Monday, February 20, 2006
Brokeback Mountain
Brokeback Mountain was a surprise to me. The first hint of anything happening on the movie front was Felix Cheong's 19 Jan Today article, 'Rustling up a trend'. Today followed that up with a 23 Jan article quoting Director Ang Lee as saying that "Asian audiences are more accepting of gay subject matter than Americans". Ong Sor Fern of the Straits Times then picked up the story with not one, but three separate articles on 28 Jan: 'Brokeback gets R21 rating'; 31 Jan: 'Riding off into the sunrise with Brokeback'; and 15 Feb (the day before it opened in cinemas): 'Ain't no mountain higher'. A letter, 'Heartbroken over Brokeback's rating', by Jonathan Chee appeared in the Life! section of the Straits Times on 3 Feb.
While the general release was on the 16th, there was a charity premiere on Feb 8th organised by Fridae.com to raise funds for Action for Aids followed by a few other preview screenings.
Even after its general release in cinemas on the 16th, Brokeback continued to draw media attention with a review by Jeanine Tan in Today: 'At this mountain's core: A love story' and an opinion piece, 'The Brokeback factor', by Tay Yek Keak in the 20 Feb Straits Times.
Yawning Bread of course had something to say about it... a lot in fact. It is rather interesting that he ends his article, Brokeback Mountain: a Singaporean conversation, with the lines:
"This is proof of what gay Singaporeans have noticed for some time, that if a movie shows happy, well-adjusted gay people, it will be banned or severely cut. If the gay or lesbian characters are sick, despairing or end up dead, then the film is approved.
That Singaporeans are even able to carry on an intelligent conversation given such attempts at thought control is a small miracle!"
While the general release was on the 16th, there was a charity premiere on Feb 8th organised by Fridae.com to raise funds for Action for Aids followed by a few other preview screenings.
Even after its general release in cinemas on the 16th, Brokeback continued to draw media attention with a review by Jeanine Tan in Today: 'At this mountain's core: A love story' and an opinion piece, 'The Brokeback factor', by Tay Yek Keak in the 20 Feb Straits Times.
Yawning Bread of course had something to say about it... a lot in fact. It is rather interesting that he ends his article, Brokeback Mountain: a Singaporean conversation, with the lines:
"This is proof of what gay Singaporeans have noticed for some time, that if a movie shows happy, well-adjusted gay people, it will be banned or severely cut. If the gay or lesbian characters are sick, despairing or end up dead, then the film is approved.
That Singaporeans are even able to carry on an intelligent conversation given such attempts at thought control is a small miracle!"
