Did nobody ever see My Beautiful Launderette?

Where are you going with that?

If stealing a storyline is plagiarism, then Shakespeare is in BIG trouble.

Well, I'd be disappointed if I found out, long after I knew his work, that King Lear had folk tale sources. It would be weird. The modes I use for reading "original" work and for reading heavily referential work are very different: even if I don't know the referents (as is the case with novels based on Chinese folk tales, or for that matter Princess Mononoke ), I know that there are referents, and my understanding of the story is made different thereby.

Did nobody ever see My Beautiful Laundrette?

I did. It was cute and funny, and remains in my mind the ur-text of all Hanif Kureishi's work. Also, sort of emblematic of that director's work, whose name I am forgetting.

ANthony Lane reviewed Brokeback Mountain in the New Yorker (which I read last night). From his point of view, teh gay is really really not the point, although he has some fun with explicating the previous subtext that informs the text. (Hint: he invokes Montgomery Clift.)

Also, sort of emblematic of that director's work, whose name I am forgetting.

Stephen Frears.

eta: I suddenly remember being told that My Beautiful Laundrette started out as a British TV series that was later reshot as a movie. Huh. Not sure if that makes sense....

The straight dude's guide to Brokeback Mountain

But if you’re going to be a big sissy about it then you can go get her that Diet Coke and jumbo popcorn during the first major sex scene. And no plugging your ears and singing “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” either. All singing is inherently gay, is why.

Hee!

DH and I saw The White Countess last night -- the last Merchant/Ivory film.

OMG SO BORING.

I like slow films, but they have to have some substance. This movie is full of slow, deliberate conversations, of the type where you're supposed to be listening to the subtext, and not the words. Only there was no subtext. The slow, deliberate, insinuatingly spoken conversation about how he likes bars and would someday like to own one? Is really about how he likes bars and would someday like to own one. And every conversation is like that -- you just keep hoping that they mean something else, that something is going on beneath the surface, but...no. It was one of the must frustrating moviewatching experiences I've ever had.

Maybe their intent was to get the audience to think about how the movie applied to their own lives. Do you like bars? Would you like to someday own a bar?

OMG SO BORING.

Oh, that's too bad. I thought Ralph Fiennes as a blind gay diplomat in Shanghai would be interesting to watch, even though I don't like the actress who plays the countess very much--Vanessa Redgrave's daughter, I think. Not the one on Nip/Tuck, the other one.

Fiennes With A Bad American Accent: I do enjoy this...establishment.
Random Japanese Guy: Yes, I too find...pleasure...in these...establishments.
FWABAA: I often think that someday, I'd like to open my own...establishment. The...bar of my dreams.
RJG: If I return to this place in one year's time, I would very much like to visit this...bar of your dreams.

And then we cut to one year later, and Ralph has opened his bar, and the Japanese guy comes in and is like, "Dude, nice bar." And that's the ENTIRE payoff.

[eta: And, okay, there's another plot about Ralph Fiennes and Natasha Richardson not admitting they love each other until the end of the movie. When they get together finally, it's like, "Oh right, we're supposed to be the romantic leads. The movie's almost over, so I guess we'd better hook up?"]

Bwah!

Har. The pause before each utterance of establishment makes me think the place in question is a bordello or something. Which, it looks like, might have made for a more lively movie.