You got to stand it

Rating: 10/10 (19 December 2005)

I drove to Scottsdale to see this today, about a 120 mile drive. That's right, you guessed it, I had some pretty high expectations.
Turns out they were pretty reasonable expectations, too. The reviews praising Heath Ledger's and Michelle Williams performances, the cinematography, the source material, McMurtry's & Ossana's screenplay, and Lee's direction, were all pretty much on the money. And although I've read a lot of reviews that say Jake G's performance didn't, couldn't compare to Ledger's, I disagree. Jake's performance was just as perfect, although his character isn't the focus so much as Ledger's.
I am pretty devastated still, though I got home many hours ago. The story keeps playing in my head, and, like many great works of art, the movie seems to keep taking "different shapes" in my head in the aftermath. Honestly, I couldn't even tell you at this point whether the overall effect is particularly gay-positive without arguing against myself in an hour.
I'm not even convinced that the climactic event isn't a little ambiguous (I got the same sense when I read the short story, too). But while it seems to cause (to me) the meaning of the movie to kind of flicker between two different messages, the final effect is the same either way. Like I said, devastating. I didn't see a single dry eye coming out of the theater when it was over. I can't really explain what I mean without revealing too much, but you'll know what I mean when you see it.
And, boy howdy, you have to see this. To be honest, I don't know if the straight folk are gonna dig this as much as I did; a lot of the story could have come from my own life, and the lives of my friends. But even if it doesn't resonate as powerfully with you as with me, it'll surely give you a sense of how toxic a closeted life can be, while simultaneously pointing out the stakes of not being closeted.