer repair tips. I will say this. Those expecting gay erotica will be disappointed. Brokeback Mountain is a movie about obligations and fears, and how two very particular people negotiate, or fail to negotiate, them. What makes it interesting as a piece of gay cinema is that it doesn't spend a lot of time insisting on the humanity of its protagonists; it takes that as a given and explores their problems.

The movie does contain one element I wonder about. During a Thanksgiving dinner scene, a family is watching the Thanksgiving day game. According to the credits, the game that they're watching is the 1977 Grey Cup, which doesn't take place on U.S. Thanksgiving, and wouldn't be too popular in Texas. Did the NFL not want to license its footage for the movie? Did the league simply ask for too hefty a fee? Or was it that, because Brokeback Mountain was shot in Canada, some Canadian film board insisted on CFL footage? Anyway, it was lucky for the film that, from a distance, the Edmonton Eskimos look like the Green Bay Packers.