Logging on from NYC where I have just a few hours to get myself in order before heading to Toronto tomorrow morning...

I watched Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain" for a second time last night after an outdoor dinner with two friends at the New Sheridan Chop House in Telluride. Eating as we watched another stunning Colorado mountain sunset, we again talked about the beautiful but heartbreaking story of two would be cowboys who fell in love in Wyoming in 1963. Just before the screening, I was contacted by a reporter for a queer publication wanting to know how people in Telluride were reacting to the movie, she was particularly curious about gay versus straight perspectives of the film, which I blogged about the other day...

The movie won't be released for another 3 months but no doubt in that time many more discussions will be had and a debate will likely emerge: Is the film too racy for straight audiences who are lured in by the story of a unique "lifelong friendship"? Or, not sexy enough for gay audiences expecting to see cowboy love consummated in detail? Who knows. What I can add to the eventual debate is that "Brokeback Mountain" is a subversive American love story that challenges the myth of the iconic American cowboy and forces viewers to reckon with a relationship the grows wildly where no one, including the two lead characters, would have expected it.

Putting aside whatever it is that people want, or don’t want, "Brokeback Mountain" to be, its more important to simply take the story for what it is, a story. Well told in its original short fiction format, and now subtly revealed as a narrative feature film, "Brokeback Mountain" could be a western fable told around a fire or a haunting warning about pursuing dreams and facing realities in this country. Whatever the case, it has the potential to challenge staid American notions of love. Or at least create a greater discussion about them.