I love movies. I own literally hundreds and enjoy watching them on the cool plasma television screen that I bought myself for my 50th birthday. But, I especially love going to the movie theater. However, in the past 6 months, I've only been one time, when Amanda was up to visit (we saw Must Love Dogs). The Girl and I just don't have the time to go very often.
However, as I reported earlier, we did go see TransAmerica last week. And, this past Saturday night we also went to see Brokeback Mountain. I really loved both movies. I'm not a movie critic - by any measure - but this is my report on those movies (and a quick commentary on last night's L Word on Showtime).
TransAmerica is a very sweet movie about a middle-aged male-to-female (MTF) transsexual (Bree) who finds it necessary to come to terms (prior to her scheduled sexual reassignment surgery) with a son she never knew she had. As you all know, Bree is played by Felicity Huffman and her portrayal is nothing short of amazing. The movie is a little bit heavy-handed in its attempt to portray transsexualism in a positive light and some of the dialogue used to do so seems a trifle stilted and slightly out of context. But, it is so easy to forgive in the face of the otherwise excellent movie.
Having said all that, I had my issues with some things. For example, she claims to have had every surgery known to medical practice (facial feminization surgery, trachael shave, larnyx adjustment, etc.), except SRS, yet the movie protrays her as someone unable to complete a college degree and working as a bus-girl in a restaurant. Those surgeries are damned expensive; where did the money come from? Also, she links the surgery so closely with her becoming a woman. Now, this is probably fairly accurate. There are enough transwomen and certainly plenty of non-trans people who link genital configuration to sex. However, I'm not one of them (and I'm not alone in my thinking) and I'd have enjoyed seeing a nod in that direction. Still, these things are easily overlooked, as I said.
The most difficult part of the movie, for me, was when Toby (her son) finally learns who Bree is to him. He hits her, hard, knocking her down and then storms out. Although I've never been struck physically I know what it's like to be unexpectedly and quite harshly rejected by a child you love. It is horrific and Felicity does a beautiful job expressing that. She doesn't know if she'll ever see him again, and she goes on about her life, including getting her surgery, but there is this hole in her life. It was all I could do to keep my crying to simple tears and not sobs during that part of the movie.
My hat is off to Duncan Tucker (the writer/director) and to Felicity Huffman, who, as I said definitely deserved her Golden Globe award.
Then, this past Saturday night, we went to see Brokeback Mountain. What a great movie. Unlike TransAmerica this movie was big budget. As everyone now knows, this movie is about two men, cowboys, who fall in love one summer in 1963 while working together on a mountain in Wyoming. It is a love story, first and foremost. Although I cannot forget that it's a love story between two men, it is almost easy to do. It's about forbidden love and how the lovers work around that. In some ways it is reminicent, for me, of Same Time Next Year with Alan Alda. Will it appeal to straight audiences? I don't know. I hope so.
The Girl and I walked to the movie theater, in the rural town of Brighton, MI, arm-in-arm. The place was packed (but our specific theater was only about 3/4 full), but no one seemed to pay any attention to us (this is a good thing). One really odd thing did happen. During the first (and only obvious) love scene, a man in the row behind me got up, grabbed his coat, and quite noisely made his way out of the movie theater. Huh? Did he not know what this movie was about?
My heart broke for these men. The love they shared was never to be celebrated publicly. It was not the time - and given their location, probably still isn't the time - or place. There is no happy ending in this movie and I left the theater (again arm-in-arm with the Girl) in tears (even she, who rarely cries, was crying). It won several Golden Globe awards and I sincerely hope it also picks up some at the Oscars.
OK, now, about the L Word. I'm *so* delighted that they've brought back another trans-character (when are they going to introduce a MTF lesbian? I'm guessing not for a very long time). But, why make him (a budding FTM named Moira/Max) the only butch acting character on the show? Who is the primary demographic for this series. I know others have bitched about the representation of these ultra-femme, mid to upper class femmes (even Shane wears pretty heavy eye makeup and stylishly feminine clothing) to the exclusion of both butch women and women who don't identify with that dichotomy, but bringing in Moira as an FTM seems almost to erase the entire butch identity -- if you're butch you must really be a guy who just hasn't transitioned yet. This season is still struggling, in my opinion. Still, we never miss an episode. :)