[sparky]

Originally Posted by dissention

I could have done without Anne Hathaway, but that was mostly because her character was so poorly written and developed. She was nothing but a cartoon character; as one-dimensional as a Little Lulu comic book panel and inspiring nothing but a snicker and a roll of the eyes from me.

She scarcely exists in the story, and I also wanted to know a bit more about her. She wasn't given all that much to do, but I thought she revealed some interesting things about her character in the backseat scene and in the dinner scene with her parents. Ultimately, I think the function of the character was solely to show what Jack's marriage was about - a mostly lifeless, stifling, and castrating marriage of convenience.

I only have a few real complaints about it. Ang Lee is as subtle as a jackhammer to the groin. The "visual imagery" he uses metaphorically is obvious and conventional. I got a bit bored by his subjecting me to frame after frame of lush mountainscapes with gurgling streams running in the background when the two leads are onscreen together. What is it meant to signify? Why, the natural beauty of their love, of course. Like I said, the man is as subtle as a jackhammer to the crotch and as imaginative as latter-day Stephen King.

Well, he was subtle with the sex anyway. I have to agree with Romy about the use of the landscapes. I knew you would find it tiresome, but let's face it, most people are stupid and need a 2x4 in the head with the symbolism. A good part of the movie going audience doesn't know the definition of the word symbolism, so some artists go way overboard with it to make sure it sinks in under the radar.

Lee can't find it in him to be anything but pure and chaste to an extreme degree. For example, take the sexual encounters between Ennis and Jack.

I thought the tent scene and the reunion scene were pretty sexy. I knew that Lee was going to be subtle - he is not the kind of film maker who shows a lot of sex. Like so much of the tone of the film, that is completely in line with the story. I could have done with more physical intimacy between them. Not that they needed it to sell their passion. They did that in spades.

If Lee had taken a cue from John Waters and filmed these scenes in Odor-Rama, chances are that after I scratched the corresponding dots on my card and held them up to my nostrils, I would have smelled lilies & rose water, not the scents of dirt, sweat, & the foul stench of booze.

That is a funny image. I know what that tent smelled like. Add the musty moldy tinges of being stored in the shed for months to that little melange you described and you about have it. Mmm. Happy Sparky.

My gripes with Lee aside, I absolutely loved it. It made me think a lot about some things going on in my life and I'm sure my great enjoyment of it was colored by those things.

I ? am thrilled you enjoyed it.

Tried to see it again last night. I bought tix Thurs night. By the time we got done with dinner it was 10 minutes before showtime. It was sold out, the only two seats together were in the front row. After two hours, I would have been Brokeneck Sparky, so we bailed. Came home, built a huge fire, had a shot of tequila. If Mr. Lee would have had a spy cam, he would have been shown what for.